Looks like I got a blown head gasket. Bubbles in the radiator and bike will no longer cool to normal. All after switching to Waterless coolant. Hopefully I did not toast the piston and rings. No bad sounds, no overheat, just running warmer than usual on a not too hot day had me inspect the radiator and fluid levels. I'm going to swap back to regular coolant and see if temps drop, before I tear down the engine. Actually, I think I'll just flush it good with water and run straight water for the test. FYI, husky head gasket is not available through dealer. Wish me luck!
Only way this was caused by the waterless coolant is if you did not flush/fill properly and had an air pocket or air in the system. I am running the zipty coolant in my 511 and it has helped immensely keeping the fan from coming on as quickly when stopped. It was a big difference and coolant temps are stable.
That's was one of the things I expected. The other was that of corrosion, I'm all about non corrosive stuff, ergo lithiom Ion battery as well. Thoroughly flushed and blow dried, then sat open for nearly a week before adding the Waterless. I doubt anybody could purge one better than I do, maybe as well, but not better without a teardown, I'll save samples. When I did not notice this "improvement" I checked when I got home. I was hoping it just needed a top up, but sadly not the case. I am going to flush out the waterless and see if it still runs warm. I will post the results soon after.
Let me answer that first. I called Cometic and they think they can make a custom one--thicker to lower compression-- for around 60 bucks. He is checking to see if they have the setup to do so, he thinks so. Since yesterday I have been on the phone looking for piston etc also. Was thinking to get a BMW piston to drop down to 11:1 I have been racking my brains on this. What my bike has in common with Quirkey's is aftermarket exhaust and pod mod. I was careful not to alter the flow of the exhaust too much, as in some cases that can cause problems with the heads and valves. I run a single can with restrictor/baffle/spark arrestor. I do believe I flow better than stock, and ecu is supposed to adjust for that. Also have the Brisk plugs. I did not have pinging on acceleration, but the bike did seem to be louder at idle yesterday, can't swear by it, I wear ear plugs. And today without ear plugs still sounds as usual. Might be that running on the warm side changed the tone. I just got back from purging the waterless and running straight water, and the temps dropped back to where they should be. It took longer to reach fan kick on with water, and the bike was already warm from purging the waterless. Once fan kicked on, temps dropped and fan cut off. Fan never cut off yesterday or today with the waterless, even babying at speed. The waterless I pulled today has a blackish tinge and there are black pieces in it, not many, most 1/8 inch and smaller, pieces. What and where that came from I do not know, but I am thinking about my black rear brake reservoir fluid. I'm going to let it cool, put regular coolant back in and check it. I will also take the waterless to a rad shop to have tested for exhaust gas. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, the bike still runs great at this moment in time. One thought is that with the waterless, it may not burp out like the regular coolant as it does not expand. When I changed it, I made sure I got every bit of air I could out, ran it and did it all again. If this is the case, maybe the tiny air bubbles were remaining air bubble that could not burp out proper. And I even tried that yesterday when I tried topping it off and noticed the bubbles. I did not have any cooling or driving issues prior to the waterless coolant experiment. Keeping my fingers crossed
Yea, I think you had air in the system. It does not burp out or expand as you say. Maybe you did not have the air out of the pump area or there was some trapped? Hard to say.
Not all waterless coolants are the same. What kind did you try? At any rate, I have never seen a blown head gasket while using our XF coolants and we get our race bikes really hot.
Well, if it was trapped, that is interesting, as with regular water there is no issue getting it to cool proper. If it was a small amount of water trapped inside a pocket in the engine, that negated the cooling effect of the Evans, well, then you are best advised to drain, purge, fill, run, drain and refill, losing the quart ++ of the waterless to the process. or, it just don't work with our radiator configuration. Meaning, we need the pressure for the system to cool efficiently. Any other scenario I am listening. Regardless, I tried, and it is not for me.
If you have an air pocket at the thermostat it will not open. Thus you will overheat as coolant will not flow. I am not familiar with the TR650 but this could easily be the case. OR you had air trapped between the radiators at the crossover. There are lots of reasons. 0 have anything to do with what particular fluid you had in the radiator. If you had urine, or distilled water, or old rusty radiator fluid. Especially something designed for that particular application.
Mag00, I am very inclined to believe you had an air pocket. I'm convinced after what I have gone though with the cooling system on this bike it is near impossible to purge the air conventionally. I have had the same condition as you where I refilled the system and had it boil the coolant. I believe this is just a large air pocket. Looking at the angle of the head, the routing of the hoses and the height of the radiator there are spaces that just are not going to purge on flat ground. The bike need the front elevated to get this issue resolved. The better answer is a vacuum filler. This will pull the whole system down to vacuum and the vacuum pulls the coolant in. I've been using this for 10 years on cars and it works EVERY time. This is how I did my bike and it has been perfect since. Also your local parts store should have a block test kit for $30. Drain your system fill with tap water and purge. Run the block test. It is a chemical that changes color when exposed to combustion gasses. Easy to do.
I understand that you used the brand Evans, but I was asking what kind specifically because there are many different types of waterless coolant.
Has anybody tried Malcom Smith Motorsports in Riverside CA for parts? Malcom has a long time association with Husky and is also a BMW and KTM dealer to sort of "close the connection" as it were. I bought my KTM 300 there years ago and have been there a few times. Malcom is still there once in a while. I should see if they have the MOSS tool, I suspect they do.
Well, I may very well be the first to do a "pee/pregnancy test" on the Terra. It stayed blue, so all is good. Not the easiest bugger to do. Auto zone lends the tester and fluid. The problem is getting in and vacuumizing the thing. I drained down the radiator, and pulled the lower rubber seal off of a radiator cap and pulled the samples from the overflow bottle. Holy cow it is tough. Even with radiator down, ounce the coolant reaches boiling, it is on. Boiling occurs before the fan kicks on with just water in the bike. So, that leaves the majic bubble or a possible incompatibility with the bike. And it was burped fine, just as in the past, but come to think of it, the bike was on the side stand on the regular coolant burps, and on the jack straight up, for oil and coolant change. But the second attempt at topping and burping was on the sidestand. Is anyone currently running the waterless in a Terra/Strada? Actually, I don't care. The poison is removed and putting tried and true back in. The Evans may not be drinkable for cats and dogs etc, but is is sure nasty on the hands, and even worse in the mouth. Add to the that, should you need to top up in the future, you need to carry it with you. Probably works like a champ in race bikes, especially when you have a full mechanic entourage at your disposal. I was remembering when my brother switched to synthetic in the good ole days, 70's. He tried it in the oil injection system of a TS125 and ended up having to totally purge the whole system. The synthetic coagulated with the regular oil. Synthetic has com a long way in the 40 years, but this waterless hasn't been shook down proper in my opinion, and I, like my little brother, have suffered needlessly by trying the "new and improved" solution to a problem that didn't really exist. This has been a very stressful past 24 hours. Breathing easier now. Secretly, I did want an excuse to open the ole gal up, but glad I don't have to.
I just went out to put it back together after cooling a bit and think I found where the little black particles came from. On the water pump, as I was hooking the hose back up, I noticed odd texture on the WaterPump nipple, almost like corrosion. The Evans has softened the powder coat and turned it to jelly like paint stripper might. This concerns me a bit. Wonder what other things might have been affected. That may be the only isolated spot, hopefully. It sure explains why I had such a hard time getting the hoses off this time. I now remember cussing about it at the time. Worrying I may have to cut them off and buy new ones. And... since after 2500+ miles and not having the particles in the coolant when I changed over, it has to be from the 100 miles of running with the Evans waterless. If I seem like I am bashing the product, well, it deserves it. I, in good faith, was going to use the product, and had high expectations set, and find out it just isn't true, at least not for my application. I was ready to sing praises, but will not for my application, a road worthy, bike that I need reliable long term. That's why I wasn't too real upset about having to go into the bike, I think a lower compression, standard piston will work well, and bring longevity to the bike. Might solve alot of drivability issues as well. Oh well, gotta button up this project. And extended test drive may be needed, hmmm, I know somebody willing to do it LOL.
Still never answered my question. I asked because you cannot typically use Evans coolant in a motorcycle, it is too viscous to flow properly. This was not a fault of the product. If you had put the wrong oil in your engine and it failed, would you blame the oil? We developed our XF to be specifically used in small motorcycle systems and works perfectly. It is manufactured by Evans for us, but is not "Evans". We have a new coolant coming which I designed called XF2 which flows even faster than our original product. Both our coolants can be combined with water in an emergency, but there will be no need to add out on the road otherwise.
I'm not going to argue with you Tinken, Your right, I'm wrong, go have a ball. I'll stick to my paper filters and regular antifreeze and be just happy knowing I am treating my engine good.
