Help needed! Cooling system problem...

[tangyeefun]

Hi does anyone has the same problem as me:

 

bought a Fazer1000 from planet motor. Price was very reasonable as I know Ah Chong would not cheat me. Rode for 2 days suddenly bike engine did not work and overheating light on. Coolant started bursting out of a small tube beside the rear brake lever non stop. Toll the bike back to planet motor. Ah Chong told me tubing was spoilt.

 

Change already, rode for another 4-5 days. Overheating light on again...Went back to planet, told me nothing wrong. He couldn't find anything...asked me to go home and put on main stand to check anywhere leaking...

 

Rode for another 2-3days, Overheating light on again and this time coolant spurt out again from the same tubing. Went back to planet, boss told me another tubing was spoilt. When it was repaired, rode for another few more days...exactly same problem happened during my reservist...sent back to planet and he told me he would do a full check. He said water pump could be wrong, gasket could be leaking and radiator cap could be spoilt. Radiator cap change, add more coolant and told me that it should be ok.

 

Rode for like another 1-2 days. Same things happened. Went back, found out that the wire connecting to the fan has melted. Very confident that it was the fan fault. Change the wiring system, change the coolant and told me nothing will spoilt again. Rode for another 5 days, same overheating light on, and coolant spurting non stop. Very apologetic Ah Chong told me to put the bike for another few more days. All the repairs done before, he charged me $0.

 

Changed the whole water pump, engine oil as well as coolant (to a red colour type). Told me should be no problem already. Unless there is leakage at the gasket.

 

This time I managed to ride for 2-3 weeks without any problem. I thought everything was solved when the stupid overheating light was on again and stupid coolant spurt out like volcanos...Sent back, he check for a day and found out there's something stucked at my radiator cap. He removed it and told me it should be ok..

 

Rode for 3 days, now everytime I reached a destination, I will see a lot of smoke spurting out of the same tube. I think if I ride a bit longer, the stupid coolant will spurt out as well.

 

What should I do now? Should I go back to Ah Chong? I kept going back but the problem kept coming back till I am quite tired of going there. He is one of the more knowledgeable mechanic I know and he would not chop me. Who else can I go? Should I go back to Yamaha dealer? I really don't know what to do. I really hope I can solve this problem...Can anyone help?

 

Thank you

[nbk3]

cud it be that your combustion pressure is somehow getting into your watercooling system hence increasing the pressure till your hose blows? meaning uve got a cracked cylinder block or something.

 

btw, the hose that always blows, does it lead IN to the radiator? or OUT of the radiator? becos i was tinking, if it leads INTO the radiator, cud be that the radiator is obstructed.

[tangyeefun]

The tube leads out of the radiator. Actually I don't know what the tube is for. It seems like it is used for detecting problem in the radiator. Whatever the case.. Even if i could guess what the problem is I still need to go to a workshop to get it fix. The irritating thing is I don' know whether to go back planet or go another place for second opinion.

 

I have went there many many times because of this. If not there then where else can i go? The place must be quite experience in fazer and it shouldn't chop me... Thanks for the reply

[Demon]

I don't ride a Fazer, so mine is a generally advice

 

Watercooling engine is a closed loop system, and the only way the water can overflow is via the coolant tank. When that happens, it can only means that the water in the radiator is boiled over or over-top up. Since your bike indicated OVER-HEATING, so it means the former.

 

You have mentioned that the water pumped has been replaced so we can ruled that out. What's left could be either the radiator or in the cooling circulation system. Send the radiator for a pressure test, and do a flashing of the cooling system.

 

If your exhaust has alot of white smoke, then somewhere in the system that water is getting into the combustion, which cause the water level to drop, resulting in over-heating.

 

If the radiator has a fan, then make sure that fan is cut in at the correct temperature.

[byte77]

The key things you have to confirm are

1. coolant fan is functional

2. coolant fan does turn ON when hitting high temperature.

 

If the fan is not on when the bike is hot, such as riding slowly or waiting in the traffic, the coolant will soon get overheated, expand and will explode out under pressure from the vulnerable parts, such as loosen/worn hose, radiator or cap.

 

You can ask Ah Chong to specifically test the fan if it is really working, like connect it to a bypass wire to ON it straight from battery.

If fan is OK, then start the bike and let it idle there until it is hot and the fan is eventually ON.

If the fan could be ON, observe if after 45 minutes of idling the coolant never spurt out, if got problem it will leak out again very fast.

If the fan is not ON, then replace the temperature sensor switch, or better install a manual switch ($1-2 from simlim tower) and ON the fan yourself.

 

Before the fix is done, you better switch off the engine while waiting at red light, to prevent it from overheating too quickly.

Edited October 16, 2011 by byte77

[tangyeefun]

Hi all

Thanks for all the help...

Fan is working. Using a bypass switch sounds good. Ah chong has done many test before. He has change almost the whole cooling system including water pump and all tubes and pipe involved. Now the problem is everytime when i stop riding... Smoke comes out of the small tube beside the rear brake levers. The overheating light no longer turned on after he cleaned the radiator cap last wk. Surprisingly today there is no smoke even though I rode thru very heavy traffic for 45mins. I will check for another few more days and see lah... Hopefully its becos some rain gets into the bike or what...

 

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[kinwei]

I remember some time ago, one forumer had roughly the same issue as you. Found the root cause is the head gasket.

[superspeed123]

Maybe the radiator is choked and not working properly ???

[tangyeefun]

Ah chong changed my coolant to a red colour type... So if there is leakage at the gasket can see easily the following day. No leaking yet. Today smoke came out of the tube again... Sheesh...

 

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[frogman]

Maybe its ur radiator cap..if it cannot keep e proper pressure then ur coolant will boil at a lower temp..experienced somethg similar on my prev VFR..abt $30 i thk

[tangyeefun]

I also feels that there's something wrong with the radiator cap. When ah chong change my cap the last time he also doesn't look confident about the type of cap suitable for fazer... So ur vfr also have steam coming out of tube all the time? If have where can I change it?

 

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[frogman]

Coolant would come out from the coolant overflow tube everytime i stop the bike plus can hear coolant boiling..fan was working and changing and flushing coolant did not help, eng ovht light got come on sometime..try to buy original fazer radiator cap frm HL or automachinery

[stsoh]

did anyone check the thermostat?

every cooling system has one.....it's a bypass valve tat direct coolant flow.

[byte77]

Check the metallic clamps tightening the hoses, if not good then change, get good quality one. Don't be surprised it can be the weakest link.

And the coolant cap.

[tangyeefun]

Thank u everybody for the advices. The metallic clamp has been checked and changed the second time I went there. I'm not sure abt the thermostat cos ah, chong said that should not be the problem. Heard boiling everytime I stopped. And steam comes out of the tube. Will try radiator cap from hl first.

 

Thanks u

[hachi]

Looked like a typical fan problem....

[stsoh]

since u have check from fan, radiator, water pump.

 

radiator cap works with pressure.

it will pop at 2.5 bar as indicated in it's printed label.

no matter what, when the coolant boils it will pop even if u can find 5 bar radiator cap n put more pressure in ur cooling system something else will pop or burst.

 

thermostat works with temperature.

checking thermostat is simple task, just pour boil water onto it n see the valve open or not.

task of thermostat is to direct coolant flow to radiator for cooling when coolant is hot.

if it is stuck at close or half-way, there will be no or insufficient cooling n most probably the fault for ur boiling coolant.

 

ps:

radiator cap works like a safety valve, it relieve excessive pressure in the cooling system.

Edited October 17, 2011 by stsoh

[tangyeefun]

Wah i'm glad to have posted here... Learnt a lot of stuff. I can now even discuss with ah chong. I asked him about the possibility of not suitable radiator cap. When he said could be the reason. So he is going to buy the original one and change for me later...

 

Today he over heated light has on again. I guess too much of the coolant has boiled this past one week...

 

Thanks

[stsoh]

if everything in ur cooling system checks ok.....there is another possible cause.

ur engine is tuned too lean, when engine is runs lean will overheat.

need to retune engine richer, a richer a/f engine will run cooler n improve performance.

best is to find it's stoichiometric 14.7:1 Air/Fuel ratio.

best of luck.

[ezzyoiler]

sound like a choke problem..or a.radiator problem...

if you have not flushed..with some scale and rust removal...do it.

old bikes always have this issue as radiator may be so bad ..that it cannot handle a normal ride.More serious maintenance involves cleaning the tubes of the radiator to ensure coolant flows freely. This is a job that requires the services of a specialist and necessitates the removal of one of the radiator's tanks so a metal rod can be passed through each tube to remove any blockages. Blockages of this type can occur from inadequate servicing of the cooling system, but over time scale can build up in even well maintained cooling systems. Scale induced radiator blockages commonly occur after an engine has been overheated - as the overheating event can loosen scale formations in the engine block that become lodged in the radiator tubes.

Other common radiator problems include deterioration of core fins, corrosion of aluminium cores, impact damage, cracking of metal tanks and failure of plastic tanks.

Plastic tanks, particularly the top tank that is subjected to the greatest heat load, commonly deteriorate and need to be replaced once they reach around seven to eight years of age. Deteriorated plastic tanks can fail and quickly destroy an engine with little or no warning.

Edited October 17, 2011 by ezzyoiler

[tangyeefun]

All tubes are new. Where else can the choking be? Anyway now at planet (the countless times to deal with the same problem. Will talk to ah chong more. He is changing the radiator cap, the third time. But this time he said is the original one. I will see how it goes again

 

Thanks

[ezzyoiler]

the coolant is boiling over...this means to me that the cooling system is unable to handle the heat generated...

by changing caps with a higher operating pressure....???will it bust something?/

good luck to your next solution...hope it works..

[ezzyoiler]

a crazy idea...will wd40 work as a rust descaling solutions?in the radiator?? haha.crazy indeed.

[tangyeefun]

Confirm found the root cause! Haha this is I think the10th time ah chong told me this. And I am going to believe him this time. Just now, he found the gasket leaking! Last time he put a red colour coolant so that when the coolant leak it leave a stain at the gasket. But i think it rained a few days and washed away the stain so the last time he couldn't see any stains. Just now he saw a lot! That means it has nothing to do with the cap! It also means i have to leave the bike overnight again. I think i take more bus trips this 3 months than i took for the last 3 years man.

 

But he very good, wanted to give me the gasket for free again. But i think not nice to always take free things from him so i will pay for it...

 

Thanks

[ezzyoiler]

haha...a simple fault..leakage...and go round the whole system to look for the cause..

yeah a good lesson.