coolant blowout!

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May 25, 2012
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so, went riding to work. after work continued home and got off to get some food for 10mins. got back on and watched my temp rise through the roof, up to 120 + it rode within seconds. then started to steam up and got off and was pissing coolant out. im spewing to say the least. anyone else had this happen? and what was the outcome. i understand it will be fixed etc, but i had to ride an extra 5mins with the bike reading almost HIGH, as the delearship couldnt get my bike, lucky i was that close to home! could there be any engine damage off this incident? id like to know as you dontp ay top dollar for this bike and expect shortcuts. with little to no coolant and riding for the 5mins i did, could it make the head form differently? anything else i should know so i can tell the delear? thankyou
 
I did that once on my ZX10R in a Las Vegas heat wave traffic jam. A couple of weeks later I noticed I had a very small head gasket leak, which I pretty much attributed to the boil over, when you get it fixed have the mechanic check for head gasket leaks, if you have one it should be pretty obvious.
 
Yea, you might hear it at start up after the bike is cold. Sometimes air will pass out the gasket as the engine cranks, and force coolant out as well.

Mine hit 228 last week in traffic! Snaking around through the Denver area. I am going to pull the fairings and replace fluids with water wetter.

I normally keep my bikes near a heater in winter so I don't worry too much about freezing.
 
Can't blame the bike when you're sitting in traffic. Shut the engine off. Haha.

230 shouldn't damage anything. 260 will, In my limited experience. It's going to purge out excess coolant when it overheats. Refill when cold and let it purge that on a normal ride.

I avoid traffic like the plauge. This bike and a few other sportbikes hate traffic. Going to the extremes like the Panigale has, is going to have drawbacks. In this case lightweight fan, or no fan at all.
 
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I doubt you've done any damage as long as you didn't actively run the engine without coolant.

Check to make sure the coolant fan is working correctly. Very often the bikes I work on that overheat in traffic have a defective fan or an open (broken or damaged wire) in the activation circuit.

Cloner
Desert Desmo LLC
 
How will I know if any damage to engine has been done from the quick run I did with the temp on high? I had no choice I had to get it home I was 5mons away. What's the worst it could've done? Will I know straight away? Should I get them to check anything
 
I doubt you've done any damage as long as you didn't actively run the engine without coolant.

Check to make sure the coolant fan is working correctly. Very often the bikes I work on that overheat in traffic have a defective fan or an open (broken or damaged wire) in the activation circuit.

Cloner
Desert Desmo LLC

Scott,
How do you check that and how do you check for proper coolant level?
 
Scott,
How do you check that and how do you check for proper coolant level?

I check the level by shining a bright torch on the bottle whilst holding the torch in very close proximity to the window of the bottle.
Have the bike up-right and give it a good shake from side to side.
(Don't drop the bike when shaking it)
When you get used to it, your eyes will become accustomed to seeing the coolant level going up and down:)

I takes some practice, but it's much easier with 2 people;)
 
so, went riding to work. after work continued home and got off to get some food for 10mins. got back on and watched my temp rise through the roof, up to 120 + it rode within seconds. then started to steam up and got off and was pissing coolant out. im spewing to say the least. anyone else had this happen? and what was the outcome. i understand it will be fixed etc, but i had to ride an extra 5mins with the bike reading almost HIGH, as the delearship couldnt get my bike, lucky i was that close to home! could there be any engine damage off this incident? id like to know as you dontp ay top dollar for this bike and expect shortcuts. with little to no coolant and riding for the 5mins i did, could it make the head form differently? anything else i should know so i can tell the delear? thankyou

I had this SAME issue!

I was on the freeway when I saw the "HIGH TEMP" warning on my dash. engine reached 245 degrees. I pulled over as quickly as I could. I may have been riding for 5 minutes total as well.

Long story short, it took the dealer two shots to fix the issue. The first time they had the radiators inspected/cleaned, the oil/water heat exchange replaced, and put the bike back together. Within 400 miles, same problem. This time I was lucky that I had pulled over to grab a bite to eat. As I was walking away, I heard fluid splashing only to find that coolant was gushing out the bottom of the bike.

Dealer had to replace the radiators, oil/water heat exchange thing (don't know what its called) and the crank cases and heads.

Its been fine since (besides the oil leak I have, ugh!).
 
After the Dragon Lady came out of the bike hospital (nasty lady did u turn in front of us) she did the same. It turned out that there was an airlock in the radiator. Once she was properly bled the problem went away never to surface again.
 
...., I've been through all kinds of nasty temps--some while just baking in stop and go traffic and I've never seen anything above maybe 228? Never seen the High Temp warning.

Sounds like perhaps your fan didn't come on.
 
This bike is already a very hot-running bike. IMHO, NEVER run it if you are leaking coolant, or have a high temp light.

Pull over and have it towed home.

Riding/driving this bike or any vehicle with a known cooling issue is not a good idea.
 
And yes, you should get everything checked. Tell the dealer what happened and have them inspect it.
 
Yeah they are, what would be the main things to check in such instances? Head and head gasket would be the things that come to mind first. Will you know if there is any damage done to either ? If so I will be getting them replaced under warrenty
 
also with the coolant going all inside the fairings etc, will it damage them? havnt really had to deal with this before, as far as i know it should just wipe off ok.... ?
 
My friend just made me aware that the aluminium for the block and the heads could be soft as butter now and to get that checked? Should this be the case? I was made to ride it for 5 mins roughly with the temp on High could that do this? Either way I'll get it checked
 
Coolant is ok with paint. Just flush them or wipe them with wet cloth when you can.
They are not like brake fluid....
 
My friend just made me aware that the aluminium for the block and the heads could be soft as butter now and to get that checked? Should this be the case? I was made to ride it for 5 mins roughly with the temp on High could that do this? Either way I'll get it checked

Take it to the dealer and explain what occurred. Have them check everything (although a good shop should already know what to look for).

Good luck.
 
Don't sweat it.

If your head gasket/head was hurt, you'd know it.
-oil coolant leaks from the head/case junction.
-oil in coolant
-coolant in oil
-run terrible
-tons of smoke all the time
-excess consumption of fluids.
 

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