Yes this is our messy backyard. At least the grass is mowed. Did the first mow for the season a few days ago. Ok...so bike was overheating. Seemed to have plenty of coolant in the overflow, but I had noticed that the fan had not been coming on. Then I read online that the ground for the fan will sometimes get corroded and it told where to find it. Cleaned that up and reattached. Also found a couple other ground wires that looked pretty corroded so shined them up good too and reattached. Then, since I had the shrouds and such removed from the radiator figured I might as well flush the cooling system. I disconnected the water pump inlet hose (from bottom of radiator) and the radiator cap. Some really nasty brown stuff drained out. Then turned the hose on into the top of the radiator. Much more of the brown stuff came out. I ran the hose until it ran clear. Refilled the system with super flush and water and ran the engine to temp for 10 minutes or so. Drained all of that out and again used the hose to flush. More brown stuff came out. Then refilled with 50/50 antifreeze solution. After that, I removed the overflow bottle and cleaned that out real good too. Now the fan comes on and appears to maintain temp as it should. How much money do you figure I saved by doing it myself?
6 comments:
You probably added many years and miles to the life of your bike. Good job son! Wish I could've been there for that. Hey, wait, wasn't that a John Anderson tune? ;)
yep..haven't heard that one in a while. Wish I could be there while Mom's away. Bet we could have some fun.
Just realized that my last comment makes it sound like I only want to be there if Mom's away. Of course, I didn't mean that. :)
Both she and I miss seeing you and your family more than anything. If you're ever in the neighborhood, stop in for a visit. That would be great!
Wonder why they make them water cooled? Seems like just extra trouble, especially in a colder area like where you live. My bikes were both air cooled and never overheated, ever, that I can remember. My tractor is air cooled too, and never runs hot. Seems like every water cooled engine I've ever had has overheated at one time or another. My nissan truck even caught on fire from running too hot. I have no idea how much you saved. The last time I saw a quickie place adtervising flushes it was something like 79.00 or it might have been 129.00 so I'm sure you saved quite a bit.
It is mostly engine design. Air cooled engines have to be made with looser tolerances. They do get hotter. Most Harley's are air cooled designs. The cycle was not really overheating, just getting a lot hotter than it had been. It was still running ok. Usually the air cooled designs have more fins on the block for dispertion of the heat as well. I don't know that one is really better than another. I do agree that the air cooled design is simpler. Oh, and it isn't always cold here. We have our rare 100 degree summer days. It was mid 80s today and supposed to be close to 90 tomorrow.
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