Depleting coolant and overheating
03-27-2017, 01:49 PM
#1
Junior Member
Squid
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2016
Posts: 3
Depleting coolant and overheating
Hey guys, I'm new to the forum. I bought a 98 vtr1000 recently, and I'm having overheating problems. I was riding down the road when my bike starts to sputter, I look down, and the temp gauge is near red. I had the fan going, so idk what was going on. I look to see if there's any coolant, low and behold there's no coolant at all in the resevoir. I add more coolant. Next day I did a complete coolant flush, and added 50/50 Prestone. It's running better, however, teh resevoir is depleted again. I went to the local auto parts store to see what's going on, and they said to check the spark plugs. Therefore, I go change my plugs, and it seemed like a milky residue is on both spark plugs. I also checked th coolant lines for leaks, and there aren't any. Could it be a blown head gasket or does anybody what could be the issue? Thank you
03-27-2017, 02:16 PM
#2
VTR virgin
Superstock
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Posts: 446
Before you leap into a top-end tear down, a quick and cheap fix might be to try a new radiator cap. The cap is designed to hold pressure (up to 20psi) in the cooling system which prevents the coolant from boiling as easily. If your cap is not doing that then you may simply be boiling coolant off and blowing it out through the reservoir as steam. You will probably be able to find a suitable cap for a car at your local auto parts store.
03-27-2017, 08:43 PM
#5
Senior Member
MotoGP
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: NYC
Posts: 5,033
What happened when you refilled and ran the bike? A blow head gasket could show as a milkshake looking overflow bottle. Not always but running a liquid cooled bike with no liquid for cooling can for sure lead to a blown head.
But yes replace the radiator cap no matter what. That is the #1 reason for cooling system issues.
But yes replace the radiator cap no matter what. That is the #1 reason for cooling system issues.
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