250-500cc radiator hoses weeping...again

whats the go with the rad hoses on the 250/300s?! I fitted new ones on my 300 & the hose with the T piece is weeping at the water pump outlet connection again. also the RHS rad hose leaking slightly too.

I remember looking at others bikes at dealership when I bought my bike & noticed others were leaking at water pump outlet too. mine leaked a little from new but stopped after I rotated the hose a little & adjusted the hose clamp. it eventually started leaking after several years(fair enough for rad hoses) so bought new hoses but the new ones are leaking worse!

have tried hose clamps tight, loose(er), rotated hose & clamp independently, pulled hose off connection a little, hose clamp up & down the hose end, different clamps, even tried some inner tube under hose clamp today but still f#*kin leakin! really starting to shit me off. minor thing I know but it shouldn't bloody be happening!

what am I doing wrong? does anyone use strong/thick zip ties instead & do they work? perhaps 2 per hose? I notice the leaking seems as though its coming from 'within' the hose walls themselves if that makes sense. these are the old school type fibre infused hoses. also noticed that the wr125s have the decent pure rubber connections(which don't leak!) on their hoses so I think it may just be the crappy hoses on the old school big bores. the LHS rad doesn't lose a drop-it has the rubber type connection(where the T piece joins the 2 hoses together) so yeah sort of proves my theory somewhat I guess

anyone else had dramas? think I may just get some silicone hoses unless there is a way of 'rubber dipping' the oem hoses to stop them leaking. anyone have any info on decent replacement hoses? help please this is driving me dippy

If you smooth out the casting flash on the outlet at the water pump you won't have any problem again. Take it off and use a small file then sand it smooth.

do you mean the lip on the end of the connection Doug or is it a casting join? looks smooth unless its facing motor & I cant see it?

The barb on the casting side that faces the engine is kind of distorted and makes the hose stretch too much to conform. After the hose has been on there for a while it gets kinda deformed and probably wont seal up when you reshape the fitting. The time to fix it is either when the bike is new or you're replacing the hose. They may not all be exactly the same but if yours is seeping it's probably distorted

Worked for me too. I bought a new hose and before I put it on I did exactly what lankydoug said. It looked like the pump casting had a small line that runs parallel to the hose fitting and this is what I smoothed out.

ok time for bash plate to come off again, drain the coolant & check it out. doesn't explain the RHS radiator though? tried silicone but leaked under it & that shits messy! thanks gents

pick up some paint funnel filters so you can reuse coolant when doing stuff like this, they are handy to have around. ill just collect the colant and pour back into a bottle thru the filter.

Mine leaked too, until I sanded the casting where the hose fits on the water pump cover. Never leaked again.

yeh ok that takes care of water pump issue but RHS rad remains a problem. does anyone do an aftermarket rubber type(like 125s use) hose for the T junction hose by itself or gotta buy whole new set? can you get rad hoses rubber dipped to make it like the T junction section?

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=161587138612 Do they look at all like this? I got a set of gplus hoses for my 360 two years ago and i tinker taking head off swapping barrels etc no leaks from the hoses they seem top notch.

yeh you can get the red silicone hoses for 300 for $60US delivered which is pretty good I reckon. I sanded down the casting line on water pump cover today so its nice & smooth & round now so hopefully that sorts that one. did notice the cover has a fair bit of wear in one spot so not long I imagine til I need to replace that item. the rad hoses had some indents in them from hose clamps so jus silicone em up(inside the 2 leaking connections of hose) tonight & wil let it dry before refitting tomorrow. may put a little bit of silicone on the water pump & RHS rad barbs when refitting to make sure. also scotchbrited rad & water pump barbs to clean em up. fingers crossed this works or im buying some flash red silicone hoses next!

Im thinking silicone items are soon to be on order.

whacked my old T piece hose back on before thursdays ride & she hasnt lost a drop(touch wood) at either water pump or RHS rad! did sand down the casting on water pump cover & put clamp on facing out from bike so this may have helped too. think the other hose was just deformed from trying so many different positions & wouldnt seal any which way. really glad i didnt chuck out old hoses when bought the new ones-was close to binning em & thought keep em just in case. fingers crossed it holds out. seems all sweet at the moment. red silicone hoses in the future still i think. amazing how frustrating small things like this are & how awesome it is when theyre fixed-me very happy cheers for the heads up on the water pump barb casting boys