Ugh - changing coolant on my 2001 VFR and I mixed up the two bolts that drain: the cylinders the water pump housing (main drain) Same size, same copper crush-washer, but one is about 2mm longer (an un-threaded tip) I'm thinking the longer is the cylinder drain... Thanks
Yep, that's what I figured (thanks for your input). And...the stamp on the head of the two bolts was different: the short one had the same "C" with a . (dot) in the middle as another bolt on the pump housing; the other had some sort of hieroglyphics. And, I speculated that the extra un-threaded tip on the other was to be used as a "finder probe" given that its location (on the underside of the Left Front cylinder, going straight up, and with limited sight-lines) was to be used to poke around to find its home without buggering the threads. Anyway, that's where I put them and all seems well after running it up to temp in testing.
They are actually supposed to be the same length - 12mm. I would replace the one with the completely knackered threads, at a minimum, and get new sealing washers.