Where in the world is all my anti freeze going?

[Frostbite]

Several times this season I have come back to the house and found my anti freeze bottle quite low.

Today when I got back from a two day trip I see the overflow bottle was empty.

I topped off the bottle. It probably took 8 to 12 ounces, but this was probably the result of three or four rides worth of fluid level drop.

We were running on some very hard (not much cooling) trails to and from our boondocking adventures. I saw my coolant temp gauge hit 190 degrees a couple of times on the trail and then I'd get off and run in any powder I could find.

I also was running more RPM than normal (up to 11,200) at WOT because I was messing around with my Shockwave helix.

I see no visible signs of any kind of external anti freeze leak.

Here's the question:

Is it normal for some anti freeze to evaporate, burn off or generally disappear under normal use or do I have some type of internal engine problem?

Thanks

Frosty

 

[marq]

It's apples vs oranges, but I just had a similar problem with my 01 SRX.

3 cylinders, pistons, and heads later it's fixed - I would take the time to peel the top off the motor. If there is something wrong you get the chance to fix it before any more damage is done. If there isn't any problems you've at least taken the time to find out for sure.

There aren't any pin hole leaks in your heat exchangers are there?

 

[yamrx1]

I have found that if you have to much in the res. bottle after a hard run or temp above normal from lack of cooling it will spit out the coolant through the tube.I put my coolant level so as to see it in the very bottom of the res.and have not had any problems,but if you think you are using alot more than you should you should check into it before it causes you trouble...

 

[Frostbite]

YamRX1, my coolant over flow bottle doesn't like to be up to the fill line either. It tends to spit it over board and find its own level somewhere below the line Yamaha was kind enough to supply on the overflow bottle.

I'm not too concerned that there is a mechanical issue going on (every sick engine should run this well) but there does seem to be a small amount of fluid missing from the bottle each time. The hotter the engine has run the more pronounced it seems to be.

When I topped the bottle off there was fluid in the coolant line just below the base of the bottle, so it wasn't like there was no antifreeze. It was just a bit lower than I am used to seeing.

Has anyone else seen this?

Frosty

 

[Grimm]

Are you sure that the coolant isn't escaping from the bleeder valve behind the rear bumper?

 

[tundra]

mine do exactly the same, if i put some more, he disappear, if i leave him at the lowest mark, the coolant stay there. I dont worry a second about that, the motor run like very very very well. no leak , motor is clean an dry on the outside.

 

[Kachess]

Same here. Our coolant seeks a level where it just apears in the bottom of the resevoir. Fill it up and it will be back down, and stay down, after a couple of rides.

 

[Frostbite]

Whew! I suspected this maybe a common happening with the RX-1.

Yup, if you fill it up it's back down to the bottom of the overflow reservoir by the end of the day. I think it just pees what it considers excess overboard.

I wonder if the pressure rating on the overflow reservoir cap is a little too low and it is allows it to vent overboard prematurely?

Frosty

 

[GUKROKIT]

Had this issue a few years back.It ended up being o-rings between the carbs.Coolant flows thru little tubes on the front of the carbs.They have o-rings on the ends of the tube where it enters the carb next to it.Grab the little tubes between the carbs and rotate them,you will see a little anti-freeze escape.I think the fix was to double up the o-rings or change to a thicker one.I never did it since splitting the rack apart seemed like to much b.s. The carbs vibrate more without the air box making them leak more when running the k+ns. hope this helps.

 

[Frostbite]

Hum........that makes sense, although it certainly does sound like it's much more of a pain to fix the problem than it's worth.

I wonder if a "little" stop leak in the system might be just enough to tighten the system up? Heck, as easy as it is to add a little anti freeze, maybe it's not even worth messing with?

Thanks for the great responses guys!

Frosty

 

[culvert]

This is good to hear. Never thought to ask as mine has only dropped once. I filled to the cold line and next ride it was puking it out the overflow tube. I'll just make sure it can be seen in bottle.

 

[Trxster]

Had this issue a few years back.It ended up being o-rings between the carbs.Coolant flows thru little tubes on the front of the carbs.They have o-rings on the ends of the tube where it enters the carb next to it.Grab the little tubes between the carbs and rotate them,you will see a little anti-freeze escape.I think the fix was to double up the o-rings or change to a thicker one.I never did it since splitting the rack apart seemed like to much b.s. The carbs vibrate more without the air box making them leak more when running the k+ns. hope this helps.

Don't think so because most of us Mt riders turned them off or just disconnected them alltogether. Frosty, I'd throw a little bottle on the end of your coolant overflow line and tape it in place and see how much gets into that. Mine did the same thing. So does my wife's Vector mt.


Rt

 

[Frostbite]

Now that's a GOOD idea TRXSTER! I may try that.

It sounds like a fairly common problem. maybe it's really no problem at all?

Thanks

Frosty

 

[treewhacker]

Relax, mine did the same thing on my 03, fill to low mark.....Ride....... then next time I looked it would be low in the puke bottle. I just left it alone and it never went lower than that. Just make a new mark where it is cold and leave it.

 

[dugedug]

Same same here. I thought I was going crazy cause I'd fill it and it would go down just sitting in the garage and only starting it up once a month or so.