Changing Coolant

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It was time to replace the coolant in my radiator. Tools – gloves, paper towel, funnel, drip tray, container for old coolant, torx set, metric sockets, torque wrench and a variety of screwdriver bits.

I found it easier to remove the seat, grab rails and fairings when I stood my bike up on it’s centre stand. Instructions to remove panels are at Tupperware Removal.

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To drain as much coolant as possible, I moved my bike off the center stand to its side stand. At the bottom of the picture is the drainage bolt that is on the left side of the engine.

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I removed the drainage bolt and under the head is the copper washer (P/N 11 14 2 343 240).

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I set up my funnel and container to capture the coolant. Once I opened the radiator cap, the coolant quickly streamed out and into the funnel.

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My next step would be to remove the hose from the centre column to drain some more coolant. I cleaned off some dirt around the hose and I used a socket to undo the hose clamp.

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I used a torx bit to remove the bolt that secures the reservoir tank. The manual says that once you removed the bolt, all you have to do is slide the tank straight out of the bike.

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Before you slide the reservoir tank out, a line sits in a recessed part of the tank. You can lift it up before you slide the tank out.

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Once the line is out of the way, you can pull out the reservoir tank. A tube sticks out at the end of the tank and there are two brown marks on the tube. That’s because the tube is secured in place by a rubber grommet (important for re-installation).

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I emptied the coolant out of the tank and re-installed the reservoir tank (Tightening torques: 9Nm / 79.58 inch-pounds). I re-attached the hose to the center frame.

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I re-installed the drain bolt - I installed a new copper washer because it only cost me 83¢ (Tightening torques: 10Nm / 88.43 inch-pounds).

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The manual says to make sure your bike is standing upright (I put my bike on its center stand). I removed the radiator cap.

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On the right side of the bike, look for the bleed screw in the cylinder head, it’s forward of the spark plug(s).

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Slacken the bleed screw a bit. The bleed screw was too long for a regular socket so I used a deep 11mm socket.

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Before I poured coolant into the top of the radiator, I put my ear to the radiator filler neck and gave each hose a couple of squeezes. I could hear air rushing out of the radiator.

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I slowly started to pour coolant into the top of the radiator. I found it was easy to pour too much in too quickly and get myself into a messy situation. Through out the process, I would squeeze the hoses and listen for air. Eventually the coolant would fill up the hoses and I couldn’t hear escaping air anymore.

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I would continue to pour a little bit of coolant at a time and go around to all the hoses and squeeze them to remove trapped air. A few bubbles would rise out the bleed screw or the top of the radiator, as in this photo.

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Once I believed that all the trapped air was out of the lines, I slowly poured a bit more coolant down the radiator until coolant came out of the centre of the bleed screw. I quickly closed the bleed screw with my deep socket (Tightening torques: 12Nm / 106.11 inch-pounds).

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The manual mentions to top up the coolant to the rim of the filler neck of the radiator.

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I did that and then filled up the reservoir tank to the ‘Max’ mark, as it says to do in the repair manual cd, but the coolant started to spill out of the top of the radiator (I realize now that my bike was on a slight downward slope). The coolant was draining from the reservoir tank into the radiator and then out the top.
Note : My Rider's Manual talks about checking and topping up the coolant level. Chapter 2, Pg 43, the Rider's Manual states "The coolant level must be between the Min and Max marks. Never overfill the expansion tank." You don't want the coolant level above the Max mark or below the Min mark.

After I cleaned up the mess, I installed the radiator cap and the reservoir tank cap. I don’t have the pump with adapter and neck to check the pressure as per instruction in the manual.

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I took my bike out for a 45 minute ride. After the ride I checked all the hoses and bleed screw for leaks.
The tightening torque values in the manual are metric, I used this Site to calculate Nm to inch-pounds.

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