Hey im out of town on a ride no manual no shops open. I was wondering if any body cpuld help me try to figure out how to bleed my radiator. We have narrowed it down to bleeding the radiator. I can find the nipples
can some one helop please

You could pull the lower hose off.May I ask-what are you trying to do?Okay-here's what you do-Look down on the left side down there under the Belly fairing(remove that).You will see a unit with a hose coupled to it(radiator hose)There is a bolt right smack on the face of the "plate"(water pump) that connects to the engine there-the bolt is right below the hose fitting(not at the clamp,but further back on the unit part(water pump).Remove that-that's the drain plug.(not the mounting bolts securing the pump to the engine).Removing the radiator cap will probably help it to flow out quicker.The cap is on the right side under the mid-fairing.To open,turn counterclockwise to the first stop,then push down and continue turning.DON'T open when engine is hot!!!50% soft water,50% coolant(3.6 quarts total for empty radiator)Pour in SLOWLY to allow all AIR BUBBLES to escape-Start engine with cap OFF.Run till NO MORE BUBBLES appear.Tap the radiator hoses to dislodge any trapped air.Stop the engine,and add coolant UP TO THE RADIATOR FILLER NECK.Replace the cap.Start the engine-run until the fan comes on,then shut off.Check the reservoir level after she cools off.Add to the full mark on reservoir.

* Last updated by: blue07 on 4/18/2009 @ 9:14 PM *

Thank you all so much i greatly appreciate your help. thank you so much

Hub wrote:

Again, if you want to fully flush, take gallon of distilled water and pour it in so you wash the drops remaining where now you have distilled drops remaining in the jacket/cavities.

Would running the motor a while to circulate the distilled water improve the rinse?

Now, once the impeller whips up the sucking effect, you should not see a drop in fluid but just a turbulence of swirling water. Key off soon or the water will rise getting hot and expanding.

So it is okay to run the motor with the cap off the radiator to watch what is happenning in there? The circulation won't cause a spill or splashing?

One thing I discovered was that the rubber tubes on the right side hold quite a bit of fluid, even when everything is drained. Best to disconnect them at one end and drain them. I don't believe this is suggested in the service manual, but if you don't do it, you're keeping maybe a cup or more of the old fluid that you're trying to get rid of. -bg

Thanks, all. I have it flushed and I did remove the left hoses to let the fluid out both while draining the coolant and the pure distilled water i used to flush the system. Those hoses do hold over 8 oz of fluid and the SM does not say anything about removing them to drain. I was thinking about removing the 2 hoses that go to the water pump to empty every last drop out but I decided against it. Looked like some small chunks of sand had collected around the top of the hose and I didn't want to take a chance on having that fall in. I could have removed them right from the water pump but it seemed not entirely necessary. Maybe next time.

I noticed that the distilled water drains a lot slower than the coolant. I actually had to squeeze a hose to get it to start running out of that small hole. I suppose the water has a much higher surface tension than the coolant does...at least I hope that is what was going on.

* Last updated by: Rook on 9/6/2009 @ 9:21 PM *

^^Yeah, sometimes the stuff just doesn't want to flow out of the drain hole if you have the cap on the radiator.

It really bares mentioning that if you flush your system instead of just empty it and refill it, you will have a little mystery to solve. See, it is not possible to remove every last drop of the distilled water flush and there is enough left in there to throw off the 50/50 mix of coolant and distilled water. I know because the coolant I mixed up floated four balls in my antifreeze tester but after running this stuff in the bike it would only float 3 balls. The coolant in the reservoir was not affected because it apparently does not circulate unless the fluid in the radiator drops in level.

Best thing to do would be to measure the volume of flush water that is removed including a full reservour. Subtract that amount from 3.8 liters which is the capacity coolant system. The difference equals how much pure water is trapped in the system. You know you will need to add an equal amount of pure coolant right away to maintain a 50/50 mixture. Something like that - Worth a try and maybe you will avoid putzing around draining the whole system again to richen up the coolant.

* Last updated by: Rook on 9/7/2009 @ 8:52 PM *