Well, sometimes bad luck can be seen as luck being on your side.

I haven't been riding the bikes much of late but will take them out of the garage and run them every now and then for a bit to rotate the oil through the engines and give the batteries a bit of a top up.
I start the engines and just leave them for a while, come back, shut them down and put them away.

Just did that again yesterday and left the bikes idling down stairs while I did a bit of work on the house.
I had to wait for glue to dry on something I was working on so decided to go and bring the rubbish bins back to the house that were down the road.
Thank goodness I did!

As I walked past, the 14 was leaking coolant everywhere!
I rushed over and shut it down.
The dash had over heat alarms everywhere.

I think I have escaped damage as the engine didn't seize and wasn't sizzling too bad when I turned it off.
After a couple of hours of cooling down I gave it a very quick turn over and all seemed okay.

I haven't had a chance to take a look yet but I'm hoping is just a cracked radiator hose.

It all was extremely lucky as it didn't happen out on a ride but at the house, and also that I came downstairs when I did or all would have been lost.

I just hope there is no over heat damage.

I haven't had a chance to take a look yet but I'm hoping is just a cracked radiator hose.

Let me guess, this was an unusually hot day? Sounds like you've let the bike idle many times before but maybe not as long or in as hot of ambient temperature.

I store my bikes 8 months out of the year during which time, I never start them. I didn't have the money to ride one season so I let the bikes sit 20 months before starting them. That's one and three quarters years. When I had money to ride again hey started right up. Matter of fact, one of them didn't get started until closer to the end of the season so that was almost two years without starting.

If you don't ride for a couple months, I wouldn't bother with anything except have some Sea Foam in the gasoline and keep the batteries on a maintainer. It's nice to change oil too but if you're just going to ride and store again, that's not very practical. I have dirty oil in the bikes all summer if they're being operated so I doubt dirty oil during storage is the end of the world. I don't think it makes any difference to the bike if it sits or gets started during storage as long as you have the battery on a maintainer. I might have even heard idling for a prolonged period isn't the greatest for an engine. If the weather is cold like here, idling the motor just creates condensation. The only reason to start them up during storage is for the pleasure of listening to them run IMHO.

Gotta remember this is still an air cooled bike. Needs that air to cool.

The next is to top off the radiator, start it and let it run for a few minutes. Say 5 or less. No leaks as in pressurized if temp is at 72C. That's more than enough. As that temp was rising, that's when the backup kicks in at the cap.

Because the clump of hoses at the side stand, that's the little hose at the cap. Pressure hits past 14.7psi [cap preset], that overrides the spring, lifts up the seal and shoots down the little hose... sans blowing the big lines off.

So no leaks when hot... points to the working cap that is within spec.

You know how dogs pee on stuff to mark their territory ?
Yeah, that.

Mad

hope you find an obvious leaking hose or clamp and not from the overflow

If it was a hot day and the bike ran 15-20 minutes, it just overheated. Like Hub said, the radiator depends on air circulation and you only get that riding. The fan is just a backup. It won't replace air passing through the radiator from riding the bike.

Let me guess, this was an unusually hot day?

Sorry Rook. In the middle of winter here so cold rather than hot.

I have always understood the bike should have ram air for cooling but just got complacent on this practice.
My own fault unfortunately.

Haven't had a chance to check yet but will advise...

Hang in there. I don't think you will find a single thing wrong.

What level after turning off was the reservoir?

Finally got some time to take a look.

Hub, did exactly what you said.
Removed side panel, topped up the radiator reservoir (didn't take that much), ran the bike for a few minutes till the temp was 72C and not a drop of leakage.
Looks like all might be okay.
I'll keep a close eye on it on my next ride whenever that may be.

Hang in there. I don't think you will find a single thing wrong.

You know how dogs pee on stuff to mark their territory ?
Yeah, that.

hope you find an obvious leaking hose or clamp and not from the overflow

Thanks all again for your help...

* Last updated by: yannih on 8/23/2021 @ 5:21 PM *

Removed side panel, topped up the radiator reservoir (didn't take that much)

For every action, the coolant goes back [from the rez] back into the radi and tops off... maybe. So you have to make sure it did re-top itself off.

So you have to make sure it did re-top itself off.

Fuck.
It's been so long since I've worked on the bike I'm now making basic errors.
I only filled the reservoir and not the radiator.
Therefore if the res didn't re-fill the rad and I then started and ran it to 72C, I've probably done the water pump.

Plus as much as I love the 14's, the design to get to basic requirements such as the radiator cap suck.
I now have to remove half the side of the bike.

Also Hub/Rook, what temp does the fans kick in?

* Last updated by: yannih on 8/23/2021 @ 11:02 PM *

87-98°C if I look when I hear it come on.

Yep, dropped the ball on another site. I questioned one after the other and kept on saying it was float level when I missed 'it started right up and ran fine.' It was aftermarket intake boots leaking when hot. Right in front of your face and missed the basics. My error not catching it. That's how I stay in shape without getting my hands dirty... making you get dirty, not me.

Thanks Hub.
I'll report when I've checked the radiator.

And I know this is a little basic and depends on the outside temps but what bike operating temp range is acceptable and what over temp would you immediately shut down at (if the dash hasn't already warned you)?

* Last updated by: yannih on 8/23/2021 @ 11:51 PM *

Okay, just got back upstairs from working on the bike.

Right hand side fairing removed and radiator checked.
Happy days, almost full. Just needed a small top up.
So water pump should be okay.
Another quick run.
No leaks.

While the right side was off, also took the opportunity to add a charging lead onto the battery so I can run a trickle charger to stop all this happening again.
Bike now back together.

Unless I've stuffed up basic instructions again that should be that!

Thanks again Hub / All...

Right hand side fairing removed and radiator checked.
Happy days, almost full. Just needed a small top up.
So water pump should be okay.
Another quick run.
No leaks.

I used to get at the radiator cap on my Gen1 by removing the ram air cover only. That was to check antifreeze protection. I wouldn't want to try to fill the radiator that way though.

From the picture, I would have guessed the coolant level in the radiator would have gone down little if any. You never know though. For the water pump to become damaged, I would imagine you would need to lose most of the coolant from the radiator...which isn't that much now that I think about it. Maybe 3 cups. It's just a tube that zigzags back and forth encased in a bunch of fins. Good thing you checked.

* Last updated by: Rook on 8/24/2021 @ 5:46 AM *

... depends on the outside temps but what bike operating temp range is acceptable and what over temp would you immediately shut down...

Short of feeling a hotter than normal temp coming off the engine, we are talking two large ME and EE type books a neighbor left me when they moved. One is all about thermodynamics and I've been reading the abstract [off and on] and the math is not my language. But when you see the letters represent volume/density/BTU and that preset number, you get a picture of the burning of a toothpick, right down to the heat made, time it took, I mean it's all covered via formula.

So I am imagining that the engine block to volume of coolant, times the heat made, divided by the coolant's volume, the case density times outside temp, rpm makes so much heat and that's all she wrote. So you grab the drinking cup, a scale, and build a bike that won't cook out if you let it idle for so long. This is not shadetree fill up so many dixie cups to stop my bike from seizing.

Kind of get where I'm coming from? We've be riding/using/abusing/driving formula vehicles that don't cook out. The formula to turn the fan on, turn the fan off and that thermo move. Formula covers all bases. That, or we'd have one overheated vehicle built over and over again without using thermodynamic theory/formula.

To answer the question, which I can't give you a number specifically, but belching is a clue it did not reach max heat [till now] is so many formulas calculating when that happens. The bikes/cars can travel the desert to the alps without a problem. The formula knows its energy, only heats this much and cools back to this state, heats back up to this [almost] max number and that says a stable number to work off of is why formula builds practically everything. Ohm for example. It's a preset, right? Formula builds the toaster. It only works one way or carbons the food black, blows the house fuse, yes?

We might be short of a jet pilot, but we are dash readers in the heat [pun] of the race. I'm always checking the gas blocks drop. That would grab my attention if I saw the blinking at a bar on the vertical and the horizontal warnings if activated.

Coolant warning [blink] is instant kill once noted. Engine noise is killed as quick. Kind of see the heat backup? Rod/crank inserts can live in this heat [formula] and has heat to spare. But that heat still can rise up to welding onto a crank and lock up or punch a hole in the case. So you can see all those components have a buffer of not reaching a max heat in the chase of a working formula?

Only your BTU knows for sure.

Pretty comprehensive Hub.
Right.
I'll take that as "Shut it down if it feels or sounds in the slightest above average hot"...