leaking coolant ...
 

2006 GSXR1000 ... around 5000 miles.

I rode a few miles this morning to work. No issues. I get back on, ride about a mile and am starting to smell something like burning coolant. Hmm. I ride a bit farther and come to a stop light and see smoke/steam and think to myself "shit".

I pull over and there is a fair amount of green coolant dripping behind the front wheel, and it was smoking from it hitting the hot header. I sit for a few minutes and it doesn't seem to let up. It's not gushing or pouring out, but it's a healthy drip.

Being two miles from home, I decided to take my chance and limp it back. Keeping an eye on the bike temperature, all looked fine. I'm about a quarter mile from the parking lot and at a 4 way stop, with about a hundred feet of cars in front of me waiting. Eventually the fan comes off and starts pushing smoke all over the place and threw a bit of coolant around too.

I get it to the parking space, the smoke/steam/whatever it is continues to do it's thing for 10 seconds or so after I cut it off, and continues to still drip a little bit. Now there was coolant on the sides of the bike, near vents on the sides of the fairings.

Ugh. So. Ideas? Suggestions as to what might be going on?

This is a few minutes after I first stopped.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...2/6ce26907.jpg


This is once I got back. You can see a little on the ground, and a little running down the sides.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...2/e168b04d.jpg

I pretty much hate this bike. Just DD'ing it until I move in 2 weeks.

Re: leaking coolant ...
 

dude... you have to get up under all that body work. I dont have a slozuki so I am not really sure where the over flow tank is located, but check that out.Could be a coolant line that has a loose fitting or has developed a hole, could be a bleed nipple that has come loose. first things first, take off all that plastic.

Re: leaking coolant ...
 

whoaaaaa, unless you have a "new" yamaha with the cross-plane newness i dont want to hear it.

anyways, check your radiator cap, lines, and fluid level. it SOUNDS like the cap needs to be replaced. and as far as your trip home, as long as the light on your gauge cluster didnt blink red you're good, dont ride the bike again until its fixed though. i have no problem admitting suzukis require a little more maintenance, but saying they're slow just sounds stoooopid

Re: leaking coolant ...
 

Motorcycles are not like cars. When you have a coolant leak, never check the hoses or the radiator itself. Doing so may cause the motorcycle to over heat immediately. Also unlike cars, you should continue riding it and post pictures of the leak online until the leak stops. :P

Re: leaking coolant ...
 

hello... little boy, wake the F up please:thud:

Re: leaking coolant ...
 

haha


check all clamps/hoses and overflow tank.

has the bike ever been down? could have a crack in the rad.

Re: leaking coolant ...
 

The bike was down with the previous owner.

I know it wasn't the best idea to keep driving it, but i had shit to do and couldn't sit there all day waiting for a lift. So I kept my eye on the temp gauge and all was well until I stopped for a few minutes at a 4 way stop.

Just checked on the bike after sitting a while and looks like quite a bit leaked out.

I don't have the place or tools to take the bodywork off to find out, so looks like I'll be taking it into the shop. What shitty timing.

Re: leaking coolant ...
 

actually, if your temp gauge reads accurate, I would have kept riding it no problem. the amount of LEAKAGE is probably pretty minimal despite what it looks like on the ground. Fingers Crossed.

Re: leaking coolant ...
 

It only got crazy with the steam when the fan kicked on ... i think it was leaking, and when the fan kicked on it started spraying coolant all over, instead of a constant drip on one area on the header.

I hope it's just the radiator cap or something, but damn, I can't even see where that crap is behind the fairings.

I'll take a look tomorrow and see if I can't get the fairings off. If not, it's a pretty straight shot to the shop without many stops, so overheating hopefully shouldn't happen.

Thanks man.

Re: leaking coolant ...
 

Time to go air-cooled bud. :beer:

Re: leaking coolant ...
 

^hahahaha... awesome.:thumbup:


http://www.sentex.net/~abiggs/kawasaki/ZED1.jpg
http://www.sentex.net/~abiggs/kawasaki/ZED2.jpg

Re: leaking coolant ...
 

badass ^

Re: leaking coolant ...
 

hello.....old man, i really wish we could ride together one day, like....really, because i have the slowest suzukis of all suzukis, its so slow, people lap me twice in one lap, because its so slow, even old men lap me....twice in one lap, you know why?


because MY SUZUKI IS SO SLOWWWWWWW


wrong

Re: leaking coolant ...
 

dude all you really need is a flat-head and phillips, some common sense, and two or three hours.

Re: leaking coolant ...
 

yeah, totally, you should always just ignore leaking coolant, it only keeps your engine "cool"...hence the term "coolant".

wrong again, leaking coolant is a problem that needs to be dealt with immediately whether you think it could hurt the bike or not. ride it to where ever you're going and park it until its fixed, period.

a dude that throws his so-called knowledge around on this forum and thinks leaking coolant isnt a problem really doesnt help anyone. your 12k posts says nothing, get a clue.

Re: leaking coolant ...
 

oops, 13k

Re: leaking coolant ...
 

I never said it was hard ... but I don't have any cover, or the time as my focus is getting out of the Army in the next 16 days which is much easier said than done ... and at the same time, my bike must be done and not leaking by then.

Ugh.

Thanks for the advice though. And it seems though you have something against MSchu .. but he's my lover from another mother. So I got nothing but love for him!

But you're cool too.


And there's way too much (46oz) of margarita in my stomach. And nowhere for it. Ugh.

Re: leaking coolant ...
 

haha

drink drink drink

Re: leaking coolant ...
 

just pop the right side off and take a looksee. could be just a hose that's come loose, who knows.

Re: leaking coolant ...
 

Seriously, it wouldn't take more than 15 min to strip enough of the bodywork off to see wtf is going on and refill the radiator.

Re: leaking coolant ...
 

little children, feelings hurt much buckeroo?

take time to read and comprehend posts, otherwise I will bounce you out of here for being a foolish and attempting to incite. I don't even want to dignify with a retort to your foolish post... but I will say this, if all you are doing is trying to get to a safe place or to the shop, there is NO REASON the bike could not be ridden... including moister under the tire issue. being cool, stay in school

Re: leaking coolant ...
 

dude you couldnt hurt my feelings here or anywhere so stop trying, and you act like this is middle school or something, someone throws out a little shit talking and you want to "bounce" people.....really?

ill take another infraction, thanks

Re: leaking coolant ...
 

the word slowzuki hurts your feelings? really? time to go up do you think?

I wont give you an infraction because you ask for it, I'll do it when you earn it. If you keep acting in a childish and impetuous manner I may do just that, an I have never done it to anyone before.

Suffice to say you need to check yourself, all we're trying to do here is help people... getting into disagreements over slang is not only childish but tiresome and problematic.

I dont mind that you like to hang around here with the rest of the knowledge base, but be respectful. we're all trying to help each other. the last thing I want is someone to crash out or ruin there expensive toy.

Re: leaking coolant ...
 

Jeez. ::beer::

Re: leaking coolant ...
 

You need a bike with Dzus fasteners. I can have my fairings off in 2 minutes with no tools.

UNder the plastic, could be a cracked overflow tank, loose clamp, or a pinhole in the radiator. Regardless, it will cost 3x - 5x the cost it should to fix, only because it is a motorcycle.