Coolant question

I'm a bit dim when it come to mechanical thing so I though t I'd best ask before i did anything - will it be ok to top up my coolant with any type of coolant e.g. Any ready mixed one from halfords?

I used a ready mixed one from halfords, its a kind of pinky red colour. If you're topping up, you may aswell drain the old stuff, flush the system and add new coolant. Depends when it was last done. If it was a while, I would be tempted to replace it all. But just a top up, I'm guessing you would want the same stuff in the entire system, not 2 different things swishing around in there. So maybe worth draining and replacing anyway?

This is what I put in last time, you shouldn't need more than 2 litres
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/s...Id_229902#dtab

How do you drain coolant? Is it the little plug on the water pump?

only reason i ask is that the coolant level is VERY low - below the L line. There isn't a leak but i was promised a service when i bought it and its becoming more apparent that one wasn't. How long should it take to flush the system out?

You definatly want the coolant between the L and F levels, last thing you want is an overheating engine, especially now the warm weather is (supposed to be) on it's way. Depending on if you have all the tools and materials to hand, and can find the parts on the bike you need to easily-ish then it shouldn't take too long, I can't remember how long the flushing takes. Set aside a couple of hours at the most to do the draining and refilling, check out flush times on the product you get. Once you know how it's easy and can be done reasonably quickly, but you say you are new to mechanics, so leave time just in case something goes wrong. You don't want to be rushing around if you need to use the bike for work the next day.
Make sure your engine is cool. Water + Heat = Pressure and when you release it you'll get rather hot water escaping with the pressure.

I can only assume it's the same on a curvy as it is a pointy. This is what I did with my naked pointy. On the left hand side of the engine. On the water pump. The water pump being the lump that sticks out near the filler cap for your oil. There's a large pipe going to the radiator from it. Where the pipe goes into the pump it looks like the pipe continues in the metal, under the bottom of this is a bolt. It's not a bolt holding the engine together, looks slightly different. That's the coolant drain plug. You'll want to undo the cap on the radiator to stop it glugging out when you undo the drain plug. Make sure you have a funnel and something handy, and you're in clothes you don't mind getting a little filthy, this stuff gets everywhere. I used a 2 litre coke bottle and funnel in the top to catch it, did the trick nicely. The you want to empty to overflow resevoir, there should be a small pipe coming off the radiator cap, take that off and lower it to the funnel. Might have to take the cap off the overflow to allow air in.

To flush it, get some radiator flushing stuff from somewhere, follow the instructions on that.

After flushing it, put the drain plug back in and re attach the overflow pipe to the radiator cap. Carefully fill the resevoir with the Lower and Full marks on it until it's at a decent level, this is easier with a funnel and a pipe attached to it. Then make sure everything is on correctly. All pipes, plugs and caps you took off earlier. Run the engine for a little while to make sure all is fine. And that should be done.

[Sir Trev]

I'd be more curious as to where your old coolant has gone. My 2000 curvy has never lost a drop since new...

As above on the flush and refill. Very easy job. The Haynes manual covers it in equally easy to follow steps if you want something open in front of you as you do it.

bothers me that its so low too - once i've flushed it out i'll keep an eye on the levels. Its slightly different i think on the pointy but can't be that different. I'll give it a crack one evening or at the weekend (weather permitting). I don't think overheating is a big issue as the highest temp i've seen is 97

[stormingjoe]

I always use the Halfords one, if you don't, make sure the antifreeze is of the Silicate free type, otherwise you could suffer premature seal failures in the waterpump etc as the silicates are abrasive.

I need to change mine as well. Just wondering if the stuff I put in my car is ok to use. The silicate free stuff is new to me I must admit.

i know its not ideal but will mixing different coolants cause any issues? My partner has used different ones in her car with no ill effects