Overheated HELP!

[sexNstillettos]

So I was riding on Saturday and we were down town here in Milwaukee....they were filming a new stunt vid so what is normally a stop and go ride to begin with was REALLY stop and go.

My bike (96 F3) decided to over heat and it was about 5 mins before I could make it to the freeway to cool him off. I just refilled him with coolant, and started him and he's living up to his name and being a Smokin' Joe.

As I refilled it I spilled some coolant so I am wondering if that is why it is smoking from that area (burning it off???) or is there some sort of serious issue I have with seals/rings/anything else from when it over heated.

The spot where I park doesn't have any liquids that have dripped from maybe a blown gasket but I am a lil stressed and worried.

HELP! Any Ideas or info would be great.

KTHXBYE

Cj

[project_mercy]

1.) What color is the smoke.
2.) Where is it smoking from
3.) What does it smell like
4.) Is the temperature gauge cool while it's smoking
5.) Stand the bike upright and look through the oil level window and see if you can see any coolant in the oil supply.

When the head warps it may loosen up on the inside, outside, or both. If it's not leaking anything outside, and the smoke isn't coming primarily from the exhaust (which would be consistent with coolant leaking into the combustion chamber), and the bike isn't running especially hot, just cook it off.

If you want to be extra sure, do a compression test on it, but that's a pain in the tush to do on a sportbike due to plug locations.

[sexNstillettos]

Originally Posted by project_mercy

1.) What color is the smoke.
2.) Where is it smoking from
3.) What does it smell like
4.) Is the temperature gauge cool while it's smoking
5.) Stand the bike upright and look through the oil level window and see if you can see any coolant in the oil supply.

When the head warps it may loosen up on the inside, outside, or both. If it's not leaking anything outside, and the smoke isn't coming primarily from the exhaust (which would be consistent with coolant leaking into the combustion chamber), and the bike isn't running especially hot, just cook it off.

If you want to be extra sure, do a compression test on it, but that's a pain in the tush to do on a sportbike due to plug locations.

1) The Smoke is white
2) Its coming from the Pipe area (not sure what it is called on a bike, but it looks like a header on a car???)
3) It smells like coolant
4) It was at Cool but I only let it run for 2 mins and got skurred and turned it off
5) I don't think I have this oil level window you speak of.... )

[Jake]

Is the bike actually overheating? What I mean is, is there a temperature gauge that shows the bike overheating? Or is there a temperature light that is coming on?

[project_mercy]

Originally Posted by sexNstillettos

2) Its coming from the Pipe area (not sure what it is called on a bike, but it looks like a header on a car???)

Header as right as anything else. Bike manufactures like to rename parts every year or two. It's as likely if you check the parts diagram as to be called "pipe 2394", or "exhaust collector" , or some made up word. It containes the primary exhaust collector, so it's a header

If you have the fairings off, wait for the bike to cool fully (it's flammable), take a rag and carefully spray brake cleaner on the header and wipe it clean. You may also want to spray it onto a rag and wipe off the head and anything else it sprayed on. You'll want to wear gloves if you value your skin

You don't want to get the brake cleaner on anything painted or anything rubber, else it'll be bad.

If it's not smoking from the exhaust, and the bike isn't overheating, then just let it run. Glycol takes a long time to fully burn off (smell wise), though I am a bit surprised it's still smoking. Feel free to e-mail me if you have any more q's. You can get it from that "other" place

[sexNstillettos]

Originally Posted by Jake

Is the bike actually overheating? What I mean is, is there a temperature gauge that shows the bike overheating? Or is there a temperature light that is coming on?

Its not over heating any more that I know of....it just over heated the other night because it took us about a half hour to get from Lake Dr. to Water street......(antics of the city)

So are we all in agreement I can ride it and just let coolant burn off? Or is my ass gonna get broke down in the hood and need rescuing....

Cj

[Murf99]

CJ - Where was the temperature gauge - or what percent of "Hot"?

This is a stupid question, but is coolant flowing through the radiator? G'head and give it a touch real quick with the BACK of your hand when the bike's warm... see if the radiator is hot. If not, busted thermostat...

Also, does the fan turn on?

It's usually the simple stuff. I rode my F3 in 100 degree heat and traffic jams... and ddidn't have any problem with overheating - once the fan came on.

Cheers - Todd

[sexNstillettos]

Doesn't register hot (about 50% on teh gauge)

Could be a fan issue since I over heat quite often.....arg.

Radiator is not leaking either.

Originally Posted by Murf99

CJ - Where was the temperature gauge - or what percent of "Hot"?

This is a stupid question, but is coolant flowing through the radiator? G'head and give it a touch real quick with the BACK of your hand when the bike's warm... see if the radiator is hot. If not, busted thermostat...

Also, does the fan turn on?

It's usually the simple stuff. I rode my F3 in 100 degree heat and traffic jams... and ddidn't have any problem with overheating - once the fan came on.

Cheers - Todd

[project_mercy]

Originally Posted by sexNstillettos

Doesn't register hot (about 50% on teh gauge)

Could be a fan issue since I over heat quite often.....arg.

Radiator is not leaking either.

It's not really anything broken. Sportbikes just aren't designed to sit and idle/putter from stoplight to stoplight. Generally they have just enough radiator to keep it at optimum temperature if your'e going over 10mph or so. My FZR1000 would overheat after 2 stoplights if it didn't keep moving.

Glycol (anti-freeze), doesn't transfer heat. That's the water's job. if you put 100% gylcol into your coolant system, it'd functionally do nothing. Glycol's just there to raise the water's boiling point, reduce it's chance of freezing, (in modern anti-freeze mixtures) assist in lubrication of the few working coolant parts (like the water pump), and reduce oxidation of the system.

So, point being, during the summer when you're 100% sure the bike isn't going to freeze, you might as well dump the 50/50 glycol/water and replace it with water & water wetter (or something equivilent, like the purple ice stuff or what ever). You may want to put a little glycol into the system to assist in lubrication. I think there's a suggestion on mixture percentage on the water wetter bottle. I forget.

Sounds like everythings fine to me.

[OldSchlPunk]

I'd be concerned with a temp gauge only going 50%, fan not coming on, and boiling over. My F2 would run damn hot in stop-and-go traffic, but the fan always came on.

May actually be nothing, but a head gasket leak could give just this indication.

When you say pipe is smoking, do you mean smoke/steam out the back of the pipe? Or just from behind the radiator? Might be worth having someone take a look.

Also, is your oil muddy brown? Your oil inspection window is just below and ahead of the oil fill plug. Oil being above full and brown would be another indication of a water (coolant) problem.

If not addressed in a timely matter, water in your oil will DESTROY your bearings, I blew a race motor once because of this.

Good luck

[fengler]

Originally Posted by project_mercy

...Glycol (anti-freeze), doesn't transfer heat. That's the water's job. if you put 100% gylcol into your coolant system, it'd functionally do nothing. Glycol's just there to raise the water's boiling point, reduce it's chance of freezing...

interesting thanks for that info! didnt know that

[UK_R6]

Not yet a qualified bike guy, but I am when it comes to cars. So based on this knowledge heres what I can tell you, first off to not scare you, best to run the bike at idle till it come up to temp and see if the smoke wear off..... Next if it's still smoking, rev the bike and look at the tail pipe at the exhaust gasses, if they are white as in thick white you have the #1 concern with aluminum heads that when you over heat you can cause warpage and the head gasket though not blown, will leak coolant, yes this is an issue. Also as stated check oil for coolant in it, it will be milky, if you dont have a veiw window, do an oil change to be sure.

My guess though is you have spilled coolant on your header and it takes a little while to burn off.

[lucid]

Also try and check the hose that goes from the radiator to the overflowr resevoir. It is pretty likely that it came of or it may be cut.