Date: 28-03-24  Time: 15:19 pm

Author Topic: FIXED: coolant loss, pressurised system  (Read 2725 times)

red98

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FIXED: coolant loss, pressurised system
« on: 06 June 2021, 08:21:33 am »
jealous of all the attention my boxeye is getting,the mighty thou is throwing all its coolant on the floor  :rolleyes



« Last Edit: 23 August 2022, 08:24:35 am by b1k3rdude »
One, is never going to be enough.....

Ripsnortingvtwin

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Re: coolant loss, pressurised system
« Reply #1 on: 10 June 2021, 07:44:25 am »
it needs the same , then it will be happy again

mtread

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Re: coolant loss, pressurised system
« Reply #2 on: 10 June 2021, 09:34:29 am »
Quote
jealous of all the attention my boxeye is getting,the mighty thou is throwing all its coolant on the floor 

Looks like it's thrown the entire engine on the floor!  :eek

red98

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Re: coolant loss, pressurised system
« Reply #3 on: 10 June 2021, 08:00:55 pm »
spot on you two  :thumbup ...yes its another engine swap for me, 2nd one this year, to answer the next question in advance...Why ?...bike is throwing its coolant out of the header tank after a couple of minutes running, could be a failed  head gasket pressurising the coolant system or worse a cracked head, other problems that i have not been 100% happy with for a while now is a rattling clutch and my own painting of the engine a few years back... the decider was an offer of a free engine from a friend of a friend, no history with it but got in contact with the previous owner on the log book and he kindly sent me the service history, lots of it including a recent big service with a bill for £400 ish and MOT`s confirming a mileage of 60,000 ish which is more or less the same as my bike, my friend has heard it running and it sounds sweet, just bolted it in this evening but still have all the bits and pieces to fit...
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Gnasher

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Re: coolant loss, pressurised system
« Reply #4 on: 10 June 2021, 08:17:15 pm »
Could also just be a knackered pump/drive, restricted rad and or hoses, which I've seen a lot of due to owners/stealers either not using any antifreeze, not enough and just tap water.  I've personally only seen 2 blown head gaskets on FZS's both were down to what I've listed previously and it both cases coolant ends up in the oil almost immediately.

I've never seen a cracked head, on a FZS, tuned R1's oh yes, but not FZS.   All that said there's always a first time  ;)     
Later

red98

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Re: coolant loss, pressurised system
« Reply #5 on: 10 June 2021, 08:49:03 pm »
Hi GNASHER, pump rebuilt 2019 (i think) after the seal failed between oil and water pump, rad is clear and always run with anti-freeze not checked hoses but i will before re-fitting, thanks for the tip   :thumbup ...coolant is not mixing with the oil just getting pumped out of the header tank overflow. will investigate further come the winter when i`am not out riding, got the 600 to do first though , going to be a busy winter  :)
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unfazed

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Re: coolant loss, pressurised system
« Reply #6 on: 10 June 2021, 11:16:41 pm »
Did you check out the thermostat and the rad cap?
« Last Edit: 10 June 2021, 11:17:26 pm by unfazed »

red98

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Re: coolant loss, pressurised system
« Reply #7 on: 11 June 2021, 06:41:12 am »
Hi unfazed, Yes that was the first things i checked, thermostat working fine, the rubber seal around the rad cap was a bit mis-shaped so replaced with a good spare i had, tried without thermostat but still pushing its coolant out of the header tank.
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Gnasher

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Re: coolant loss, pressurised system
« Reply #8 on: 11 June 2021, 06:47:17 am »
It's looking highly likely you've got a blown head gasket, or a cracked head.   :eek  I'm very interested in hearing what the out come is mate. 
Later

red98

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Re: coolant loss, pressurised system
« Reply #9 on: 11 June 2021, 07:42:13 pm »
Hi gnasher.Yes i`am thinking head gasket. when the water/oil pump seal went i let the bike cool down and then rode it home 3 ish miles nice and easy but perhaps that caused some damage...will update this thread when i strip it down to take a look, wont be untill the autumn though, summer for riding bikes, winter for tinkering  ;)
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red98

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Re: coolant loss, pressurised system
« Reply #10 on: 21 June 2021, 06:54:33 am »
replacement engine now in and running, Just have the smaller bits to do now, rad+fan, hoses, exhaust, exup cables, foot peg, gear linkage, tank, seat and no doubt a few other things i cant remember. Bikes on sorn at the moment so i have 9 days to finish the bike and tax it on the 1st july.first ride already planned  ;)
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red98

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Re: coolant loss, pressurised system
« Reply #11 on: 05 July 2021, 10:21:18 pm »
mighty thou is now back on the road  :thumbup ...engine runs good but i think will benefit from a carb balance, clutch is a bit snatchy pulling away, not sure how long the engine was standing for but perhaps the plates have dried out a bit...once the weather improves i will get out for a good long run and see if it improves,if not i have a set of new friction plates ready to go in...happy so far with the engine and its great to get the thou back on the road  :)
« Last Edit: 07 July 2021, 07:49:16 pm by red98 »
One, is never going to be enough.....

kebab19

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Re: coolant loss, pressurised system
« Reply #12 on: 06 July 2021, 09:17:12 am »
Depressingly familiar... my first FZS1000 exhibited the same sort of behaviours. It boiled all the coolant away within my first proper rideout, I still remember the red engine light coming on 30 miles from home! Had to fill radiator with water (I know) and limped home under 4000 rpm to stop remaining water blowing out of the coolant system.  Replaced waterpump, thermostat cap, main coolant pipes, cylinder head (precautionary as couldn't see any cracks) and the radiator to get rid of the problem... £700 to do it all myself with all new Yammie gaskets but guess I learned quite a few new things working on her. 

Concerned that more of these old lumps will fail the same way, as like ourselves they're not getting any younger...

red98

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Re: coolant loss, pressurised system
« Reply #13 on: 21 June 2022, 06:53:06 am »
Not been on here for a while. Family matters and work getting in the way of what i want to do...Have had a little time with my bikes but not much over the last 8 months. The mighty thou was running great after the engine swap but then started burning oil. so i whipped it out again and put the new head on the old engine and that cured the drinking issue, done about 300/400 miles and its now running on 3 cylinders  :( ...i would rather be riding the bike than working on it so it might be time to move it on and get something newer. Great bike though and i would rather keep it....Thinking time required
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red98

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Re: coolant loss, pressurised system
« Reply #14 on: 22 August 2022, 11:05:28 pm »
An update...Good news i still have the mighty thou. :) ....low compression on two cylinders so i took the head off to take a look. i found four valve collets which were not seating correctly and two dislodged valve shims  :eek ....tops of the valves were damaged, collets not reuseable and two valve shims were marked/scored and would not fit in the recess on top of the valve...two new valves,4 collets and 2 shims and all valves reground and all is running super smooth...not sure how this happened.maybe i dislodged things when i swapped the heads. head bolts are below the cams so its a cams out job to lift the head off...clocked up a few hundred miles now and all is well.Just have a small problem with the clutch to sort out and fingers crossed i can have a few more years riding...


been looking for a replacement but at the moment nothing comes close..looked at FZ8, vfr800, bmw r1150r, MT09, Monster, T!00...what ever i look at seams to be a step back...buying a new bike has never been a problem before...
One, is never going to be enough.....

SkidT

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Re: coolant loss, pressurised system
« Reply #15 on: 23 August 2022, 08:16:57 am »
Glad to hear that you’ve got the mighty Thou back on the road. Fingers crossed that you get to enjoy the rest of the summer before anything else needs sorting.
It’s great to hear someone throwing soo much time into keeping a bike like this going. Wish I had the talent / knowledge to do some of the jobs that you’ve done.
It’s true what you say, trying to find a worthy replacement for the Gen1 is no easy task.
The closest I’ve come so far is the new Tracer 9GT. It doesn’t really do it for me aesthetically, but it is a cracking bike, with a bit more leg room than the Fazer. Still nowhere near £9k better than my Fazer though.
Other than the original pricing, I think they got the Gen1 soo right. I’ve had my current one (third) for ten years now. Imho it’s still a good looking bike.



red98

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Re: FIXED: coolant loss, pressurised system
« Reply #16 on: 24 August 2022, 07:00:19 am »
Cheers skidT. It does seam at times that iam going from one problem to another. bikes 18 years old and 60,000 miles so like the rider things are starting to wear out, Top end strip is not that hard and it is just about possible to remove the head whilst the engine is still in the frame,need to go in again to double check the valve clearences on the two new valves, just for piece of mind iam sure they will be ok. Bike running really smooth with great pick-up from low down, Lapping all the valves imo has made a huge difference, looking forward to the long weekend and getting a few hunderd miles done including an 80 mile ride out with my daughter on the back. not been on the back for 13 ish years when we last done the Brighton burn up when she was 13, That was on the 600. bit more power now with the mighty thou  ;)


Really need something newer that i can just get on and ride but still not decided, Got chatting to a guy at Super Sausage who had a Tracer GT and was very impressed with it. Thats on my list aswell but maybe a bit too much of an adventure bike ...
And another thing...Are used bike prices beng hit by inflation aswell as everythine else...Mate bought a 66 mt9 with 5000 miles with dream machine paint,yellow with speed block for £5000 3 years ago. Same bike now is pushing 6000...Or is it just me.The older i get everything seams to be more expensive...
One, is never going to be enough.....