Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

hey I recently went for a run up mt nebo... half way up the temp guage ACTUALLY began to work.. and on the way down after being stuck in traffic the temp just seemed to hang above, or around half way.
I got the thing home thinking it was just from sitting in the traffic and wen I went down the next morning to check the coolant, I took the cap off and there was heaps of pressure in the radiator (it was mostly air). I topped it up, bled it, did a run to work last night in the icy weather (no rise in temp at all untill being stuck behind a freakin 3 lane wide catamaran on the back of a truck!) same thing this morning. the radiator was low and there was air when I bled it.
It doesnt leak anywhere. i suspect it could be the radiator cap letting the fluid into the overflow bottle (did boil once before) but not letting it drain back into the radiator??
any ideas I dont want to kill it ! but its my only transport

is the seal in the radiator cap gone? u say no leaks but the fluids going somewhere,,, is it in your oil?
if your radiator cap seal is fukd it wont build up pressure and when the water gets hot and expands it just overflows through the bottle and onto to road
but u say it retains pressure in the radiator overnight,, so i dun think its the seal? look at your oil see if its milky
rev the bike and looks for leaks maby its got a hole in the radiator/lines that only happens when engines under a higher load??

Im not a mechanic but from owning a Kingswood some small checks u can do?

More Likely:
Leaking Head Gasket... Its probably pissing it out under pressure... When its cold, check the top of the motor above where the cylinder bore is... Any obvious signs of water coming out? IE white deposits? Any signs of water deposits? If not fill up the radiator again and let the bike idle... Go for a run... it will heat up and you will see if its starting to come out anywhere... If your lucky its a hose split when under pressure (cheap) or if not so lucky you may need new head gasket, seals etc??? PLzzzzz be careful if you do this...

Less likely:
Let the bike cool down overnight. Check the oil and make sure there isnt an internal leak between the head gasket and cylinder bore. IE look at the oil... is it watery? If so your stoofed!

It has to be leaking somewhere...

I topped the oil up tonight and it doesnt seem milky at all. through the inspection glass its nice and clear. I will drain a bit out and check but Im sure thats all good. (ill go down now and have a go at it)

Its got me absolutely mind boggled. I have had cooling issues in the torana before and nothing like this even after it got hot, and you let it sit there was no pressure
When the zxr was hot as hell I got my mate to have a peek under it at the lights the only fluid coming out was from the overflow hose that he could see.

The fact that it retains pressure over night, with the fact that the oil remains clear to me means there is no leaks anywhere it doesnt hiss even if i stop straight away and turn the bike off.....

I have wired up a switch to turn the thermo fan on, it never came on once the useless heap of crap, my mate said even on his its a joke, by the time it would switch on the radiator is dry and the bike is about to die.

I have a 2-3hr ride ahead of me tomoro (then back) ill keep checking it as I go, anyone on the bruce highway keep an eye out for a black half naked, steaming pile of a zx2r with an equally as fuming rider beside it !

shite. I have a crappy pdf version of the manual. and it doesnt show you where the cylinder head air bleed is..(its crooked and the diagram is cut in half!)
I had no idea there was another bleeder and i cant find it for the life of me
can anyone show me where it is?? somehow.. fark..
im off to take the tank and air box off in the meantime. gotta be up for the ride in a few hours!!?

ah.. found it lol.
I undid the bolt and I thought.. hmmm it seems like a bleeder bolt (the holes) but it was clogged so I gives it a poke with an old rivet... then wonder to myself.. why isnt coolant coming out of the hole that it came from..... so i poked that and it pissed out all over the place.
I only just flushed the damn radiator and everything but its still got crud in it.

I took the fuel tank etc off to get a decent look at the back of the head and there doesnt seem to be any evidence of water leaking. bit of whiteness but It looks old (the whole thing is a bit grubby)

I hope I dont kill the thing on the way up the motorway
might putt along and keep checking it.
.. giving me the shits tho I want to make sure its running 100% I just bought all the fairing for it!

and if its leaking into the bores and such doesnt it get a bit steamy out the exhaust pipe? and run like a bucket of puss?
I have an r31 thrash car and its doing exactly that. but the bike doesnt

h8_rice wrote:I have wired up a switch to turn the thermo fan on, it never came on once the useless heap of crap, my mate said even on his its a joke, by the time it would switch on the radiator is dry and the bike is about to die.

The one on my track bike works fine. Switches on at the right time, and cools the bike quickly even when it's being thrashed (which is always). It should come on when the temp gauge is just about on 1/2 - if it doesn't, check that the switch is working, and that it's clean.

If the radiator's dry it probably won't switch on at all.

so your gauge isnt working?
a way to check this is pull the wire off the temp sensor, its located above the front sprocket and pretty much inline with the air intake on the cylinder block, and run a wire from the temp sensor wire and ground it on the engine and see if the gauge moves, if it does its the temp sensor if it doesnt its your gauge.
i have a switch to turn on my fan to cause it used to get to hot before it turned on for my liking so i turn it on around half way see if that helps keep fluid in your radiator, or i think there about $50 from a dealer for a newone hope ya figure it out.
if u say your mate said its coming out the overflow pipe then it seems like its the fan switch is not working or your fan is fukd, try the switch to check which ones faulty...
cheers Tim

AH yeah thats the first thing I tried, earthed out the temp sender wire, the guage works fine.
Even got my hands on a second hand sender
MAN.. I just got back form the sunshine coast... the bike is on the trailer

I bled the cooling system, topped it up all nice. and kept my eye on the temp gauge all the way up, I didnt stop once cause the gauge only moved between the bottom (after blue) and 1/4 up the guage if I was stuck in traffic. had the thermo fan cranking its ass off every time I stopped just to make sure.
I babied it up and thought beaudy its not overheating (yet) I can pull over if it starts playing up.

I got to mooloolaba (from my house 40min in from the gold coast) parked it up. and sure enough the radiator was heaps low on coolant.
... knocked heads with a mechanic mate of mine up there, and it seems VERY likely it is the head gasket leaking into the cylinders. There is no sign of water leaking anywhere outside of the bike.
SO.. being stuck there and thinking " okay I can deal with this its only leaking a wee bit over 150 odd k's of travel" I Topped it up and headed back down the highway.
I only got to my brothers work at rothwell and decided I would check just incase.. popped the radiator cap off.. froth..... (eep) let both bleed screws out.. more froth... I tipped the bike upright and let the overflow drain into the radiator to fill it back up.. SOOO much foamy SHIT came out. had it running for a bit... and bubbles were coming out !! (F**K!!!!)
I suspect the temp sender was saying "she's right bro, no hot water to complain about here, carry on as usual" cause the freakin water wasnt even touchin it !

Let it cool down while restraining myself from the urge to kick it fair in the sides,
.. - Limped it 5min to the old mans house and got the gf to come pick me up....

Looks like no bike for a few weeks fingers crossed its just the gasket!!!

yerrr,
if it not on the floor or in the oil then yer hope its just that ay,,,,
got me stumped lolz