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Purging Coolant like crazy and white exhaust.

So here is an update- since the first time I saw smoke was a rainy day I've been waiting, I haven't seen smoke since then but After a rainy day yesterday I ran the bike after about a minute white smoke was coming out the exhaust but it didn't smell like coolant this time. after about five minutes it went away completely, I'll still take it in for a compression test but... any chance this isn't a blown gasket after all? I mean maybe the coolant smell was from it purging since I had filled it the day before the original smoke, possibly the smoke and smell were unrelated?

anyone else seen this happen after the bike spent a really rainy night outside?

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d21We9Vv1Fk&feature=plcp]Fz6 steaming - YouTube[/ame]

But on the other hand here is my coolant tank behavior. crap.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsIVG3vKaFI&feature=plcp]video 2012 06 13 18 05 25 - YouTube[/ame]
 
maybe the radiator cap is still sealing but not holding pressure.....that is quite a bit of movement in the overflow....like A LOT.
pressure test the cap?

As for the smoking...that doesnt look terrible to me.... as long as it doesnt use any oil or coolant.

we know that the level is fluctuating in your overflow...but is the bike actually using it? or is it just doin its weird fluctuating and purging?
 
I don't know if it's since I'm watching it on my phone but man that thing sounds rough...

I'd say the compression test is defiantly needed.
 
The Rad cap has two seals; the inner and the outer. If the inner land has debris under it, it will push fluid out fast as the engine warms. In the video here, its the inner seal that is being bypassed. So either the cap is bad, the seal is bad (still a bad cap) or there is damage to the radiators inner sealing surface so ANY CAP you put on there leaks.

How long was it running in the second video before you caught that and what was the temp in bars?
 
ELHOCKEY said:
Fz6 steaming - YouTube
Click to expand...

So what was the humidity that day? Obviously the bike is all wet but the higher the humidity the more moisture thats in the air will be converted to steam. . . If the exhaust itself does not smell of anti freeze you may be OK.

Now on the later fizzers the over flow tank is between the header and the engine so its easy to spill fluid on the headers and smell it burn. With a bad radiator cap, yours is going to push fluid out somewhere. The fact that its so bad would lead me to believe you may have ran it out of fluid a time or two. Can you confirm how much fluid has been added to "top it off?" This would be good to know as far as the likely hood of causing damage to the engine (like if you added 1 qt to a 2 qt system than it was CRITICALLY LOW and you may have a bad head gasket now!
 
It's really hard to tell if it is using coolant or not because everytime I shut the bike off it purges, the one time it didn't I did not notice a change in the level.

when I drained the oil there wasn't anything wrong with it other than it being dirty. hard to tell if there is oil in the coolant without a clear tank.

Guess I gotta break down and just take her into the shop as soon as I find a truck or trailer to use. it does sound a little rough.
 
when I topped it off I filled up to the step in the tank, middle between the low and high marks, it was just below the low mark when I noticed and topped it off. temp was at 3 bars the whole time in the second vid and it had been running for twenty minutes when I saw that.
 
and did anyone notice the bubbling in the overflow tank as the level goes up, watch the bottom right corner under the black tape. if that is from the return hose that's basically the killing blow right there
 
ELHOCKEY said:
and did anyone notice the bubbling in the overflow tank as the level goes up, watch the bottom right corner under the black tape. if that is from the return hose that's basically the killing blow right there
Click to expand...

A bad cap could allow that to happen.

Inspect the cap for damage. If the cap holds pressure (lets say its pop off pressure is 15psi) and it pops off at 2 psi then the cap may have caused all of this.

Also - ** VERY IMPORTANT ** Topping off the over flow tank is NOT ENOUGH if an engine has over flowed the tank DUE TO A BAD CAP!
A BAD CAP will not allow the cooling system to pull a vacuum and suck the coolant back in from the tank to refill the block as the engine cools. Meaning - the engine is LOW even tho the tank is full. **THIS IS BAD** Fill the cold ENGINE at the Radiator neck.


have you ever over cooked something is the Microwave and seen the plastic wrap on the dish bulge way up? Yes. And then if left too long, it shrinks back down embedding itself in the food like a vacuum sealer? Yep. It its the same thing here. If there is a whole in it (think bad cap) then it won't build pressure so it WILL boil over. And when it cools, it won't pull a vacuum and shrink wrap. (in the case of the cooling system, suck up fluid!). It NEEDS to SUCK to pull fluid from the reservoir or the engine cooling system will be low on fluid.

Does this make sense?
 
well I got a radiator cap and filled er up at the radiator neck, took only a few drops now the coolant level is stone still after it reaches its hot level. the hot smell is gone too. as far as the bike sounding rough in the video it's because I shot it with my cell phone, it sounds much better in person.:thumbup:

once I get the compression test I'll put this nightmare to rest for good
 
ELHOCKEY said:
well I got a radiator cap and filled er up at the radiator neck, took only a few drops now the coolant level is stone still after it reaches its hot level. the hot smell is gone too. as far as the bike sounding rough in the video it's because I shot it with my cell phone, it sounds much better in person.:thumbup:

once I get the compression test I'll put this nightmare to rest for good
Click to expand...

Did you have it tested or just replace it? And you let it get HOT and it didn't puke out into the reservoir? Could be your lucky day! Maybe hit the thanks button?? :don'tknow:
 
They didn't have a tester at the dealership so they gave me a new cap for free :rockon: didn't fluctuate once that I saw. and the coolant level is just where I left it when I started her up. And Thanks for sticking with me I really appreciate all the help from everyone.

once I get the Compression test I'll send a final update.
 
ELHOCKEY, was it really just the cap? Have you had a chance to ride it for extended periods? Does it still smoke and is it loosing/using fluid?
 
YEP! really just the Cap, won't know for SURE until I get that compression test, just haven't gotten it in to my schedule yet. but I rode 35 miles on saturday and no problems, temp is good, coolant level is not decreasing with each ride.


Thanks!
 
A compression test will not tell you anything as far as loosing coolant, don't waste your money. The only time I'd run a compression test on an engine is if it were skipping or otherwise running bad.
 
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