Heavy rain + White smoke + burnt smell

[I M Chris]

Sup pros :cool:,

Rode 25 mins home from work today, its raining, windy and generally BRITISH...after riding up my drive i notice white smoke and a s**t smell coming from the front rad :-?.

i dont have a front fender extender to stop water flicking up around my radiator & spark plug. The smoke only appears to be coming from the centre of the radiator where dirt and water has flicked up from the front wheel - is this the cause of the smell and smoke or do you suspect I have a coolant leak? - if so how do i check if i have a leak? will Rad Seal aid me:love:?

Keep on truckin' !.... i mean ridin' !

[dizzyblonde]

You know when something dirty is hot.......and it gets water thrown at it.......

What happens?



I leave you to answer the obvious ;)

[HoL]

It gets clean?

[dizzyblonde]

It would if it involved soap:rolleyes:

[HoL]

I'm off to soap up my bike for the ride home :)

[embee]

It's almost certainly simply road crud smelling nasty when steaming off the hot rad/engine. I don't know what it is, but it has a very distinctive smell doesn't it?

Keep an eye on the coolant level in the bottle if you are concerned (it's a good idea to look at it occasionally anyway). There should be a small translucent window in the side of the bottle I think, there is on the curvey anyway.

Don't use any sort of radweld, it only leads to problems later on inside the coolant passages.

[dizzyblonde]

I'm off to soap up my bike for the ride home :)

If you ride fast enough it may compare to a jet wash :p

[Richie]

I left the Prestons Abode this morning early so to miss that big weather front, It got me in Skipton but out ran it 1/2 way between Skipton and Harrogate. Then had time to dry off all the way home to New Castle :0)

As DB said, crap water on Hot Exhaust or Rad = Nasty Smell ;)

[dizzyblonde]

Don't forget the most important science part




#STEAM#

[Bibio]

the addition of farmers 'slurry' makes for an even more interesting smell :-)

[I M Chris]

Cheers for the advice guys. :-) to all the douche bags who commented also, ty for the giggles : -p. I only wanted solid advice thats why i post - i apologise for that: -D

[dizzyblonde]

Douchebag???


Tshhh. Theres gratitude for ya :rolleyes:

[I M Chris]

You gave me sound advice. .. :-)!!

[dizzyblonde]

Not really, just pointed out the obvious. People forget. Done it myself plenty. Sat at a set of traffic lights with rain dripping off the end of my nose, and steam coming out from under the bike thinking WTF is that??!!

Then thought 'doh' :D

[I M Chris]

Id rather spend 30 secs on a post than potentially think my rad is buggered and give some greedy mechanic a reason to bend me over a barrel. :-)

[dizzyblonde]

Checking the reservoir, expansion whatsit, for the rad will give you an idea of your rads leaking. It'll have coolant in it, on show if its reet.

Oh aye, and if yer into doing weird stuff, if you wipe a finger over any drips, and it tastes sweet, its a leak.

Other signs, is blue coolant possibly dribbling on the fork leg, or after parking up for the night a suspicious wet patch on the rad or the floor, when its been dry weather.

Can you tell I've had a leaking rad before? ;)