check your coolant level? !!

Capt CF · Jan 2, 2013

Hogdog said:
I did the change to Engine Ice at the recommendation of my dealer, who said all their track Pani customers are running it. They also said there are no warrant issues with it. The new coolant Ducati recommends is Ethylene Glycol, not track legal.

I had to flush with water several times before the coolant came out clean. I got around the front fairing removal issue by purchasing a Harbor Freight funnel set for about $5, and two feet of clear tubing from Lowe's that squeezed onto the end of the funnel. Filling both radiator and reservoir was a breeze by feeding the hose under the fairing and into the inlet. I check the overflow reservoir level using a 2ft Ty-rap fed as a dipstick, it snakes nicely under the fairing and stays stiff and straight in the reservoir.

I did almost the exact same thing - slid some clear tubing on the funnel and snaked it under there. I used a ziptie for a dipstick and then when I got it to a level that was actually within the sight window I fed an LED on a flexible stalk down into the top of the reservior and then I could see the level pretty well through the sight window. Bloody hard to see with just a flashlight though.

zvez · Jan 2, 2013

engine ice it's not track legal for barber, jennings, road atlanta, etc.

Hogdog said:
I did the change to Engine Ice at the recommendation of my dealer, who said all their track Pani customers are running it. They also said there are no warrant issues with it. The new coolant Ducati recommends is Ethylene Glycol, not track legal.

I had to flush with water several times before the coolant came out clean. I got around the front fairing removal issue by purchasing a Harbor Freight funnel set for about $5, and two feet of clear tubing from Lowe's that squeezed onto the end of the funnel. Filling both radiator and reservoir was a breeze by feeding the hose under the fairing and into the inlet. I check the overflow reservoir level using a 2ft Ty-rap fed as a dipstick, it snakes nicely under the fairing and stays stiff and straight in the reservoir.

Hogdog · Jan 2, 2013

zvez said:
engine ice it's not track legal for barber, jennings, road atlanta, etc.

I checked on the Floridatrackdays.com website on bike prep (they cover PBIR, Homestead and Jennings) and state specifically that Engine Ice is sanctioned. The ban Ethylene Glycol, Engine Ice is Propylene Glycol. Still feels slick as .... to me so I'm not sure why but it's OK as far as their site goes.

99DUC · Jan 2, 2013

There are 2 major types of coolant, Ethylene Glycol and Propylene Glycol. Engine Ice falls into the second category and provides cooler running (say 10-15 degrees F) but does not offer corrosion resistance to all metals/solder etc. (hence warranty issues?)

Ethylene Glycol does offer better corrosion resistance to all metals and provides best cooling when mixed with water to a concentrate of 50-60%. (but is not as efficient in cooling)

Pure water offers the best cooling performance but NO corrosion inhibitor.

100% Glycol is best corrosion resistance but poor cooling performance.

Try to keep your coolant at %50 concentration, ie, top up with premixed 50/50!

Hogdog · Jan 3, 2013

99DUC said:
There are 2 major types of coolant, Ethylene Glycol and Propylene Glycol. Engine Ice falls into the second category and provides cooler running (say 10-15 degrees F) but does not offer corrosion resistance to all metals/solder etc. (hence warranty issues?)

Ethylene Glycol does offer better corrosion resistance to all metals and provides best cooling when mixed with water to a concentrate of 50-60%. (but is not as efficient in cooling)

Pure water offers the best cooling performance but NO corrosion inhibitor.

100% Glycol is best corrosion resistance but poor cooling performance.

Try to keep your coolant at %50 concentration, ie, top up with premixed 50/50!

Thanks Duc, good input. so if I read you correctly, the thing to do is run Propylene Glycol or other track-legal coolant for the track only, then swap back for street use between the infrequent track days? What are experienced track/street users out there doing? Thanks in advance for the input, learning more every day.

veck · Jan 3, 2013

I run engine ice or the redline supercool stuff in all of my bikes. Never had a problem at tech inspection for track days or races with either.

zvez · Jan 3, 2013

sucks, nesba and xacttech don't allow engine ice anymore. stt is anything goes in novice.

Hogdog said:
I checked on the Floridatrackdays.com website on bike prep (they cover PBIR, Homestead and Jennings) and state specifically that Engine Ice is sanctioned. The ban Ethylene Glycol, Engine Ice is Propylene Glycol. Still feels slick as .... to me so I'm not sure why but it's OK as far as their site goes.

veck · Jan 3, 2013

I race with CCS and they just ban ethylene glycol. The STT website shows engine ice is allowed for inter and advanced groups. US Desmo also allowed Engine Ice when I ran with them at Roebling last year.

I've found lately that the Redline Supercool (premixed water wetter and water) is cheaper than engine ice so my next flush and fill will be with that.

tinus675 · Jan 8, 2016

Coolant level

I read somewhere else in this thread that Ducati made some updates from 1199 to 1299 based on what customers did, these posts are quite old and i dont see anyone bringing this up on 1299's. But trust me, you can not see the coolant level in that opague bit... I could not see anything so i thought the level was low. I removed the right hand upper fairing, there is enough space to get to the reservoir screw cap and the radiator cap. There is actually an opening in the upper fairing above the radiator cap but not the reservoir filler cap, strange choice.
I filled up probably 250ml using a funnel and flexible fuel line tube inserted from the side when it started overflowing under the bike, that means the level was right but i could not see it.
i will try a brighter flashlight as well.
Anyone with any tricks? I had the bike on front and rear paddocks,is that the problem?

wfoduck · Jan 8, 2016

No problems with engine ice with my Mx bike or my duck. Both bikes only see track use.

ScrapperX · Jan 8, 2016

Use a black light to check the res.

cmh210 · Jan 8, 2016

tinus675 said:
Anyone with any tricks? I had the bike on front and rear paddocks,is that the problem?

I check the coolant level by holding the flashlight directly on the sight window of the reservoir. Shake the bike a little and you should see the coolant sloshing. The bike can be on the side stand or paddock stands.

Buliwyf · Jan 18, 2016

It's not that hard to remove the fairing. They have to come off from time to time anyways. I just use the flashlight and wobble trick, but if I have real work to do, then the bike has to get naked.

The bikes are torn down naked every night at any Superbike race. It's not a ton of work.

marky mark · Jan 18, 2016

Just fill the coolant rez till it tops out, screw the lid back on, the extra fluid will get ejected thru the overflow pipe at operating temp.

Desmophile · Jan 18, 2016

Setting coolant level

Tanks MM,
Hadn't seen this thread before, but wondered how others dealt with this. When I switched to propylene glycol for track day, Liquid Performance Street Bike Coolant and Antifreeze, I used your method because I never thought I could see the level. This seems like the best way to sure you have as much coolant as you can charge the system with. For what it is worth, the LP coolant seems to work fine. Can't say it works any better than OEM coolant, but it has a pretty red color.

Halo2 · Mar 6, 2017

How do you go about doing a full flush did it per manual but only a litre came out of the drain screw.

check your coolant level? !!

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