Hey guys it's me again. I finally got my crank case cover case fixed, bought a gasket and refilled the oil. In the process of removing the cover i drained the coolant too. i first drained all the oil out of the oil pan with the drain bolt, added a new honda oil filter then added some new genuine honda oil i got from a dealership. I bought some coolant from the autozone, poured some in the radiator and some in the coolant reservoir on the side. I started her up and she seems to be running quite hot. I don't remember the bike running this hot any idea? also ive looked up burping the systems (no ideas what that meant) . i noticed when the bike cooled down, i took off the cap and rev'd the bike. doesnt seem like the water pump is activating, and the fan on the interior of the radiator either. temp gauges read at c? Help would be appreciated.

 

Well, if the bike temp is lower than the thermostat operating temp, it will not flow through the rads. I mention this because you said that you let it cool down.

What happens is the coolant flows through the motor/carbs. Then once it reaches a certain temp (something like 160F... don't remember exactly) the thermostat opens and coolant flows through the radiators.

If you've just replaced your coolant, you may just have air in your system and need to "burp" it like you've read. Start by taking the rad cap off and then turn your bike on and let it warm up. Once it reaches running temp tap all of the lines with the handle of a screwdriver or similar... your trying to loosen bubbles in the system so that coolant can flow. Blip the throttle a few times and keep working it over. You should see a flow in the rads with the cap off after the bike warms up. If you have a lot of air in your rads or hoses, you may need to add more coolant.

Once coolant is flowing and the hot stuff reaches the fan switch, you'll probably find that it works too

 

Also, I gotta ask... 'bout you...

 

Thanks For the swifty response. I think i topped the coolant off. ill try letting it warm up tommorrow with the cap off. should the water pump enclosure be hot also when warming the bike up? before i brought my bike in for the night i squeezed the radiator tubes, just out of curiousity. lol seems likes theres no coolant in them.

 

Yeah it will heat up considerably. Even if you topped it off, when you blip the throttle it may loosen air bubbles in the rads/hoses which will work it's way out of where the cap will be. Air in the system causes a lot of issues like coolant not flowing and inaccurate fan switches and temp readings. As the air works out of the system, there is more room for coolant and if there was enough air, you may find yourself adding more (even if it is topped off right now).

The water pump is mechanically connected to your motor as you probably saw when you had the cover off, so blipping the throttle changes the pressure/speed of coolant flow and works the bubbles through. This doesn't work as well when the system is pressurized or cold (as the thermostat isn't open).

 

OK sorry to ask but what about is the norm for the gauge to read? Last year I dont recall my bike running as hot as its been either. Lately the gauge will get up to in between the half way mark and 3/4 then the fan kicks in and I've caught little smells of antifreez here and there. I've looked all over for a leak or a drip and dont find a thing. I'm really new to this bike so is a gauge reading of a little past half normal?