Well, here is another thread about coolant leak. I can smell it after I ride and parking the bike. Question: would it be worth it to take it to a dealer for them to fix it or tackle it on my own? Bike has 51k miles, I replaced thermostat myself at 26k miles. It is an '06 and warranty expires in august of this year.
Coolant smell.
- Thread starter STPete
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If you've been in there and did the T-stat the clamps are no problem. Do it yourself so you know its done right and save yourself alot of money in labor! Shops around here want over $400 labor only...pm me if you have questions or need help. Igofar
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If you replaced the thermostat you are qualified to take a few tools and snug the coolant hose clamps. It's easy and costs nothing to fix this.
st1300doug
DITTO! Doing it at this minute. '06 w/36,500 miles. Factory put on the OEM hose so tight, it slit the return hose through the clamps slits. It was not major, nothing on the floor. Just enough to simmer on the engine when hot. Fix it before a 90+ degree day in the desert. Waiting for a hose from JAPAN right now. Good luck. I'm missing the Moonshine Run. Grrr........
Outbackwack
Howard
I'm in the same boat with the smell and I'll be pulling off the tupperware soon. I only have 18K on mine and will wait for the T-Stat to fail before replacing it. I'm only going to check/tighten/replace hoses & clamps. Should be straight-forward.
PSST.. your original thermostat has probably already failed and you haven't detected it yet. All I can add is that I think the factory clamps suck!!!!!!
Outbackwack
Howard
Nope, I'm still at 3 bars when running around after warmup and saw some seepage around 1 clamp over the winter storage.
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If you are going in to do the normal maintenance during the life of the motorcycle just snug the clamps every 16 or 32,000 miles as preventative. Easy.
Ok, tupperware is off, I see dry residue of coolant on the front of engine, ran it for ten minutes, it got plenty hot (3 bars), no leak, but when fan came on I could detect hint of coolant in the air. Refresh my memory please, do I have to drain radiator when trying to tighten clamps on thermostat/pump housing or loosening it and moving slightly forward will allow me to toghten the clamps? When I did the thermostat, I drained the coolant, removed radiator and replaced t-stat.
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The radiator and engine hanger crossmember has to come out to access all the clamps from the front.
As advised, remove the radiator and cross bar brace, remove the thermostat cover, replace the thermostat and o-ring, flush the radiator out while you have it off, take a scotch bright pad and remove all the paint overspray off the radiator pipes to keep it out of the coolant system (inside and outside of pipes), then use a 6mm socket to SNUG down the clamps, you can reach the rear ones on top by using a 10 inch long 1/4 inch drive extention with a 6mm swivel socket.
The culprits are going to be the (2) waterpipe hoses (that connect the T-body to the engine, and the (2) small hoses at the bottom of the T-housing (lower/rear). The large hoses almost never leak. Remember, just SNUG them, if you crank them down too much you'll damage the flimsy clamps and or cut the hoses.
.02
The culprits are going to be the (2) waterpipe hoses (that connect the T-body to the engine, and the (2) small hoses at the bottom of the T-housing (lower/rear). The large hoses almost never leak. Remember, just SNUG them, if you crank them down too much you'll damage the flimsy clamps and or cut the hoses.
.02
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My '05 has an oil leak and a coolant leak...been leaking for over a year now. In the past, I have had leaks and got all bothered by them. Now, if it isn't splilling on to the driveway I'm not too concerned with it. I just make sure I check the oil level and over flow bottle every now and then. I'm adding about 6 ounces of oil every 1,000 miles and about two to three ounces of coolant every 2,000 miles. I replaced all the hoses (except for the one that go to the throttle body) around the 120K mark.
Now, that said, I picked up a tool that I haven't even used yet, but will be to try and see if it will help in locating leaks.
I bought one similar to this: digital-inspection-camera
I'm hoping it will help me locate the leaks, so I know where they are before removing everything and "TRYING" to locate them...
Once I get around to using it, I'll let you know what I think of it.
Now, that said, I picked up a tool that I haven't even used yet, but will be to try and see if it will help in locating leaks.
I bought one similar to this: digital-inspection-camera
I'm hoping it will help me locate the leaks, so I know where they are before removing everything and "TRYING" to locate them...
Once I get around to using it, I'll let you know what I think of it.
SS, thanks for your e-mail and camera looks great. I could of used it when tracing the leak. Now, I know I should of remove the radiator to toghten clamps for t-stat housing but I didn't. Like I said,, t-stat was replaced at around 26k miles, radiator removed and flushed etc. Funny thing is, I don't think I even checked those clamps and now I know I should of. I have to say, I hated the mess of coolant while removing radiator. Yes, I had the pan under, rags and still mess was there. So this time I went from the top, lift gas tank (not remove it), removed air cleaner housing and snorkles all the way to throttle bodies. I checked for signs of dry/wet greenish traces of coolant and found one of the hoses to be the culprit, the lower hose on t-stat housing. Clamps were facing forward and was able to tighten them. Lower one kind of hard to get to, but whole t-stat assembly you can move up and down, side to side. I pried it upwards and retighten the clamps. I must say, the bottom clamp was pretty loose. I ran for a while till fans kicked in and seen no coolant or smell coming out, hope it stays that way. Washed the front of engine (waterpump cover) to remove all stains from the leak. It took couple of hours plus tupperware another hour, but now I know it's done. On top of that I replaced a front tire. I'm good to go. Tx for all your comments and replies.
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st1300doug
I maybe should have bought that Moto Guzzi NORGE. No radiator problems there......
Doug, you did the right thing, STs are great bikes. Everything mechanical tends to go south now and than. In 6 years I've owned this bike and 51k miles, I replaced t-stat, that's all besides regular maint. like oil, brake pads and tires. I had a BMW '04 RT1150 prior to ST and to do maint. on that was really challenging. For example, every 40k miles some recomended lubricating input shaft. It requires to take rear half of the bike off to get to it, I'm talking tranny and all. Bleeding those ABS whizzy brakes and even replacing battery (had to remove tupperware and gas tank to get to battery) and parts are very expensive as it is with anything European. Guzzis I like myself but not enough dealerships around and I imagine parts are scarse and expensive as well.
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That's good to hear. Just know that they still come lose over time, so in about 20 to 30K, you could be in there again!...
I'm sure there are plenty of other issues that would well make up for them!~
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