I cracked open my radiator and found metal powder???
 

the one thing i have brushed off since i got my bike was the radiator fluid. Although it is very clean and everything works fine, I am replacing it due to its age.

well I opened one radiator and found what appears to be a ring of aluminum powder on the caps rubber seal....is this possibly normal if the bikes fluid has never been changed?

Not sure what to think right now. I'm going to use some prestone rad cleaner than i have been sitting on forever and then put new fluid in and keep an eye on it..


what do you all think? water pump may be going? normal break in crude/build up:mad:?

I'm going to put a couple pics up later

Well if you had no issues with cooling I would say the impeller was installed a little off and it took some material from the housing.

Clean the system out and keep an eye on it but you should be fine.

It sounds like the PO put Alumaseal in the cooling system to fix a small leak.

Alumaseal has been around forever, like Bar's Stopleak. The original formula is just aluminum flakes that come in a small tube, about 1" x 3".

I didn't like using it too much, better to fix the leak properly. But we always kept several tubes in the toolroom at school.

My thoughts exactly...:D

Argh me too. I am afraid to look.

heres a theory, maybe they put that stop leak in there due to the weeping issue? oh well, all i can do is replace and watch.

thanks

it's one or the other. neither should cause you too much alarm. you're gonna flush the system, i believe. clean that crap off the inside of the hoses where they attach to the radiators, etc. in order to avoid leaks and you should be golden.

--fred

another theory is that the water pump shaft was incorrectly installed when the clutch cover was replaced and the impeller was rubbing on the water pump housing.
This is obviously null and void if the cover has never been replaced.