Radiator fluid dumped on road, friendly cop helped me out.

[caesius]

Coming back to Wellington the other day and around 14km out of Masterton I watched in horror as my engine temp shot up to red in about 20 seconds. I pulled over straight away and took the radiator cap of to see that it wasn't barely half full! I had topped it up before I left Hawkes Bay so it somehow dumped the fluid on the road somewhere.

Anyway, the slightly amusing part; a cop pulled over to see what the problem was but it was the SAME cop who'd given me a speeding ticket not even 30km ago! He was quite amused. Anyway he went and found a couple of bottles of water for me which got me to Masterton. Once there I went and bought some radiator fluid and topped everything back up. The problem was that even after everything was topped up the gauge still showed extreme heat!

A friendly mechanic at Carterton had a look and deduced that the fluid was still being pumped around so it was safe to ignore the gauge.

Now my temp gauge does this strange thing: it follows the engine revs in reverse, as in when I'm revving the crap out of my bike it shows cold then if I wind off it goes back to hot. What the heck is happening?

Bike's a KR-1S; 250 2-stroke for those that don't know.

Thanks to the orange cop who helped me, Masterton Suzuki for the advice and radiator fluid and last but not least the mechanic from the bike shop in Carterton. What do people reckon?

[Grub]

I'd say you might have a short in one of your electrical contact blocks. It's most likely water in the block which is confusing the signals to/from the gauges. Follow your loom, especially around the steering head, and just unplug and replug all the connectors.

I am still suspicious because you say you checked it was full whn you left the bay and it was half full by Masterton. That is not a gauge or electrical issue.

[Ixion]

Blown head gasket.Or , if you're lucky, dud thermostat.

[scumdog]

I suspect an electrical fault regarding your temperature guage.


And cops don't ever do 'nice' things - don't you read KB?????

[Ixion]

Problem I see with the "dud gauge" idea , is that it appears that the radiator did indeed need quite a lot of water/coolant to fill it. So it lost coolant, fairly fast (assuming it wasn't simply half empty to start with).

Nah, there are no good cops. It was a trap, the cop just wanted to get him on the road again in the hope that he'd start speeding again, so he (cop) could issue another ticket. Y'cant give a speeding ticket to a broken down vehicle.

[Wasp]

Bike's a KR-1S; 250 2-stroke for those that don't know.

WHOA DUDE! my bro used to own one of these! both him and me are in welly - i think he knows a fair bit about em, i could ask if he would be willing to help?

[caesius]

I am still suspicious because you say you checked it was full whn you left the bay and it was half full by Masterton. That is not a gauge or electrical issue.

The gauge initially went red for a valid reason; the fluid had escaped, it's just that after the fluid was topped up again, it stayed red. In my non-technical mind it seems like the thermostat/gauge was "tripped" after the initial loss of fluid.

Blown head gasket.Or , if you're lucky, dud thermostat.

Bugger. One of the mechanics mentioned it could be that. Can a non-mechanic (me) tell definitively if it is?

Problem I see with the "dud gauge" idea , is that it appears that the radiator did indeed need quite a lot of water/coolant to fill it. So it lost coolant, fairly fast (assuming it wasn't simply half empty to start with).

Nope, it was full when I left the Bay.

WHOA DUDE! my bro used to own one of these! both him and me are in welly - i think he knows a fair bit about em, i could ask if he would be willing to help?

Bloody good offer. That would be great. Mean bikes those KR-1's.

Thanks for your help so far. Not too sure about the validity of those cop comments....

[Ixion]

I have seen the "guage reading normal when running, into red when turned off" syndrome before.

In that case it was caused by a blown head gasket. When running,very hot combustion gases escape into the water. While the motor is running the water pump keeps the gases, and the steam generated by the heat, mixed with the water, and keeps a stream of water and gas flowing past the temperature pickup. So the guage reads "OKish", at any rate until the water temperature gets too hot overall. But once the engine (and the pump) stop, the gases and steam percolate to the top of the system, which is normally where the temperature sensor is. So the sensor starts reading the temperature of the gas and steam, which is very hot (> 100 degree).

Of course, that is not proof that your problem is a blown gasket. It is hard sometimes even for mechanics to be certain. b

[Highlander]

Nah, there are no good cops. It was a trap, the cop just wanted to get him on the road again in the hope that he'd start speeding again, so he (cop) could issue another ticket. Y'cant give a speeding ticket to a broken down vehicle.

Could have got inventive with some parking infringment or something though?

Better yet, insecure load - since he dumped "engine fluids" on the road, clearly not secure.

Littering....

[Max Preload]

the gauge sender is located, a significant loss of coolant will normally initially result in the gauge reading dead cold. Senders do not work on steam (which you will only get if either the pressure in the cooling system is lost or the engine overheats severely).

One must ask the question... why were you riding a bike that is clearly suffering some cooling system problems such distances in the first place? Cooling is a crucial factor in the engine life equation.

Anyway. Refill the cooling system and pressure test it, preferably overnight. If some pressure is lost and there is no obvious coolant leak, you have an internal engine leak - most likely a blown head gasket and/or cracked head etc.

[caesius]

One must ask the question... why were you riding a bike that is clearly suffering some cooling system problems such distances in the first place? Cooling is a crucial factor in the engine life equation.

Because one was in Masterton when one found out the problem. And one's residence was in Wellington. What was one supposed to do? Sleep on the streets of Masterton? One didn't have many options.

[Max Preload]

I had topped it up before I left Hawkes Bay so it somehow dumped the fluid on the road somewhere.

That's not so much an event out of the blue as a long standing problem that's been ignored and happened to come to a head in Masterton.

Cooling systems don't need 'topping up' if they're functioning correctly and properly maintained with regular coolant changes. Any loss of fluid should immediately be given the utmost scrutiny.

[Squiggles]

how often do you "top up" the fluid... is there a leak? no leak would point to it being lost internally... blown headgasket being a possibility among others.

[caesius]

Just an update on the situation, I managed to ride the bike back from uni (stopping every 70kms to top up radiator). Now its home so I could finally take a look at it, turns out it was nothing more than the radiator sump bolt (probably not the correct name) had come loose and it was leaking out from there.

I've no idea how it loosened but the bolt is stripped so I'm getting a new one anyway.

Thanks for all suggestions, I'm very relieved it ain't my head gasket gone.