After a ride this morning, I parked Moby in the garage, came back out little later and got a whiff of coolant. I know 1300's are prone to leaks, but where is a good place to start looking, coolant level is good, and just a faint smell of it
Coolant smell
- Thread starter RichKat
- Start date
I had my share of coolant leaks, and they can be hard to locate. Your best bet may be to remove the Tupperware and look for signs of dried coolant (color) around the engine. My leaks turned out to be from the larger hoses that connect to the radiator. After changing the coolant I had a hard time clamping them tight as they were a bit dried out. I eventually replaced the hoses and that took care of it. If your leak is sufficiently large, some paper towel underneath the bike may show you where it's leaking - but in many cases the leaks are small and only there when you ride and the system is pressurized.
Best of luck.
Best of luck.
OP
OP
Pulled the plastic and looked all over, no sign of leak, my bike is a 2111, so maybe I should just change out my hoses, time for a coolant change anyway
ToddC
Site Supporter
Tighten all....all the hose clamps before replacing your hoses.
Bet you find over 50% need a slight tightening.
T
Bet you find over 50% need a slight tightening.
T
Is there a suggested torque to which the drain hose should be tightened. That is the one that comes off the most. Folks are afraid to tighten it too much in order to not damage the metal part of the radiator.
Did you look at the thermostat housing? I had a weepy leak on the left hose (big one) - right side off the housing as you look at it with your head under the bike. It caused a little corrosion on the spigot that cleaned up with sandpaper. I also had a drip at the hose to radiator connection (again left side). Many guys simply tighten the clamp a hair. I replaced all hose clamps I could reach with constant tension clamps. Be very careful tightening the clamps on radiator spigots - the metal is thin and you can easily collapse the pipe.
That's a pretty new bike - it won't be made for 89 years.
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Also, don't be surprised if you find a puddle of antifreeze under the bike while it is parked over winter from mystery hoses and slightly loose clamps.
ToddC
Site Supporter
If it turns easily, tighten it. I have never used a tourque wrench for things as small as hose clamps.
But then again, I grew up in a machine shop, so I kinda got a feel for what is too much.....
4 years since I last tightened up BlueSTar's coolant clamps. It's dripping pretty good now,, and the winters work plan will see all (8,,, I think) retightened. It's a bit of work,,, but work patiently,, and it will be done for another 4 seasons,,, cheers,,, CAt'
I tacked a very small drip for weeks last winter. An occasional drop on the floor, toward the front of the engine. Finally bothered me to the point I took the fairing off, started it up and watched from the right side of the bike. Bike heated up, but not abnormally...no leak/drip. Turned it off and decided to watch for a while. About a cup of coffee later, a single drop formed at the lower hose attachment to the radiator...then evaporated away. My guess is it leaked during cooldown, sometimes the drop evaporated away, sometimes several drops made it out to the floor.
It was one of the usual suspects, the thin sheet metal was out of round due to over tightening a hose at some point in the past. I rounded the fitting out with a plastic screwdriver handle, wiped the fitting and inside of the hose clean of anything that may have been there and fastened everything back up. No further leak..
Another long tale about a simple problem....sorry about that.
It was one of the usual suspects, the thin sheet metal was out of round due to over tightening a hose at some point in the past. I rounded the fitting out with a plastic screwdriver handle, wiped the fitting and inside of the hose clean of anything that may have been there and fastened everything back up. No further leak..
Another long tale about a simple problem....sorry about that.
Many years ago I watched an auto mechanic spread black goo on the spigot of our radiator before he slipped on the hose and clamp. I'd guess it was a sealant, though I've used a small dab of silcone grease on the metal spigot to help slide on tight hoses. Not sure why we don't use sealant today...I've mentioned this in another post and do not remember if a reason why sealant is not customarily used any more was posted.
Andrew Shadow
Site Supporter
Permatex 80019, answered way back in 2018 by @The Dan, post #21;
Sealant on cooling system hose connections?
I have that on some of my thermostat housing hoses.
Kevcules
Site Supporter
I would suspect this “goo” is used when re-assembling used hoses on possibly worn or out of round rad fittings. I guess this is similar to using tire bead sealant “black goo” when mounting tires on old pitted rusty rims.
I never considered using this sealant on our prone to seeping rad hose connections. I’ll definitely do that the next time I have them apart. Thanks for the tip!
Attachments
I remembered The Dan's answer that he had used it years ago. But if a non hardening sealer worked then why did it fall into disuse? Are rubber hoses softer and do they seal better today? Is one more tube/can of goop the first thing to go in a shop as costs (mat'ls and labor) rise? Job security? Small leaks in a cooling system are nothing to worry about?
Andrew Shadow
Site Supporter
I can't answer that because I have never been a user of such products, and have never seen it being widely used. In all of the decades that I worked as a mechanic, I have never used any goop to properly seal a coolant connection except as a stop gap/emergency repair until the failure could be properly diagnosed and repaired.
The various connection points of a cooling system are designed to go together and seal at the cooling system's intended operating conditions. If there is a leak in any relatively modern cooling system, and I include the ST's in that generalization, it is leaking because there is something wrong and it should be properly diagnosed and repaired.
In the way of some examples;
If the hose has hardened and can no longer conform to it's mating coolant pipe- replace the hose.
If the hose is damaged because the hose clamp was over-tightened and has dug in to the hose and deformed and damaged the internal sealing membrane- replace the hose and the clamp.
If the coolant pipe is corroded sufficiently that the hose can not conform to and seal all of the small irregularities- repair/replace the coolant pipe, and possibly the hose subject to condition.
If there is a leak at a hard mating surface, the gasket has failed because of over-tightening, or the hard surfaces are warped beyond the gasket's ability to compensate, or there is corrosion in the hard surfaces beyond the gasket's ability to seal them, etc.. Determine and repair the cause of the failure, and replace the gasket.
Relying on goop to prevent coolant leaks is not repairing the leak, but rather is treating the systems in my opinion, which often means that the condition will recur.
I had a hose break on a car years back (bought used). Chevy with a transverse mounted V-6. Bought a hose and new clamps and tried to remove the broken one...and tried and tried. Ended up cutting it off at the radiator and water pump, carefully sliced the remaining sections with a really sharp hobby knife, and spent the rest of the day cleaning adhesive from both fittings while trying to not scratch the surface of either. Back side of the water pump fitting was a real b&*^%.
Another short story long....but it summarizes my opinion on adhesives and water hoses.
I had an ST1300 for 14 years and 130K in miles. The last 6-7 years or so it wept coolant below the airbox I believe, I actually never looked. I did add a pint or so annually through the overflow bottle and saw that as my way of changing the coolant. About the time I sold my bike there were a few threads covering this exact topic real well. It would have been around 2016' - 18' and the threads were very detailed as to what was being done, Mark had done a lot of work around that.
Mine does it when cold