What you should investigate here first depends on this, was it overheating while riding or only when you shutdown? A couple of questions, was ambient temperature higher than normal or did you spend a lot of time stuck in traffic? Neither one should make a difference if everything is normal but if your cooling system was already borderline this could push you over the edge. Were you low on coolant, recovery tank on left side empty? That would do it under the right conditions. How old is your coolant, typically it needs changing each 24 months, no longer than 36 months. Again, this should not cause an overheat unless you were already marginal. You said the cooling fan was on, did it kick in by itself or do you have a manual fan switch?
When you shut the engine down, coolant temperature can soar as you stop the water pump and the airflow through the radiator. If it was not overheating while riding, this tells me the basic cooling system is OK but you may have too low a pressure setting on your radiator cap. It may be venting at too low a pressure and you get a boil over. Could have been marginal for some time and you just got her a little too hot today and pushed her over the limit.
Water pump could have failed, or thermostat could be sticking closed , either will cause boil over. If the bike was cooling fine while riding though,(2 to 3 bars lit above the "C" bar) these two do not make sense.
Donny, check the condition of your radiator for damage or airflow blockage. I would then recommend you give the entire cooling system a good thorough once over. Flush the system to remove any internal corrosion products and service with a 50/50 mixture of the appropriate coolant. I buy the premixed stuff, make sure it's safe for aluminum blocks.
Check all hoses and clamps for tighness or leaks.
Crank that bad boy up and go for a ride, keep your eye on the coolant temperature. If you start going above three bars beyond the "C", something is wrong pull her over and allow it to cool down. After she cools, ride her home and we'll discuss what to do next. If the ride goes fine with noraml temperatures (2 to 3 bars lit) but it pukes coolant again when you shut down, I would replace the radiator cap with a known good one and try again.
Kruz
* Last updated by: Kruz on 8/12/2009 @ 3:10 PM *
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