Antifreeze smell

2008 ST1300A w/28,000 miles. I've started noticing an antifreeze smell (and my wife's Outback is doing the same thing). There are no evident leaks or anything and the temp bars always come up to 3 and the bike runs fine. It's not overwhelming but I smell it when stopped at lights in hot weather. The reserve tank has a normal level in it. I've gone through all hose connections and tightened things up. Should I just flush everything and replace the hoses, clamps and thermostat?

You should just snug the clamps a 1/2 turn or two. Nothing else needs doing.

Nature of this beast.

On mine, after snugging the existing skinny OEM clamps a couple times, the hoses were pretty squashed under each clamp and they still were dripping during warmup in cold weather. So I pulled it apart and put on different clamps (as others have done)--that solved the problem. I've since replaced the hoses as a precaution. The writeup can be found in various posts here: https://www.st-owners.com/forums/showthread.php?38212-ST1300-1st-Significant-Service-Coolant-Thermostat-Starter-Valve-Synch-amp-Other

Very timely post. On my trip this past week to DC and back, I smelled the same thing. At first I convinced myself it was coming from the cars around me! This is my second ST1300 and third ST. This is the first time I've had this this experience! Good to know it is most likely not coming from the radiator.

I envy folks like Baker Boy who have such technical talent to do major overhauls on their bikes. Saves a lot of money ... not to mention having the confidence in knowing the work was done right.

I will check my clamps ...... Here's hoping that does it.

Common problem, once you do what I did in the following pics, problem goes away.

https://www.st-owners.com/forums/album.php?albumid=2205

I already snugged up all the clamps, so I'll have to replace the hoses and clamps I guess. Thanks!

BoSTon said:

I already snugged up all the clamps, so I'll have to replace the hoses and clamps I guess. Thanks!

Click to expand...

When you get in there take a look at the hoses as they may be seeping coolant through them and leaking out of the ends, and maybe in need of replacement. I have replaced mine on my 07 ST.

970mike said:

When you get in there take a look at the hoses as they may be seeping coolant through them and leaking out of the ends, and maybe in need of replacement. I have replaced mine on my 07 ST.

Click to expand...

Will do. Thanks, Mike!

I suppose the hoses can be a source of leaks but with just 28,000 miles that is curious.

I did replace mine at 116,000 miles and frankly they were all still in very good condition. I was in the vee of the engine replacing the alternator and just figured it was a good time to do the hoses and the o-rings under the hose joints on the heads because everything was exposed (except the bottom end of the oil cooler hoses, they are hard to get at). I probably would not have changed the hoses after examination except I had already ordered them and had them in hand. There are 16 hoses and the cost was over $120 for hoses that were perfectly good. To you that might be an insignificant cost for the peace of mind. On the other hand, it might just be one hose or the O-ring that seals the thermostat housing that is causing your smell. At 28k I'd be in there looking for the source.

Mine leaked at low mileage too. I just think it is a common problem with the ST's. Since I replaced the clamps with the breeze, no further problems. Also the climate you live in has something to do with it I think.

With my '05, the smell of coolant was constant! After selling it to my son with 174.3K on it, he tore into the valley to find a hose had been squished and had a slight hole in it. After he fixed that, he replaced (as did I with two of my bikes) all the hoses and used the gates thermoplastic clamps on the larger hoses. Like I said, I have done the same to both my '04s, so far they are doing great, except my '04 #1 has a waterpump leak now.

My 2010 with 35K on it hasn't started leaking yet, but I have the thermoplastic clamps in the parts shelves for it too.

Pictures of before and after:



Even though I tried the Thermoplastic clamps on the smaller hoses (see the ones circled in yellow), I found they didn't reduce enough to hold, so I had to replace them with gas line clamps.