Coolant Leak on 86 VFR700

Firstly, new to riding. Bought an 86 VFR700 at the beginning of the season and its been riding great all summer. Recently I've been driving it an hour into Philly for school. On the highway it's fine. As soon as I get off into the city and hit stop and go traffic trouble starts. First the temp gauge goes up and then it starts leaking coolant. I took it apart the other day and tried to inspect the coolant system. I can't see any noticeable leaks in any of the hoses. Could it be anything other than a thermostat? There is also another peculiarity i noticed. There are two hoses running in and out of the coolant reservoir. The first comes from the radiator which is normal but the second hose just runs to the bottom of the bike and stops. Is this thing designed to dump coolant on the road when the reservoir gets too full? Also, how is coolant supposed to get back from the reservoir to the radiator? Any thoughts or opinions would be appreciated.

 

It is not uncommon for the water pipes and thermostat housing to leak given the age of the bike. Just o'rings seal them and they tend to get too hard to seal. They can be difficult to see but if you remove the lower's you should be able to spot the problem. Never a bad idea to just reseal them and chuck a new thermostat at it, four beer job.

 

:welcome:

Yes.

As water (coolant) heats up, it expands. Since the cooling system is of limited volume, the excess coolant goes to the reservoir. When the bike cools back down (and the coolant volume shrinks) a vacuum is created sucking the coolant from the reservoir back into the radiator.

Have you been able to determine where the leak is actually coming from? Is your fan turning on when the bike heats up? It's possible that your thermostat, radiator cap, or fan switch are malfunctioning.

-Jake