New cooling hose

[johnnyrod]

Spotted a small leak from the left side of my rad today, where the hose joins. I've taken the hose off and while I can't see any splits etc., I can't find anything on the rad either - in fact the hose was fairly well stuck tight on the spigot. It's 18 years old so probably best to replace the hose - any recommendations? New one is £25 from David Silver, or you can get kits of silicone ones on ebay. Anyone used these?

[Bibio]

have you washed the bike or been out in the rain per chance?

[johnnyrod]

Nope it's been sitting in the garage waiting for me to put a new indicator on. I checked and yes, it tasted like coolant.

[Bibio]

i would dry the offending area and dust with talc and make sure no pets are allowed near the bike.

[johnnyrod]

It's in bits at the moment. Do you think it's worth another try with the same hose? I've never had a leak on it before. Must be a couple of years since I last took the rad off.

[Bibio]

i would check the rad first, bung the open end up and chuck some water in there.

if the hose is well crushed at the union and a bit brittle then yup change it. or you can bodge with a slight smear of silicone on the union before the 'olive' (just make sure that it cant get into the system) and clamp before the silicone goes off. you need to use the smelly stuff.

[johnnyrod]

Took rad off, corked it, no leaks, inspected it, nothing, put it all back together, water gushing out when the mech thermostat is open. New (old) hose on its way. While I was at it though I shorted the temperature switch and the fan came on fine, even took the switch out and did the pan of boiling water to check it works - it does. I'm not sure I've ever heard the fan run; it was always a weak point on older bikes, I remember adding a manual switch to my sister's VF400 for the fan. For the record, pouring three kettles of boiling water into the rad isn't enough to make the fan come on, even though the switch was fine!

[R1ffR4ff]

I've found the cooling system on my SV to be very efficient.I let the bike bench idle to test the fan when I first got the bike and it took a long time to kick in.The only other time it's kicked in was when I was stuck in some town traffic on a very hot day earlier this year.

Having done close the 3,000 miles on my SV on very varying roads and traffic conditions I now have absolute confidence in the cooling system.I did however put new coolant in not long after getting the bike just in case and,"Burped" the system as per the manual.

[johnnyrod]

Well a replacement (OEM) hose fixed it, still no answer to if anyone has tried the silicone ones

[Bibio]

superb result. old stuff must have gone brittle.

[SV650rules]

Well a replacement (OEM) hose fixed it, still no answer to if anyone has tried the silicone ones

Silicone rubber hoses on cars are much superior to normal hoses (and nicer colours) but you get what you pay for - bikes are normally around for much longer than cars and owners tend to hang onto them for longer, so got to be worth fitting SR hoses if you are going to replace them, or are doing a rebuild. Bike hoses also get exposed to sunlight which does not happen to car ones.

[R1ffR4ff]

I agree that Modern Silicone hoses should be superior than older synthetic rubber hoses however that fact that the original coolant hoses on my old CX500s are still in good state after 35 years make me go Hmmm.... :D

Also.This year my very old,"Redring Super7" electric Shower unit died I had to buy and fit a new Electric shower(£50 Triton Cara/Bargain) but needed a small amount of flex pipe to get it to fit/work because of the way my old one was fitted it just so happened that a bit of my old spare CX coolant pipe was the diameter and with a couple of Jubilee clips:Job done :)

[SV650rules]

http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/motorcycle/silicone-hose-kits/bike/suzuki/2002/sv650-k2

yeah, but look at the lovely colours you can get.............

[johnnyrod]

One of the problems with the SV is that you have to take the rad off to get the front plug out, so the hoses get more of a beating up than on other bikes. The fabric of it in the main is fine, if I had been handed it with no prior knowledge I would have thought it was a good one, but for some reason it leaks. The replacement was a similar age but seems fine, no leaks.

[R1ffR4ff]

On my Curvy I don't have to take the rad off to get to the front plug.I have fitted an after market horn on the left hand side front and removed the Stock horn bracket.I can get to the front plug by just removing the 3 Rad bolts and swinging the Rad forward.

https://i.imgur.com/Gv5Dnf4.jpg

The orange cable/coil is just a Disc lock reminder.


I have a piece of cardboard with some double sided tape on one side that I stick to the Back of the Rad to stop the fins cutting my hands and my hands from damaging the fins when checking the front plug :)


:)