Valkyrie Radiator bites the dust..

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Ansimp

Well-known member
Supporting Member
Joined
Jan 27, 2013
Messages
9,855
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Location
Brisbane Australia
My Bike Models
1981 GL1100 “Rats Nest”
1998 GL1500c Val
1987 CBR1000f “The Pig”
1991 CBR1000f Red
Most would be aware of my minor leak with Val's radiator, well on yesterdays ride it was more than a few drops and was now quite a trail. After another stop there was now a pool of coolant on the top of the left head. I gave it one last big squirt of the throttle on the way home and then decided it was time to pull the radiator. As my radiator repairer had advised me that I need to make sure when changing coolants that I have flushed the system properly ( I hadn't ), I proceeded to flush the cooling system properly before removing the radiator. It ended up being three flushes with fresh water before I was happy to remove the radiator.
I was pretty slack when I removed the radiator and I didn't remove the tank ( as I had just filled it :doh: ) so that I could unplug the fan and ignition pickups easily ( I assumed that's what the wire was running into the timing case), instead I just unbolted the fan off the radiator brackets. I then cable tied the fan back in place so that I can still run the bike to get it up on the front wheel stand/clamp mount.
 
Alumaseal always done good for me. In fact I had a pin hole leak in the radiator I'm running right now. Alumaseal sealed it long ago and still sealed after flushes and new coolant.
Sounds like the Val came with an inferior radiator so I wouldn't have expected any sealer to work long term anyhow.
 
I am wondering if what the radiator guy was saying about mixing coolants came home to roost for me. I was really slack with not hot flushing the cooling system when I changed the coolant. He claims that you can get potential corrosion as the new coolant tries to bond to the alloy surfaces and is fighting the residual of the old coolant. :head bang:
 
I don't buy the explanation myself. Most coolants are ethylene glycol based. Maybe some of the newer coolants don't mix well but this is the first I've heard of any causing corrosion.
 
Plus, I don't think you have had the machine long enough to have had any real detrimental influences on the cooling system. Don't be so hard on yourself Tony!

Now, if you had had a few more years to work at it, I'm sure things could've been different...

:whip:
 
Always wondered about mixing coolants also, was running mostly water in So Virginia for heat issues down there, Forgot to flush and prep for move back to New England ,,top rad hose froze and popped off caught it just in time before any damage with shop heat for that winter, Hope you get back on the road soon ..
 
:thanks:
It will more than likely be awhile as the shop is really busy and my cashflow is very poor. I hope to drop it up to them within the next week and then we will see how long it will take.
 
Hope to get my new ( very ugly second hand) radiator into Val today. I can't believe that it is almost 2 months since I pulled the original radiator.
$110 aud by the time it was shipped to me down here in Oz. I had asked questions and he assured me that it was just flaking paint and not a repair on the tank, he didn't recommend bead blasting but did suggest a clean and paint of the tanks. I could see why you wouldn't want to bead blast as the pitting of the tanks is really deep in places. I should of been suspicious of the radiator cap being included and I didn't notice the crushed pipe ends where a screwdriver was used to remove the ends. Whoever had removed the radiator was rough and tried to screw the radiator cap off without removing the locking screw. It took a lot of working to get the cap off as the radiator neck was now slightly bent from whoever tried to remove the cap. I was quite surprised to find out that the radiator didn't leak while I pressure tested it to 20psi.
I used a brass wire brush to clean off most of the flaking paint and corrosion. I then washed it down with vinegar to neutralise (?, Hopefully!) the alloy corrosion. I had some etch primer so I decided to use that before spraying the radiator with black enamel.
I had to use a nylon brush to clean out the etch primer cob webs that were blocking up the cooling fins.
 
[url=https://www.classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=183836#p183836:22p5z9yg said:
dan filipi » Thu Nov 17, 2016 3:30 pm[/url]":22p5z9yg]
Looks rough..glad it doesn't leak.

Agreed, and I hate being a naysayer, but if I were you, I'd start looking for the next one right away. That one really doesn't look like a long term solution. I hope I'm wrong.
 
Radiator painted
20 year old timing belts with 110K klms on them
Radiator full of water for final pressure test before installing
Polished up the timing cover and hardware
New belts installed
I noticed a white powdery alloy corrosion style substance in the water neck
I am going to run plain water for awhile to help flush any contaminates out and then I will fill the system with coolant. First ride in a couple of months was down the street to have a few Friday afternoon drinks with the boys. I decided to tackle the DD in daylight so that I didn't have any stuff ups. Quick pick at the mailbox before the 900 metres up the driveway to the house.
Hopefully I will get to ride to Springwood tomorrow for a meet up with fellow VJMC members. :good: :moped:
 
Springwood!? Being the curious (nosy) type that I am, I looking into that ride. I'm showing Springwood as a suburb of Sidney. Surely, there's another Springwood closer that you're referring to?

If not, that's a heckuva ride if not an overnighter.

Radiator looks good. Nice work.
 
[url=https://www.classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=183861#p183861:dw4zgdne said:
desertrefugee » Fri Nov 18, 2016 11:59 pm[/url]":dw4zgdne]
Springwood!? Being the curious (nosy) type that I am, I looking into that ride. I'm showing Springwood as a suburb of Sidney. Surely, there's another Springwood closer that you're referring to?

If not, that's a heckuva ride if not an overnighter.

Radiator looks good. Nice work.
About 40 minutes away from my house in the City of Logan which is part of greater Brisbane.
 
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