Coolant Poured Out During Ride!!!

After 30 minutes of (summer) riding on my 1999 VFR 800 I noticed coolant pouring out between the fairings. I shut the bike down, let it cool, then refilled it with coolant and rode it back home. It stayed cool, but coolant still streamed out.

I took the fairing off and could not find where the leak was coming from. The bike just had it's 8,000 mile maintenance, and on the second ride I noticed the leak.

The fan kicks on at 210 degrees ONCE IN AWHILE since this incident. I was wondering if it is the thermostat, water pump, or something else.

I can't get it to a mechanic without overheating the engine, so I want to get as much as I can resolved so I can ride it to the mechanic.

Thanks
Lexi

 

I took the left and right fairing off, and rode it around the block and could not re-create the leakage, and the fan did not kick on either. The engine got above 210 degrees and no fan, so I turned off the bike.

The reserve is half full, and the radiator is full.

 

Removing the body as in taking off the gas tank and such? How do I go about doing that?

 

Alright. I'll do that. Is it possible to check the thermostat through this process also?

 

Thanks

 

It sounds like you are worried that the bike is above 210 without the fan. Is that stopped or during movement? Also, you don't have to worry about overheating until you are getting close to 240-250 when the red bar comes up.

 

The thermostat is located between the cylinders as far as I know which requires removal of the fuel injection throttle bodies to access. I had to get in there this spring to clean out a mouse nest and it is a pain ITA.

I have a picture here...hmmm the system will not allow me to upload a pic for some reason. Ok here it is at photobucket.com,








And now a shot of me heat treating / cleaning a spark plug!


How do you guys put pictures in your posts? I can't seem to figure it out!


Back to the issue at hand...
I would continue to run the bike with the fairings removed till it starts leaking somewhere. The fans should kick in at 220deg so if it starts to head north of 230deg I would abort.

Is the bike running fine or is it misfiring at all? I really hope not as this would be an indication of a head gasket issue, so would bubbles in the coolant tank while running.:frown:

Keep the faith and check it out!

 

I am going to take the day testing out the bike to find the leak and such. I will let you all know tonight. Thank you ;-)

 

Hey Jethro, I edited your post so your pics would show up. When you ant to insert pics that you have stored, say like on photbucket, you use the tags. :smile:

lexiwinn, be sure to let us know how it turns out. :smile:

 

I found the leak, and it's coming from the radiator cap. I'll do one more test run tomorrow to see where else it might be leaking from.
Thanks XO

 

Thanks Vman!
I will give it a shot and expand my abilities to the next level.

That is a strange place to have a leak, at the rad cap. I don't think I have ever seen one leak on a vehicle, bike or car before. Oh well there is always a first for everything. I'm glad you are getting somewhere at the very least.

Soon you will be back haulin ass as usual, with complete confidence in your machine!

 

Sounds like either the cap is bad or the filler neck has a crack in it and is leaking. I would replace the cap first and see if that stops the leak.