Peeing the green puddle!

bigern2300

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Joined
Sep 9, 2006
Messages
194
Location
Tahlequah, Oklahoma
From time to time the ol'e Rocket will puke out some coolant out the overflow tube. Most often this happens when riding in a pack, so i figure slowed down airflow to the radiator due to the bikes infront might have been causing a slight oveheating scenerio. Last week i changed the coolant including the overflow container, filling to the full mark. Once again she puked coolant most likely due to the fact that i filled it to the full mark while the bike was cold. When i came back from a run to Longview, Texas this weekend she once again soiled the pavement. Any other Captins had anyother similar experiences? (Note) When i removed the radiator cap to do the service, i found a small piece of plastic in the overflow tube where it connects at the filler neck possibly causing a restriction. Bigern
 
I only had a small puddle from the water pump cover, but that was only "once", never happened again.

Your comment reminds me that I should change the "colored water" in mine. Let's see what happens.

Hope a solution is just over the horizon B E.

See ya.
 
My 2007 was losing coolant from the overflow tube. I took it in and the service manager immediately changed out my radiator cap. It's been fine ever since then. He said he had replace several last year through late summer/early fall.
 
I have had exactly the same scenario. Only after I had topped it up slightly. I was getting the occasional drip from bottom of the water pump so added a little " Bars stop leak" radiator additive. That did the trick but it occasionally spits some from the over flow bottle. I think if it has much more than the lower level in the over flow bottle then it could happen when it gets hot. I have been told if the bike gets too hot the ECU shuts the engine off before any damage can take place. My dealer said they had a couple of bikes shut-off in tunnels in stop start traffic. I am not worried about it at all. Still beats the standard Harley oil leak.
cheers Mav
 
Triumph uses overflow bottles that are intended for other bikes. This means the indicated levels can be incorrect, and keeping the level at the low mark seems to keep the bike from peeing out coolant from time to time.

Check your cap. More than a few Triumphs (not just R3's) have had issues with caps that do not have the required spring rates.

Most of the overflow issues are due to post-boiling. This is the coolant boiling in the block and heads after the bike is shut off. The pressure in the cooling system rises and the valve in the cap lifts the spring - letting coolant flow into the overflow bottle. A lot of this can be reduced with better heat transfer from the coolant. Water cools much better than antifreeze, so running more antifreeze than required is not a good thing.

I live in the Deep South where winter temps rarely drop into the high teens *F, it never gets near freezing in my garage, and I don't ride is sub-freezine temps. As a result, I have no need for antifreeze protection to -60*F that is offered by a 50/50 mix. Instead, I use 20-25% propylene glycol (PG) antifreeze with distilled water and a SMALL amount of surfactant. This still protects down to temps into the teens, prevents corrosion, and lubricates seals.

A surfactant is a detergent that reduces the surface tension of water. Using it in coolant allows the coolant to make smaller bubbles when it boils in localized hot spots. Smaller bubbles are easier to carry away and cool the effected area. Products such as Water Wetter, Purple Ice, etc. are commercial surfactants, and despite their lables, very little is required. More than two cap-fulls in most bikes can coat block internals and reduce cooling. 2-3 drops of Soft Soap or any liquid detergent has the same effect. More is not better.

Make sure you ONLY use distilled or deionized water in your bikes!
Tap water has minerals and chlorine in it that will cause electrolytic corrosion in the cooling system in little time. I had a friend that flushed the coolant out of one of his bikes for track day use with tap water. He rode it this way all summer. He forgot (or never got around) to changing it out afterwards, and left it over the winter. The next spring, the bike leaked water the first time he rode it - all caused by corrosion in less than a year. It took milling the head and block deck to fix it.

If you try the above, and still have issues with heat while riding in a pack, or at low speed stop/go riding, Muzzy's sells aluminum radiator fan blades that are easy to install to the stock fan motor, and push considerably more air than the stock fan.

Not everyone will have issues with running warmer than normal, but for those who do, I hope this helps.
 
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Thanks Tripp for the insight. Surfactants, yeah that's the ticket! I had the same drip drip drip of...then I got a shot to cure it. WaterWetter that is. I too use low antifreeze ratio and perhaps a bit too much WaterWetter. I'll modify this with the pending coolant change.
I'd like more info on the Muzzy fan blades...WWW is great resource! And away I go...
 
I had an overflow problem early on. A puddle would appear after I left the bike for a while and it cooled.

The problem was the radiator cap. I had it replaced and no more puddles.
 
Just changed my antifreeze, went with 40/60 antifreeze/water and three capfuls of water wetter. I think it might run a little cooler, at least my legs think so.......
 
Puddle

I've had the same problem. After relocating the overflow bottle to the former air cleaner encloser. Filled bottle higher than normal with water and
red line Water Wetter (enough for whole system). Then held container higher than radiator cap. Lossened cap until Water Wetter was flowing out. Tighten cap and away I go no more problems. One interesting observation is the coolant in radiator looked like straight water NO color, not good with winter just around the corner. Anybody else see this? Need to check coolant for ph/specific gravity.
 
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