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Coolant Question

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etcthorne

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Location
Virginia Beach, Va.
I have 4600 miles on my Bandit. This past week, it's been unusually hot in Virginia Beach - upwards of 100 degrees for about four days. I didn't do much riding, but one day I got stuck in some pretty heavy traffic and it was REALLY HOT!

The fan was coming on and the bike was running perfectly. Next day, went for a ride in the morning and noticed the engine seemed to run a bit hotter than I remember, heating the inside of my legs pretty good even while doing a long 45 mph stretch. When I got off for a few minutes, the top radiator hose was too hot to touch. I don't remember it ever being like that, and I pay close attention to little things like that.

Anyway, put her on the center stand in the garage and checked the coolant level (which I do weekly). I had to add about 8 oz of 50/50 prestone (aluminum safe) just to get it to the "L" mark.

My question is this - the bike runs perfectly and never misses a beat. There are NO leaks underneath her, no matter how hard she's been ridden. Is it possible that it finally heated up enough to work some air out of the system and draw from the overflow tank? It honestly doesn't leak anywhere! I'll keep a closer eye on it for now, but this is a bit strange.
 
etcthorne said:
Is it possible that it finally heated up enough to work some air out of the system and draw from the overflow tank? It honestly doesn't leak anywhere! I'll keep a closer eye on it for now, but this is a bit strange.
Click to expand...

I just had mine serviced (7,500 mile) and was surprised to learn that it needed a litre of coolant (well, they charged me for a litre - it probably needed less than that but they charge everything in full units). I know the level was good before a recent trip to Amsterdam, but coming into the city the traffic was gridlocked and the bike got REALLY hot - fan cutting in and out for about an hour and a half. It was a nightmare ride. I didn't check the level myself when I got back as I knew the bike was being serviced but I never saw a sign of a leak/overflow and a friend following me would have seen steam coming off the bike if it had been overflowing when it was hot.

I'd come to the same conclusion as you - that heating up that much forced pockets of air out that had been there from new. It's reassuring to hear that someone else has found the same thing but I'll have to keep an eye on it too.
 
Thanks Sproggy. Didn't know it got hot enough to do that in the UK :rofl:

I think what you and I experienced is truly a "bubble" in the system. Mine at 4600 miles after a VERY HOT traffic day, your's at 7500. In both cases, no sign of leakage, overflow, overheating, etc....

I went for a pretty spirited ride this morning, and although it wasn't nearly as hot today, when I got off I could at least keep my fingers on the top radiator hose. I swear that right after those hot traffic stops though, that the bike was running hotter than it normally did - even at a constant 45 mph I could feel the heat on the inside of my legs. This hasn't been a normal thing with the Bandit.

I think my pipes also yellowed a little from this incident.

I'm keeping a VERY CLOSE eye on that coolant level from now on.


Thanks for your input!!!!
 
Is there a burping procedure for the Bandits? I know the Stroms have one and if you don't follow it exactly then you do in fact end up with air pockets here and there.
 
Good question about there being a "burping" procedure. Perhaps Joe or someone will chime in.

I really wish there was a temp gauge on this Bandit, or some other way of monitoring the temperature other than the idiot light that tells you when it's too late, or frequently checking the coolant level.
 
etcthorne said:
Thanks Sproggy. Didn't know it got hot enough to do that in the UK :rofl:
Click to expand...

Get your atlas out - Amsterdam isn't in the UK.........:doh:

But earlier this week we had temperatures in the high 70s in London so it does happen occasionally. You'll be happy to hear that things are back to normal now - 60 degrees and about to rain. Wet ride home predicted :-(

etcthorne said:
I swear that right after those hot traffic stops though, that the bike was running hotter than it normally did - even at a constant 45 mph I could feel the heat on the inside of my legs. This hasn't been a normal thing with the Bandit.
Click to expand...

You'd expect that - the engine and cooling system will have built up a lot of excess heat while stationary in traffic and it'll take a while to lose that heat - big lumps of metal don't change temperature particularly quickly! Depending on the ambient temperature and how hard you're working the engine after you start moving again it would probably take a few miles to stabilise at normal operating temperature. The fan will keep the heat within bearable (for the engine) limits at idle but the engine will still be much hotter than it would be during normal riding.
 
An easy way to get trapped air out of the cooling system would be an excellent topic...
 
whitesands said:
An easy way to get trapped air out of the cooling system would be an excellent topic...
Click to expand...

It is really easy - wait for a hot day (say, temperatures in the 80s or above) and leave the bike idling for about half an hour. That should do it :mrgreen:

Sounds a bit stupid but that's the circumstances under which etcthorne and I 'burped' our systems and it needs no special tools.......
 
sproggy said:
It is really easy - wait for a hot day (say, temperatures in the 80s or above) and leave the bike idling for about half an hour. That should do it :mrgreen:

Sounds a bit stupid but that's the circumstances under which etcthorne and I 'burped' our systems and it needs no special tools.......
Click to expand...
Page OB-12 in the service manual will tell you how to do it:sun:
Ive had rad. off several times and its really wild how much more
fluid it will hold using this method:rider:
rworm
 
rworm said:
Page OB-12 in the service manual will tell you how to do it:sun:
Ive had rad. off several times and its really wild how much more
fluid it will hold using this method:rider:
rworm
Click to expand...

From the manual:

Air Bleeding From the Cooling Circuit

1) Support the motorcycle upright with the center stand.
2) Lift up the fuel tank by removing the mounting bolts.
Refer to “Fuel Tank Removal and Installation in
Section 1G (Page 1G-9)”.
3) Place a rag under the thermostat connector.
4) Pour engine coolant up to the thermostat connector
inlet
5) Slowly swing the motorcycle, right and left, to bleed
the air trapped in the cooling circuit.
6) Add engine coolant up to the thermostat connector
inlet.
7) Start up the engine and bleed air from the thermostat
connector inlet completely.
8) Add engine coolant up to the thermostat connector
inlet.
9) Repeat the 6), 7) procedures until no air bleeds from
the thermostat connector inlet.
10) Close the radiator cap securely.
11) After warming up and cooling down the engine
several times, add the engine coolant up to the full
level of the reservoir.
! CAUTION
Make sure that the radiator is filled with
engine coolant up to the reservoir full level.
12) Reinstall the removed parts.

Interesting - it's a pretty safe bet that they don't perform step 5 on the production line! But then presumably they fill the system under pressure somehow. Didn't have the desired effect on mine or etcthorne's, though.

I'll be trying this when my headers arrive as the radiator has to come off to fit them.
 
etcthorne said:
Rworm: Could you give us a brief synopsis of the procedure??? I don't have a service manual.
Click to expand...


From the service manual,

Air Bleeding From the Cooling Circuit
1) Support the motorcycle upright with the center stand.
2) Lift up the fuel tank by removing the mounting bolts.
Refer to “Fuel Tank Removal and Installation in
Section 1G (Page 1G-9)”.
3) Place a rag under the thermostat connector.
4) Pour engine coolant up to the thermostat connector
inlet.
5) Slowly swing the motorcycle, right and left, to bleed
the air trapped in the cooling circuit.
6) Add engine coolant up to the thermostat connector
inlet.
7) Start up the engine and bleed air from the thermostat
connector inlet completely.
8) Add engine coolant up to the thermostat connector
inlet.
9) Repeat the 6), 7) procedures until no air bleeds from
the thermostat connector inlet.
10) Close the radiator cap securely.
11) After warming up and cooling down the engine
several times, add the engine coolant up to the full
level of the reservoir.
 
OK, this is probably a dumb question, but do you check the coolant level with the engine hot or cold?
 
I'm a little unclear on the burb procedure, so I'll leave it alone for now (unless there's somebody in the Virginia Beach area who wouldn't mind drinking a beer while supervising me doing it).

As stated, I added the 8oz. of coolant after the traffic stops in hot weather. Lately, and this might be because this is the first summer I've had the Bandit and I don't know what to expect with outside temps going up, even going 45mph down the road if it's 90 degrees outside, I feel a lot of heat on my legs. When I get off the bike at a stop, the radiator hoses are so hot I can't even touch them for more than a second. I have no high temp lights, no leaks, and the coolant level has stayed at full since I filled it up. There are no performance issues with the bike. If anything, it's getting quieter and smoother as I move on in the mileage (about 4750 now). This bike does throw some heat though when the outside temps get up there. I don't remember anything like this when I was riding and the outside temps were in the 50's.

Anyone have a "seat of the pants" feeling that their Bandit runs a little hot, or is it just to be expected? Reminder - I have a cruiser (V-Twin) riding history, and the only bike that actually cooked my legs to this point was my VTX-1800C when it was hot outside - YEAOWWWWW
 
I feel the engine heat but it don’t seem to be excessive, however the heat off the pavement makes it feel like I’m sitting in a oven, combined with both it is darn hot here in Texas on a mid day ride, does your fan seem to cycle properly?
 
etcthorne said:
Anyone have a "seat of the pants" feeling that their Bandit runs a little hot, or is it just to be expected? Reminder - I have a cruiser (V-Twin) riding history, and the only bike that actually cooked my legs to this point was my VTX-1800C when it was hot outside - YEAOWWWWW
Click to expand...

The engine is setup from the factory to be "Euro 4" compliant. Lean mixture/low emissions/catalytic converter. It's going to run hot.
 
Around this time of year the heat question probably comes up on message boards for nearly every type of motorcycle.

When it's hot outside you can feel heat come off the engine...But that's pretty much on any bike unless there is a fairing set up to direct heat away from your legs...

With the Bandit being a big cc naked bike there's really no way to get around the heat coming off it...It's going to hit you but the advantage to that is at least heat is escaping the engine and not being trapped between fairings...

It's been very hot in Texas this year with very humid 100 degree days and it seems like the fan on my Bandit has come on less this summer than my RC51 would in winter...Even after long rides on these hot days, hitting several stop signs on the way home to get to the long slow drive to my garage and waiting for it to open so I can pull in the fan has come on only a few times....Wow that fan puts out alot of air too.

By comparison to other bikes the Bandit seems to have a very good cooling system.
 
With your fan cycling properly that shows the bike has cooled back down to a cooler temp when the fan shuts off, I would think every thing is normal.

At night I feel very little heat coming off the engine even when stopped but during the day when I stop the heat is much more noticeable, I have had to add a few ounces of coolant since I’ve had the Bandit but so far every thing seems to be fine even on the hottest days.

If you are still concerned about the temp talk to your dealer and see if the Bandit stores any temp info, if it does then swing by there and let them hook it up and see what temp it has been running at.
 
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