This is a HOW-TO from the zx14ninja.com forum. It was posted by NIBROC_ZX14 on 7/15/2007.

Well went for a spin today and was ruined when a stone decided to penetrate the radiator. I was miles from no where didn't have much to fix it with & of course all the old wives tales came out.

1. Chewing gum....(Like WTF is that) It melted within 10kms

2. White pepper....I tried that and all it did was spray out the pin size hole and paint the bike brown.

3. Egg white....Does this really work? (I didn't get to try this one)

4. Last but not least and hard to find...Radiator putty...it worked with radiator cap released but i don't think mileage would be a great thing to be done

Has anyone tried any of these before or have any other tales of fixing? Its always good to have knowledge that does actually work.

Cheers

Corb. (NIBROC Backwards...)

White Pepper outcome

Back in the late 70's I blew a hole in the radiator of my '76 Suzuki water buffalo. I don't know what it was that caused it(the hole actually looked like it blew out, not in, and it was tiny) but I was young, stupid, stuck and didn't know what to do. I went to an Arco station(sounds almost as long ago as the GT 750) and a guy there sold me a brown bottle of radiator sealant that he said would fix any hole. Bikes with radiators were just a bit unusual. The goo looked like a bottle of rabbit turds in A1 steak sauce and I was mucho skeptical but I had nothing to lose a hundred miles from home. I warmed the motor back up, dumped it in hot, and it WORKED for another 5000 miles. I actually grew to have confidence in it for no good reason, but it lasted and I kept trusting it because I was young and optimistic. Whatever it was, it was great. When it finally went, the now brown coolant blew out all over everything, but before I got too far. I learned to solder a radiator that day. Little did I know that radiators and bikes and the lack of cooling fins would be the way it is, as that bike seemed like science fiction back then.

I love the white pepper concept, even as a myth. What's next, Kao Pectate? If I were stuck even now I would try just about anything to get home. I know a guy that drove a splinter of wood into a hole on his '69 Charger and at least got home....not bad, right?

And nibroc looks like he poured Portland in the radiator.

I believe that brown guck was called Bar's Leak. We used it in auto radiators alot back a few years ago.

I just bought a 08 14 and last year got a hole in my zrx and was lucky to find some bars leak it got me home but I still had to get it repaired, but now I carry a bottle in my bike but where to put it on the 14(absolutely no storage like the zrx)

I put a track stud into my rad on my sled a long way from home . A old man gave me eggs and told me to use the whites . IT WORKED . Go figure . I rode 120 miles with 4 egg whites filing the hole .

Cox radiator Guard-I never worry about punctures.She's had a few hits-but hasn't popped yet.

* Last updated by: blue07 on 6/25/2009 @ 10:41 PM *

The best fix for a ZX-14 radiator is prevention - mount a radiator gaurd on the bike, there are many available ( I went with a black one on my black bike - cant even see it) MUCH cheaper than any radiator repair. I noticed on the old forum that there were many owners holeing their radiators with rocks and road debris - I let them make my mind up for me - one of the first mods I made on the bike, and it has taken some big hits with no damage to the rad. If I remember right it was around $70 with shipping.

Paladin - Where did you purchase you radiator guard?

I got mine at Cox racing, here is a link
http://www.coxracingroup.com
they make guards for many bikes, fast shipping too.

Thanks, Paladin.

I have one on order from them. -bg

Damn!!! I wish I had read this last week! I would have been sold on the guard. I always thought it was something for people with ZX-10 front fender. I was having following a BMW 1000RR this morning carving at triple digits speed, got rock hit by a rock on my hand and thought nothing of it... when we stopped for lunch she started squirting all over the place!!! Tried puddy, it didn't work but we made it to the next town and bought some "radiator cement". I rode a little over 50 miles with it and the problem seems fixed. Now I gotta purge my radiator and spend some $$ on engine ice and a radiator guard!

What's the best as far as fitment? R&G or Cox?

BTW, if you take long trips or ride solo you better get one, cause a leaking radiator is a pain!