John : How much crap did you find inside the radiator and how many miles since you last cleaned it out ??? Thanks,
ST1100 Coolant Flush procedure
- Thread starter ak85lp
- Start date
thepaleobiker
Paleo, Runner, Spiritual, Dancer
I took my shot at changing the coolant fluid, and I think I certainly skipped one part - disconnecting the hose at the bottom before doing the Ron Major 'Blowjob' - But other wise things were ok. So this is my attempt to help others like me, new to the bike, looking to do some maintenance work.
I didnt realize reaching the radiator cap would be as 'involving' as it eventually turned out to be, but honestly its not too much work : 10-15 minutes to remove the fairing/plastics, another 5-10 minutes to drain the coolant via drain plug, and refilling the radiator, a few minutes of running the engine so that radiator fins expansd etc.
Pictures :-
1) Draining out the fold coolant fluid via Radiator Drain Plug (Tried to protect the wheels, wasn't good enough!!
)
2) Removing the Fake Fuel Tank cover, and the right hand side glove box, to reach the radiator cap
3) Using a little piece of tube for the Ron Major Blowing Technique - Slow gentle puffs of air initially, and slightly firmer towards the last 3-5 puffs
Hope this helps someone else trying to do their first time coolant change! Immense thanks to everyone who posted on this thread, much help. I wish to pay it forward.
Regards,
Vishnu
I didnt realize reaching the radiator cap would be as 'involving' as it eventually turned out to be, but honestly its not too much work : 10-15 minutes to remove the fairing/plastics, another 5-10 minutes to drain the coolant via drain plug, and refilling the radiator, a few minutes of running the engine so that radiator fins expansd etc.
Pictures :-
1) Draining out the fold coolant fluid via Radiator Drain Plug (Tried to protect the wheels, wasn't good enough!!
)2) Removing the Fake Fuel Tank cover, and the right hand side glove box, to reach the radiator cap
3) Using a little piece of tube for the Ron Major Blowing Technique - Slow gentle puffs of air initially, and slightly firmer towards the last 3-5 puffs
Hope this helps someone else trying to do their first time coolant change!
Immense thanks to everyone who posted on this thread, much help. I wish to pay it forward.Regards,
Vishnu
STraymond
Site Supporter
Did I miss it, or did no one remove and empty the Reserve Tank?
no, the reserve needs a good scrubbing too. I removed mine, filled it with a water/detergent solution, then put a handful of pennies in there to help scrub. Some people use bolts or fabric strips or even gravel. After a good cleaning, rinse well and reinstall.
This is a great thread for a newby to the liquid cooled bikes.
Last summer I purchased a used 95 ST1100 with 131,000 miles. It is my first liquid cooled bike. It had some major electrical, carb problems and the water fitting on the right head was corroded to the point it was falling apart. The PO told me that he replaced the left one 3 years ago. While I was replacing it I flushed the old dirty water, and it was just water, out of it. The PO told me that he never used anti freeze, just plain water.
I finally have the thing pretty well sorted and it runs great, EXCEPT, for trying to overheat. When running on the open road the gage reads about 1/4 of the way up.
when running in city traffic and even slow stop and go on the freeway it will come up to the point where the fan comes on and if the speeds don't pick up it will keep climbing, even with the fan on. Today it got up to the bottom of the top white mark and I pulled off the road and let it cool down.
I have a few concerns.
While t-shooting the electrical I temp installed a voltmeter. When the fan comes on, at idle, the volts will drop from about 14 to about 11.5. This seems like a really heavy draw for the fan. I have a honda shop manual for it, BUT, nowhere does it give any specs on the fan motor and the draw.
I am wondering if the tubes in the radiator could be partially plugged and/or the passages in the block/heads, because of the extended use of straight water. If so, can I use a commercial coolant flush to clean it? Or is the radiator trash?
I am also considering that the water pump might be in bad shape because of the lack of good coolant. I have seen aluminum waterpumps with the housing pretty well ate away from lack of coolant, and they would not pump enough water to keep the engine cool.
Any advice on this is very much appreciated.
BTW, it doesn't leak any coolant...
Last summer I purchased a used 95 ST1100 with 131,000 miles. It is my first liquid cooled bike. It had some major electrical, carb problems and the water fitting on the right head was corroded to the point it was falling apart. The PO told me that he replaced the left one 3 years ago. While I was replacing it I flushed the old dirty water, and it was just water, out of it. The PO told me that he never used anti freeze, just plain water.
I finally have the thing pretty well sorted and it runs great, EXCEPT, for trying to overheat. When running on the open road the gage reads about 1/4 of the way up.
when running in city traffic and even slow stop and go on the freeway it will come up to the point where the fan comes on and if the speeds don't pick up it will keep climbing, even with the fan on. Today it got up to the bottom of the top white mark and I pulled off the road and let it cool down.
I have a few concerns.
While t-shooting the electrical I temp installed a voltmeter. When the fan comes on, at idle, the volts will drop from about 14 to about 11.5. This seems like a really heavy draw for the fan. I have a honda shop manual for it, BUT, nowhere does it give any specs on the fan motor and the draw.
I am wondering if the tubes in the radiator could be partially plugged and/or the passages in the block/heads, because of the extended use of straight water. If so, can I use a commercial coolant flush to clean it? Or is the radiator trash?
I am also considering that the water pump might be in bad shape because of the lack of good coolant. I have seen aluminum waterpumps with the housing pretty well ate away from lack of coolant, and they would not pump enough water to keep the engine cool.
Any advice on this is very much appreciated.
BTW, it doesn't leak any coolant...
I think both of your concerns are spot on and could be the problem. The impeller may be corroded away.
I will start a new thread.
Recently completed a coolant flush on my "new to me" '92 ST1100 (PO had no idea when completed last) and this forum was invaluable with all the steps, tips, and tricks discussed. Thank you all!
+1 on why that reservoir tank in back needs to be pulled, emptied, and flushed. Upon doing said coolant flush, I found that tank full of thick slime rather than liquid.
With everything disassembled, I also replaced the 5 ft of reservoir tube, as well as the radiator cap and thermostat.
The system is now nicely sealed and engine temps are steady. Even in stop/go Phx traffic the gauge really doesn't push past the 'm'.
I know it's posted somewhere else, but for convenience will list again the 3 key parts I was able to score from local auto parts store for this project.
Radiator Cap = '94 Accord 2.2 engine
Thermostat = '80 Civic 1.5 engine
Thermostat o-ring = '80 Civic 1.5 engine
Getting those part from local auto store saved obvious $ and time! Again, big thank you to the forum community!
+1 on why that reservoir tank in back needs to be pulled, emptied, and flushed. Upon doing said coolant flush, I found that tank full of thick slime rather than liquid.
With everything disassembled, I also replaced the 5 ft of reservoir tube, as well as the radiator cap and thermostat.
The system is now nicely sealed and engine temps are steady. Even in stop/go Phx traffic the gauge really doesn't push past the 'm'.
I know it's posted somewhere else, but for convenience will list again the 3 key parts I was able to score from local auto parts store for this project.
Radiator Cap = '94 Accord 2.2 engine
Thermostat = '80 Civic 1.5 engine
Thermostat o-ring = '80 Civic 1.5 engine
Getting those part from local auto store saved obvious $ and time! Again, big thank you to the forum community!
Last edited:
moddy
the mod
I know this is an old thread but an awesome technique for the reservoir. I put a handful of rocks in, that won't be a hassle to get back out, with some distilled water and shake it about. A few fills, a shake abouts later will have knocked out all of the whatever you didn't want in there.