Leaking coolant

jay-d

jay-d

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I've got a 2006 VFR800, and inbetween the cylinder banks (the 'V' of the engine) there's a termostat with about 5 hoses coming to it. 3 big ones, and a couple small ones.

I have a coolant leak from one of these hoses, or even the thermostat gasket, I can't tell which hose because coolant leaks out very little out the side of the engine and there's no sign on any of the hoses.

Does anyone know what's more suspectible to leaking? Is it the larger diameter hoses, the thermostat gasket or the smaller hoses? :(

Idealy I'd want to replace everything, but I've called around and everything is on backorder until end of July!! Wtf! However, couple of the smaller hoses are available sooner as well as the gasket.
 
I posted on VFRD regarding this issue and I was told to replace them all since they're about 10 years old.

The bike's got 25,000km, the hoses are all soft and not cracking. I guess I could tighten them all down and hope for the best!
 
If you have the bike apart enough to get access to it, you should be able to see which hose is leaking. The coolant will leave residue behind.

If the rubber is still soft, it can likely be fixed by getting the deposits off the inside of the hose and the outside of the fitting (Try grinding / filing / sanding the coarse stuff off then soak it in CLR for several hours) and then re-attaching it. If the fitting remains pitted and rough after getting the coolant residue off, a wee layer of black RTV sealant in the area that will be clamped should help ...
 
Samco makes a silicone hose kit that would be a good replacement. Some also replace the crossover tubes between the rads with aluminum tubing which apparently drops running temps by 5c. The tstat is a common item to die tho, and I'm pretty sure my vfr is leaking from the same general area lol
 
silverbullet132 said:
Samco makes a silicone hose kit that would be a good replacement. Some also replace the crossover tubes between the rads with aluminum tubing which apparently drops running temps by 5c. The tstat is a common item to die tho, and I'm pretty sure my vfr is leaking from the same general area lol
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You'll pay for those hoses though; it was double the price for a set for my Superduke.

My coolant problem was an internal crack that wasn't visible. What was visible was the coolant seeping via the fibres woven within the hose which were acting like a wick and drawing the coolant out (a quick glance would look like the fitting wasn't tight enough). Even when I had the old hoses laying on the garage floor I still caught sight of a bit of wicking action.
 
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