how to change coolant?

[Black_Cirrus]

May have been run to hot, just to old, or mixed with the blue coolant. Did you flush it out good? My old bike had no Anti freeze in it when i got it and was starting to turn orange rusty colored I flushed it with tap water till very clean then did the used a little prestone flush with bottled water dumped the rest of the gallon of water through it added about a quart of non mixed antifreeze half the system size(similar 2 quart/liter size system:rockon and topped off with water. for top offs i use premixed coolant

 

[ph0xx]

Yeah, I think it was just really old. I'm not the first owner and I think the previous owner had not changed it in a long time, if ever. I did flush it out with distilled water before refilling it with the premixed coolant.

 

[benjbong]

deleteddeleted

 

[pedrolima88]

Easy.
make this with bike "cool"

Easy!!!!!!!

Sorry for the big SS. Anyone know how resize wihtout upload again ?? :S

 

[Cali rider]

Easy.
make this with bike "cool".............

...

I'm curious, why did you loosen the hose instead of just removing the drain plug on the pump housing?

 

[pedrolima88]

but where is the drain plug??? I didn't see it on fz6.

 

[SovietRobot]

The bolt directly below the middle of the screw driver blade. That's the drain plug

 

[Cali rider]

but where is the drain plug??? I didn't see it on fz6.

I'm sorry, I assumed you knew. In the red box...

 

[pedrolima88]

damm it

I think this screw is the same of the top. Just to fix the cap of bomb.

Thanks cali

 

[FZ6_Dude]

Cali: that pic with your signature is hilarious...

 

[LVNeptune]

I was at Cycle Gear and they recommended Engine Ice as well as a friend of mine did, any experience with that? It's pretty expensive stuff. I ended up picking it up while I was there.

 

[Shamus McFeeley]

I was at Cycle Gear and they recommended Engine Ice as well as a friend of mine did, any experience with that? It's pretty expensive stuff. I ended up picking it up while I was there.

You're going to open up a whole new can of worms with that question but...

Engine Ice, as well as Water Wetter are propylene glycol based coolants. They're preferred on the track because they evaporate and don't leave a slick spot like ethylene glycol products do. You can use either product in different ways

propyle glycol + distilled (or de-ionized) water

propyle glycol + distilled (or de-ionized) water + ethylene glycol (offers better freeze protection)

The thing you have to remember is that you can't build on a shoddy foundation. If you're cooling system is contaminated/scaled/rusty then adding propylene glycol won't do anything magic. I use (have used) water wetter in 3 different cars and 2 of my bikes with no ill effects. The FZ had de-ionized water + water wetter all season.

Things propylene glycol will do:

make tech inspectors happy at the track
help your cooling system work more effectively

Things propylene glycol won't do:

Give you 20 extra horsepower
Make you faster
Cure male pattern baldness

 

[McLovin]

Things propylene glycol won't do:


Cure male pattern baldness

I could swear i read somewhere that it helps with baldness if you soak your head and wear a beenie overnight.

 

[keith w]

Changing the coolant was pretty easy with the good advice in this thread and the service manual. I'll just tell you the one mistake I made. I put the drain pan right under the coolant drain bolt I removed. This would normally have been good and no problem. Garage was open and right about the time I removed the drain bolt a huge wind gust about 30 mph came into the garage. Blew the coolant past the drain pan and onto the concrete floor. Big mess. Close the garage door before removing drain bolts when changing coolant or oil if any wind is possible. I had not felt the wind until that moment. Good luck.

 

[FinalImpact]

FWIW: 1.97 qts came out of block and radiator. >> 1.97 qts // 63oz // 1.86liters

Dry Fill is: 2.11 qts // 67.5 oz // 2.0 liters excluding reservoir

Did my 08. Pulled the bolt on cold engine, then remove the cap for good air ingress. Into the pan I had 2 quarts on the dot. But, I took it off the center stand, leaned it from side to side a good distance, and fired it up for about 20 seconds.
Leaning it to the right I got more. The final amount came by being on the center stand and forcing the rear tire onto the ground. Ya, kinda an@l. . .

For the 08 reservoir a quick suck on vinyl hose drained it with gravity.

System fill was done with a small water bottle having a hole cut in the side of the bottle at the bottom. I poured the mix in using the bottle as funnel. It didn't easily take the whole 2 quarts. errrr. . . It'll have to suck it in on its own I guess via repeated heating and cooling cycles.

 

[PFD023]

Just wanted to say thanks to all those who have posted on how to change the coolant. Just did mine this aft and saved myself a ton of $$'s....as well as had an excuse to have a few bevvies (as if I need an excuse). Thanks guys for posting accurate and valuable info for us newbies.

 

[aid-90]

is there any way of easily draining the coolant resevoir that is near the rear brake fluid container without having to remove the fuel tank??
thanks

 

[04fizzer]

is there any way of easily draining the coolant resevoir that is near the rear brake fluid container without having to remove the fuel tank??
thanks

I siphoned mine out. Use a length of hose, and fill it with coolant (or water). Stick one end into the resevoir, and the other end goes in a bucket on the ground. Works really well at removing about 99% of the coolant.

Removing/raising the fuel tank makes it significantly easier, though.

 

[Gelvatron]

I did it according to the Haynes manual it told me to drain it after it was warmed / circulated for 5 mins minutes . Drain it from the drain plug on the thermostat housing. I then allowed it to air cool then filled with soft water aka filtered water not tap, says if your unsure to boil it, after filling with water I ran the bike to get it warm allow to circulate for 5 min and drain again, every time I filled or drained I included the resivor. Drained the water after it cooled, and filled 50/50 with aluminum safe ethylene glycol ran to operating temp to check system and fan then called it a day

 

[petaminox]

Hi guys,

Any idea what the part number is for the coolant overflow tank breather tube? It's the one that allows any excess coolant to drain from the overflow tank onto the ground if the levels get too high.

The black rubber grommet is disintegrating on mine.