whats wrong with this picture?

lm921 · 2009-07-26

imported post I am loosing antifreeze and over heating...................................again!!!

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chris in va

· #2 · Jul 26, 2009

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Ouch, sorry to hear that. Did you replace the head gaskets properly?

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Bike...and Dennis

· #3 · Jul 26, 2009

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I'm gonna need more info/history.

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Silicon Sam

· #4 · Jul 26, 2009

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Did you use them lovely head gaskets from SC?

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Mohawk

· #5 · Jul 27, 2009

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Hmmmmm, I wanna hear this one too.???

Sorry Dude.

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lm921

Discussion Starter · #6 · Jul 27, 2009

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oem parts, the heads were checked at a machine shop, everything was torqued by honda manual. bike was running great for 4000 miles. on a pgr trip to morehead ky i started smelling antifreeze and the temp went up, when i got there i had to add three bottles of water. on the return trip i stoped about half way and added another bottle. as soon as i got home i let the bike cools for about 15 minutes and pulled the plugs. i let the bike sit for another 15 minutes and then covered the spark plug holes with cardboard and cranked her over. Nothing there.
Nothing in the oil eather but everything else says head gasket. loosing antifreeze, running hot, clean plugs.
Here we go again.

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OnaWingAndaPrayer

· #7 · Jul 27, 2009

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3 white plugs VS 1 carboned plug could lean to water in there . I would have a hard look at all other plumbing for a leak . Is the exhaust smoking white or dripping from the drain holes ?

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JOHNO

· #8 · Jul 27, 2009

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check the hose from the coolant header tank to the radiator and both ends have an air tight seal.

I've suffered a small undetected split in this line which caused over heating after a period of time.
coolant vapourised through the split but when the engine cooled, sucked air back in rather than top up from the tank eventually the volume in the system was reduced enough to allow the engine to overheat with symptoms of head gasket failure.
I only found the problem after starting the engine strip down, before removing the heads luckily.....

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exavid

· #9 · Jul 27, 2009

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Seems odd to me that you'd have two heads leaking at the same time. If it were my bike I'd try torquing the heads again just to see if the bolts are all where you set them. If you find any that have loosened up that will tell you a lot. I usually re-torque head bolts after the engine runs for a couple hours, once in a while the head will settle a bit on the gasket and loosen up the bolts a little. If you're losing that much coolant, you should be seeing water or steam in the exhaust. Try warming up the engine and then put a layer of cloth over the tail pipes to see if the cloth gets wet. You could also look into the radiator to see if there's any bubbles coming up from a gasket leak.

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lm921

Discussion Starter · #10 · Jul 28, 2009

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JOHNO wrote:

check the hose from the coolant header tank to the radiator and both ends have an air tight seal.

I've suffered a small undetected split in this line which caused over heating after a period of time.
coolant vapourised through the split but when the engine cooled, sucked air back in rather than top up from the tank eventually the volume in the system was reduced enough to allow the engine to overheat with symptoms of head gasket failure.
I only found the problem after starting the engine strip down, before removing the heads luckily.....

update:

johno may be the winner here.

I pulled the false cover tonight and check the raditor.

Its was low but the over flow jug was full.

I topped off the raditor and went for a ride.

When i got back i let the bike cool for about 20 minutes and then checked the raditor and over flow agian.

The raditor was low but the over flow was full.

I refilled the raditor again and let the bike idle.

Soon the water ran out of the over flow.

I turned off the bike and waited another 20 minutes.

The raditor was low and the over flow was still full.

It looks like the hose that goes into the rubber washer is not sealing on the plastic tube that is inside it.

I will pull it tommorow night and fix that.

Then another test run.

edit to add: my bike never runs over 7 bars, most of the time its a solid 6. it was climbing up to nine running down the highway.

Now its back to 6.

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G

gotta love the wing

· #11 · Jul 28, 2009

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never mind looks like you got a handle on it.

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lm921

Discussion Starter · #12 · Jul 28, 2009

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gotta love the wing wrote:

never mind looks like you got a handle on it.

i am always up for suggestions. even if i get the over heating under control, i still have to work on the three lean plugs. I bought this bike was 92000 on her, she now has 97500. when i first got her i replaced the head gaskets, water pump, thermostat, (180deg stant) hoses and plugs that are pictued. I am getting right at 40 mpg ridding alone and about 36 ridding 2 up which i do a lot with the wife. Mabey carbs next?!?

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Bike...and Dennis

· #13 · Jul 28, 2009

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lm921 wrote:

I am getting right at 40 mpg ridding alone and about 36 ridding 2 up which i do a lot with the wife. Mabey carbs next?!?

That's normal mileage. The carbs are probably fine. The mixture screws may be out of whack, causing the plug conditions. Try an idle-drop.

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wexy

· #14 · Jul 28, 2009

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It is possible that you could have a hairline crack in the head and it does not open until the bike is hot .I have seen this before .Difficult to see in the head .

You seemed to have found the problem ..but I would still be suspicious of the head , Ciaran

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JOHNO

· #15 · Jul 28, 2009

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Glad to have had a valuable input, even if it turns out this is not the fault, still a lot easier and cheaper to fix than pulling the heads again.......

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lm921

Discussion Starter · #16 · Jul 28, 2009

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JOHNO wrote:

Glad to have had a valuable input, even if it turns out this is not the fault, still a lot easier and cheaper to fix than pulling the heads again.......[/quote responding to wexy, this could be the case. I did not have them magna-fluxed. Only checked for tolerances. I still got to find the leak. +1 johno

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Nightrider1

· #17 · Jul 28, 2009

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This shold be added to the "HOT" Topic. Very intresting to see the outcome.
NR1

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G

gotta love the wing

· #18 · Jul 28, 2009

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I was just going to suggest that maybe your torque wrench is out of calibration. However if you already found the leak it's a moot point I suppose.

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lm921

Discussion Starter · #19 · Aug 13, 2009

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Follow up. august 13 2009.
My bike keep getting hot, like8-9 bars.
Once i changed the recovery hose and topped everything off it was doing pretty good but every once in awhile it would jump up to 9 bars.
I replaced the thermostat yesterday and rode for about 100 miles through the twistys, running her hard.
she is only running at 5-7 bars now, just like before.
I had originaly replaced the thermostat with a stant when i replaced the head gaskets.
this time i just bought a napa stat just for FYI.
Guess what? stant make thermostats for napa, lol
They are the same. Who knew?
Anyway, i am going to watch the fluid level and i will report if anything else happens.
lee

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kenswing80

· #20 · Aug 13, 2009

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I'm not a mechanic but, I would think the torque wrench theory might be right. Study the picture carefully and you'll see there is a varying degree of oil on the threads of the sparkplugs on every one.

Perhaps the sparkplugs weren't properly torqued....

Just my two cents....

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