coolant boiling

[macmac]

Dammned tootin.. 'bout 0 out there right now. Sugar season is getting near though which softens this cold heart up pretty good..

So how wuz winta?

[blowndodge]

In suthun cal it's always good wetha... although its rainin a bit right now mac....

[kenb]

When I get to the point of changing the coolant in my vehicles, I use distilled water to mix. Never tap. And especially never softened. There have been issues with minerals etc in tap causing issues with gaskets and Aluminium. Distilled is less than a buck a gallon and to me is cheap insurance. But thats me. Use whatever you want.

[madcow]

thanks guys, i will use all thse ideas when the thermostat comes in. i had a listen under the tank after having the bike running and could hear an air sound coming from under there somewhere. i havent had a chance to pull it down to have a look yet as work has been hectic at the moment. also whats all this 0 degree stuff? i have had a month of 100 degree+ temps with today being 118 in the shade, i had to work in it and also had to put up with the smoke from the local bushfires.. not a lot of fun....

[macmac]

Is this echuca/moama a real place as i ain't neva' heard no places like that ever. Up heya' in New Hampster USA right next to Maine, between Varmint, it has been dang cold, but i like that kinda weather fine. Ain't no bugs. Ain't no rain fer that matter, but we got some snow.

Now I fer sure can't ride the bike in winter (too much ice and salt), but there is other things to do, like sewwin, just ask Blowndodge the "Liberal Buster" (man do I like that noshun)

Blowndodge knows all about my noshuns on sewwing and some other funny ideas I got on livin' life. Ain't that right Blowndodge?

And yeah, I was in sunny Caliland once, but it was too hot to suit me, even in October. More over I couldn't find a single maple tree worth the tappin, and so I just couldn't allow myself to stay very long.

A buddy of mine, I saw there took me into the parks where I saw the best thing I saw anywhere, a great big and wild brown bear!

Funny though the other tourists feared that ol bear, but not me as I have bears right here in my yard anytime they want.

I just look at it as who in the hell am I to say NO to a bear?

And that rain is as distilled water as you can get... Might have a slight acid content, but not enough to bother ..

[blowndodge]

Darn tootin' Mac..

[macmac]

Blowndodge , As yee know I am not a eddyucated man, and so I wuz wonderin' in all ifn' this echuca/moama is some real place, or it is a figment of imaginashun.. I figgure you bein eddyucated in all you'ld know fer sartin. So what gives, is it real like Disneyland or is it sumpin' other?

[blowndodge]

I isnts gots no reezon to say eitha way mac.... culd beinz fer reals......?

[blowndodge]

Australia macster Itins hotter dan HE double toothpicks...

[macmac]

Oh dat be upside down hot! I met a gal from dat new Zealand and her mind wuz gone due to dat upside down heat!

Mista' lemme tell you dat dem wimins ova' dare get on a bike from de wrong side too, and dang nea pulled me ova' getting on the wrong side with out 1 ounce of any warning.. WHOA!

[johnb]

It's a real place. Even has a website.
http://www.echucamoama.com/

[madcow]

yeah its a real place alright, im on the state border of victoria and new south wales way down here in australia. its a tourist and farming town with echuca having a population of approx 10,000 and moama having about 6,000 people. the two towns are separated by the murray river. victoria is currently suffering our worst bushfires in history with at least 70 people killed by fires today, with 118 degree heat and 60+mph winds it was always going to be a shocker of a day, and its not looking to be getting any better for tommorrow. johnb thats a great job of finding the web page although it dosent look a lot like that at the moment as were currently in a 12 year long drought.

[macmac]

Stay safe, the fires made NH USA news last night... Serious bee's wax ain't it...

Don't mind me fooling around, but take my testing for real. I was a foriegn car tech a long time. A radiator is a radiator, a tstat is a tstat.. usually when a system boils off water like yours the T stat is seized, the rad is clogged or there is a bad head gasket taking on coolant, turning that into white smoke (steam) out the tail pipes, and then hot filling the over flow only to take the coolant back out after cooling.....

All of this means over heating no matter ambient air temps.

[madcow]

thanks macmac, i have the t/stat and new cap on order and will clean the radiator while changing those and the coolant, i have no steam or smoke from the pipes so hopefully its not a gasket. we are expecting 200 deaths over the weekend from the fires and still a lot of areas to go. there are a lot of new fires and none of the old ones are contained yet.

[macmac]

I might assume these fires will take precedence over fixing the bike. When the time comes to fix the bike let me klnow what you have, where you are with it and maybe I can save you some time and maybe a buck...

IF the fires are no problem to you directly, which I can't know, and you wish to start on this fix.

BUT only after this test!

Remove the rad screen, Start the engine allow it to warm up fully, with some caution to not get burned feel the rad from left to right right to left top to down.

I am highly suspicious if a clogged rad...

IF the rad appears evenly warm/hot, then move on.

Allow FULL COOLING! Apx 1 hour to be safe.

The first things to do are in order are, drain the rad, pull the gas tank, pull the T stat, flush the system with clean water, via the T stat housing which is OPEN, Engine OFF and cool.

Because i suspect the rad is clogged, pull both hose top and bottom, Either with the lowwer hose, or a substitue hose installed on the bottom stuff a garden hose in that on the bottom and back flush the rad...

Abiout here i would be very interested in knowing what crud if any come out, and if flow rate appears to be you get as much out as you think you put in. Stuff rags so there is little loss.

If by some chance your local water pressure is way high, reduce the flow to be apx 20 psi. Around where I live water psi can exceed 150 psi.

No steam is a good sign out the tail pipes..

A leaking cap isn't likely to pull all these stunts, with out dumping coolant all over the top of the engine in a big way. You would really know it.... Putting on a new cap just makes sence while there.

One last thing, a freak thing, and I don't really think doing this is important, but when the engine is warming up ASAP after starting it, use a stethescope and if you don't have one substitute the longest ratchet extention you own and have a listen to the water pump cover.

Expect to hear a whirring sound. I can't see how the water pump could stop turning since it is geared to the engine, but I suppose it could find some freak way and or impellors could be broken. In that case i am not sure what to expect to hear.

If that were to happen the cooling systems would try to work but backwards. Basicly the flow would stop due to things in the way. If it were a open system with no t stat and no water pump the flow would work, like it did on the old Ford Model T, but it won't because of other parts stoppping flow.