Hawk8
Active member
Ok. By now most of you may have gathered that I can tend to be a 'jump in with my eyes closed' kinda guy. Although I find no greater satisfaction than the feeling of taking my time and doing something right, my schedule has become so complicated that if I am to take my time, the job typically just won't happen...so when it's possible, I will take a shortcut or half-ass a job (typically to my own detriment).
The point?
Not too long ago I drained my coolant, I'll spare the how's and why's...
Looking into the means by which I would refill the coolant I found that basically, the right way is to remove the upper fairing, woo woo woo...
But there is a half-ass shortcut; fill from the overflow tank, one gulp at a time. How could I resist!?
Looking for details on where to find the overflow cap, I found someone else saying he 'learned the hard way' not to try this trick with an empty radiator. Me being me, I decided to do it anyway. I filled the overflow tank, ran the bike 'til the temp gauge hit the half way point, then shut it down and waited. Just as expected, my thirsty girl drank up all that was there. I filled the overflow tank a couple more times (took about a gallon). And never seemed to have a problem.
I was going to leave well enough alone and put this one behind me, but now that I'm preparing to change the timing belts I feel I should check in before I do this again. Did this other guy maybe run his bike to too high a temp? Or have I just not yet seen the consequences of my chronic half-assery?
The point?
Not too long ago I drained my coolant, I'll spare the how's and why's...
Looking into the means by which I would refill the coolant I found that basically, the right way is to remove the upper fairing, woo woo woo...
But there is a half-ass shortcut; fill from the overflow tank, one gulp at a time. How could I resist!?
Looking for details on where to find the overflow cap, I found someone else saying he 'learned the hard way' not to try this trick with an empty radiator. Me being me, I decided to do it anyway. I filled the overflow tank, ran the bike 'til the temp gauge hit the half way point, then shut it down and waited. Just as expected, my thirsty girl drank up all that was there. I filled the overflow tank a couple more times (took about a gallon). And never seemed to have a problem.
I was going to leave well enough alone and put this one behind me, but now that I'm preparing to change the timing belts I feel I should check in before I do this again. Did this other guy maybe run his bike to too high a temp? Or have I just not yet seen the consequences of my chronic half-assery?