View Full Version : Important - add anti freeze now if you havent!
SV650Racer
05-01-10, 10:46 AM
If your bike has only water in the system then it would be a very good idea to drain this out for a neat anti freeze/coolant mix.
We have had 3 racebikes in the past week come in that are frozen up. Luckily two have just popped their core plugs. One has cracked the head sadly.
If when you remove the water you find its already gone to slush then ideally you need to check that its not popped its core (freeze) plugs. The only safe way of doing this is to wip the cam cover off and check. You can start it and see if you get water in the oil but the only problem is if the core plug has popped then it could travel down into the engine and munch something expensive.
I reckon alot of bikes will suffer this winter due to it being so cold for so long.
Hope this helps.
Sarah
:cool:
I thought it was standard practice to drain race bikes for the winter? :confused:
Its a smaller job than flushing an engine filled with Antifreeze.
C
Shellywoozle
06-01-10, 04:07 PM
Oohhh mine is sitting in the garage, was gonna put battery on tonight and start her up ..... will this be a bad idea ???
Alpinestarhero
06-01-10, 04:12 PM
Shell, your road bike will probably have anti-freeze in it anyway :) Racers may not particularly fill their cooling systems up with liquid containing anti-freeze :)
Yeah, I drained mine just before christmas. also left a small cup of water next to the bike in the garage so I could check for freezing. Might just antifreeze and refill anyway to be on the safe side, its easy enough to drain again in March.
fastdruid
06-01-10, 07:09 PM
Shell, your road bike will probably have anti-freeze in it anyway :) Racers may not particularly fill their cooling systems up with liquid containing anti-freeze :)
More to the point IIRC the ACU regs state that there should not be anti-freeze in them.
Druid
Alpinestarhero
06-01-10, 07:59 PM
More to the point IIRC the ACU regs state that there should not be anti-freeze in them.
Druid
ah, that must be due to antifreeze being quite a slippery substance when spread over...lets say...tarmac...?
Shellywoozle
06-01-10, 08:00 PM
Shell, your road bike will probably have anti-freeze in it anyway :) Racers may not particularly fill their cooling systems up with liquid containing anti-freeze :)
It belongs to me it's bound to break :smt037 everythin I touch at the mo is breaking :smt005
I think I will start it when it not so cold .... minus 9 tonight ..... even Samsons paws froze today and he refused to walk :(
SV650Racer
07-01-10, 02:34 PM
More to the point IIRC the ACU regs state that there should not be anti-freeze in them.
Druid
Correct. But if your not racing it then pop some in. I leave it in all my bikes right up until the evening of the first meeting. Have seen bikes freeze overnight at the circuit too. Its going to be a common problem this winter sadly for some.
hardhat_harry
07-01-10, 06:08 PM
Mines dozing in a heated garage but Im may just pop some in just to be on the same side
Whoops. I made a bit of a mistake and didn't drop the water on both my bikes after busting my collarbone, there is a heater in my garage and I thought i'd get away with it but turns out I havnt. Plan is to move bikes into the house and thaw them out slowly to drain water and oil, what else should I be doing\checking?
sweepdoggydog
08-01-10, 10:25 AM
Wish I had a bike to put antifreeze in!
SV650Racer
09-01-10, 01:39 PM
Whoops. I made a bit of a mistake and didn't drop the water on both my bikes after busting my collarbone, there is a heater in my garage and I thought i'd get away with it but turns out I havnt. Plan is to move bikes into the house and thaw them out slowly to drain water and oil, what else should I be doing\checking?
You need to check to see if the oil in the bike has been contaminated with water. The easiest way to check is to drain the oil. If it comes out milky then you have more than likely popped a core plug.
If thats the case then you need to take the cam cover off (normally its just the front cylinder that gets affected) and check to see if the core plugs are still in place either side of the cams. Also the water pump seal can go.
If your stuck after stage one then drop me a PM.
Thats great cheers, My dry bike is currently in the dining room (whoops) and it appears to have thawed out. I can see the oil window and it doesnt seem to have altered any but I'll be dropping the oil to make 100% sure.
The wet bike is a different matter, will get it in in the next week or so but it has no oil in it at the minute due to a nice big hole in the engine casing, so i presume if that starts dropping water the core plugs have gone on that one.
It's looking like I may have got away with it but I've learnt myself an important lesson - Nevermind how injured you are, the bikes come first!
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