VF500F cooling issues

I was camping with MotoCampers.com at Hunt's Lodge outside Tellico Plains, TN, a couple of weeks ago, and after flogging my MiniCeptor around the Cherohala Skyway, Deal's Gap, etc for 3 days I was loaded up to ride back to Nashville when I smelled cooland and noticed my water pump was weeping fluid and steam. Oh oh, Sunday morning in rural Tennessee with a 30-year old bike for which water pumps are not available, now what?
Then Jack Hunt, campground owner and MC guy from birth, told me to take off the radiator cap (after it cooled), pour a tablespoon or so of black pepper in the rad, and leave the cap on but loosened. I was skeptical, but in fact rode home 200 miles, including a hundred interstate miles, with no leaks and no overheating!
Last weekend I put the bike up in the garage, tightened the rad cap, and ran the bike up to temp. Again, no leaks. So I rode it about 50 miles, and the temperature gauge got well into the hot end, as it has always done, when I was in city traffic, but still no leaks at all.
WTF? The only thing I can think of was that, on one of the weekend twisty rides I stopped and topped up to the top line (I thought - hard to see) of coolant. Could I have overfilled the reservoir and created an overpressure situation, leading to a temporary leak? It's not leaking at all now.
Any feedback very welcome, and thanks
JohnO in Nashvegas

 

Filling and refilling should only be done at the neck under the cap while the engine is cold, not reservoir bottle, cuz for a number of possible reasons, the bottle could be full while the cooling system itself could be dangerously low.

In your case i think it's smart to drain and flush the cooling system--including the cylinder drains--to get rid of the pepper, which could clog the radiator tube passages. Antifreeze mixture needs replacement every 3-4 years max anyway.

 

Thanks, I'll do that. And Amen to your Fracking comment. Some bad s**t, that.
JohnO

 

The FSM says to top up cooalnt using the reservoir, not at the rad cap.
Despite the book, I've always topped up the reservoir.

 

The Book assumes that the rad cap and line from filler neck to overflow bottle are both in perfect working condition........something you can't expect on a 26 year old bike. Rad caps that need replacement usually show up first as an overheating problem.