Need help with coolant issues

[macmac]

My thoughts are you are gaining, but might not be out of the woods just yet.. Get a spray can of Sea Foam if you don't want to pull the plugs, and mist it right into the intake while you crank the engine over, with the Kill Switch ON... So the engine can't start.

This will get at the valves faces and the valve seats right wear they seal... The Sea Foam will cut the varnish and carbon.

If you can pull one plug per cylinder and mist a healthy dose on the piston tops, it will creep onto the rings better than any other way. The thing is you can't crank the engine again with plugs in..

That is because you can't know how much Sea Foam is taking up combustion chamber space... If there is a lot of space taken you get a hydralic lock and that can and will mash steel and alloy..

This little will run by the rings some and end up on the oil, but is so little it won't bother any decent oil made today in 3,500 miles...

I use this on cars, bikes, trucks, boats and chain saws.. Sometimes before i am going to do a engine over haul if the engine runs at all.. It just cleans things faster and better than I can.

Sea Foam has been in boat yards used for storing salt water engine of all kinds longer than i have been on Earth. There is no worse envrioment for engines no matter what they are made of.

A bit OT, but I have used common drinking water to blow off carboned up piston tops and the walls of combustion chambers.

This is steam cleaning at it's best!.... But it won't do for piston rings grooves, which get oil varnish build from cooked on oil.

When I have done both to any engiine i plan to rebuild most of the cleaning isn't a thing I need to detail with scrapers and wire brushes... I simply use the heat involved and chemical to do it for me..

Then there are times i can't because things were allowed to be way wrong, like the engine spent time under water, and needs too much work to get it running, or worse and sat filled with water and then sat over winter and froze... Ice freezing not just rusty...

Since this worked you want to be sure it will remain, so add maybe 3 cap fulls of sea foam per fill up for a while too....

That varinish is a stickey ready to be carbon, and you want it gone..

You can make it with a plumber torch if you want to see it... Oil some junk metal and go cook it hard.... Don't let the oil burst into flame though, just cook it good... In a time it will go to varish, and after that a rugged carbon.

[mncruiser]

Originally Posted by macmac

My thoughts are you are gaining, but might not be out of the woods just yet.. Get a spray can of Sea Foam if you don't want to pull the plugs, .

Went to two auto parts stores and can't find Seafoam in a spray, only a pour in can. The guy showed me some stuff made by Seafoam called "Deep Creep" but that looked to be a penetrating oil. Are you just putting Seafoam in your own spray bottle?

[cactusjack]

Originally Posted by mncruiser

Went to two auto parts stores and can't find Seafoam in a spray, only a pour in can. The guy showed me some stuff made by Seafoam called "Deep Creep" but that looked to be a penetrating oil. Are you just putting Seafoam in your own spray bottle?

I've never seen Seafoam in a spray bottle, either.

[macmac]

Umm that was dumb on my part huh, but yes i re-use all kinds of spray bottles and put in them what I want. Rattle cans cost a lot and sometimes screw up, so i don't buy very many.

I tend to buy gallons or 5 gallons when I buy for a lot more stuff and no propellants.

I also do buy Deep Creep in a rattle can.. I like PB Blaster, but can't stand that smell.

[AlabamaNomadRider]

By now hopefully you have your problem solved. Sounds like the thermostat to me. That or a radiator that is clogged. If the thermostat has never been changed that would be where I would start first.

[mncruiser]

Just wanted to post an update to all this mess and I have been waiting and testing to make sure things were actually good before posting. With all the overheating with the T-stat issue and what I suspect the dealer did to it during their testing, I got the bike back with a horrible ping. The ping was present before the T-stat but way worse after. The local Kaw dealer (who is never a good source of info) just told me to run 2 cans/tankfulls of Kawasaki's Carbon Clean through it which I did just as the season ended last year. It never improved but I was hopeful that it was well worked into the system and maybe, just maybe over the winter, it might improve. Spring came and nothing changed. The ping was so loud, it was embarrassing. My neighbor works at the local Yammy dealer and he told me about their brand of wonder juice called "Ring Free". He told me of the miracles it has worked for customers so I tried a can. That was well over a month ago and I wanted to wait till the 90° degree temps and humidity got here because that is when the bike was at it's worst for pinging. The bike is now cured of that ping and does not do it in any temp. So happy with the bike again. Last year I didn't even want to ride it and was pondering how to sell a bike making all that racket. I can't say for sure that Kaw's Carbon Clean was useless and the yammy Ring Free is salvation, it could've been the combination of the treatments but anyway, A good ending.

[ringadingh]

Im glad to hear you solved the pinging problem, I have never heard of either product that you mentioned, but I'll keep it in mind if i ever run across a similar situation.
Do you think it would have anything to do with the grade of gas you were using? Sometimes switching to a different brand of fuel can also have a positive effect.

[macmac]

If you do one more thing to the bike install a cobra or a tfi fuel modual. If you have one great, if not and the bike is otherwise stock do it anyway.

Let me know if the intake and exhaust are both still stock.
mention what octane fuel you run.

[mncruiser]

I alternate between two gas stations, one is a Mobil and the other a Marathon. They both offer ethanol free premium at 92 octane I believe. I use these stations because they have dedicated hoses for each grade of fuel. The bike is completely stock with only debaffled oem pipes. As I said, the bike runs strong now, seems more powerful and zero pinging, even 2-up.

[macmac]

Yeah, but you did have ping... The one excuse for ping on a 9.5:1 compression engine is too lean a mix. The only reason a 9.5:1 engine needs hi test fuel is to reduce ping because the mix is too lean to begin with!

I agree that it seems costly, when you won't realize much mpre power, and either device settings by the book will be too much, but never the less you will gain a little power, and a much cooler running engine. Probably you will gain some MPG's and over time the unit will sort of pay for itself.

That bike is loaded with bling, why not drop a dime to cool the strained engine down?

[mncruiser]

The Kaw dealer told me the ping was a carbon build up at the top of the cylinders and that his Carbon Clean juice would remove that and stop the pinging. Was this all BS? Why after using Kaw and Yammy's remedies has the pinging ceased? I guess I am not understanding. If this carbon build up was real, could that change how lean or rich a bike runs? I have not tried lower octane fuel in the bike, I am curious if it would start to ping again if I did?

I am ok spending the money, I am just trying to understand why I am doing so.

[macmac]

Well, That damnned hi test gas is what makes carbon, because it burns too slow. If we had 10.5 :1 and up we would really require hi test, but we don't.

Sooner or later, you will have to seafoam again, or get the the TFI or Cobra unit so you can enrichen the mix. The carbon is created from the hi test in an engine not designed for hi test fuel. Ma Kawii is full of beans total BS as to why we need to run hi test.

Both my now stolen 01 and my 06 pinged hard, till I installed TFI units. With the TFI units and better air and exhiaust I gained MPG's and Power.

Carbon has 0 to do with mix. Bit it will raise compression, and cause more problems for the build in carbon. I don;t ever tell another man what to do, but I can't strongly enough reccomend you heed this advise.

Ck is one if the Cobra guys to talk with if you go Cobra, I think Trosco too.

I never installed a cobra yet, but have installed 4 TFIs. 2 were for me.

In any and all cases you book settings will be less than book spec with stock air and stock exhaust while I understand you are de-baffeled.

None of that makes any difference.

In the case of cobra there IS 3 pots to adjust. Buyt pot 3 in either set up is off usually.

With TFI pot 4 is set to 9:00 and can be lowere later.

In all case pot 1 is adjusted first with a well warmed engine and this covers idle and low to mid range RPM. in the dooryard. it is likely once midway set you will have to turn down the black know (stock) air screw, as RPM will rise.

Pot 2 is set testing with either a Dyno or by the seat of yer pants. You would make hard 2 gear to 3rd gear runs at WOT (wide open throttle) to determine where the best power is and surpass that best to discover worse, then return to best.

Yer not doin' that engine any favors running it so lean. That engine is straining to just run, and getting hotter than it needs to be in the doing.

I know this system from 1970 D jetronic Bosche Injection systems from that day, which this IS.

I am a x Euro Foreign Car tech, and saw this system as new in 1970. In fact i saw it in 1968, but then it was rare. This is the very same system revamped for 2 clyinders. I saw this same system go into the caddilac 8, 6, and 4 idea which failed. GM's idea was the engine would run on 8 for power, then 6 and last 4 cylinders.

Bone head idea since the engine needed fuel for cooling.

Do Not run 87 octane till you get the modual. Ping is eatting metal. It will eat the top edges off the pistons, burn valves right where they seal, and can burn the top compression rings. All removing metal.

I am a yankee hick, no doubt about it, and I can't spell fer beans. The thing is the bottom of a car never cared how i spelled.

I know how things work, and when I don't I hit the books, and better I have the bloomin thing that's busted. That combination allows me to test things. There isn't much i can't fix with the broken items and a book, if the device is made to be fixed in the first place.

Currently I am a machinsits first mechanic. On this site there are about 6 other guys that are good techs. As you discover them, they will back all this up.