'05 Tiger leaking coolant

[Roy]

My '05 Tiger (10,000 miles) is leaking coolant if it sits in cold weather <32 degrees F.  The leak is from the head gasket, center of block, front and back.  As soon as I warm up the bike or keep it in a place at a little warmer temp it does not leak.  Others have seen this (See t595.net) with their 955i motors.  I am not very happy with this develpment.  My '02 Tiger did not have this problem.  Having the local dealer replace the head gasket (pretty major teardown) does not give me a good feeling.  Anyone else having this issue.



Roy

[Brock]

Roy that's bad. I can understand how pissed off you are. At least you've got the warranty to fall back on. Good luck with it mate.

[whoa]

This has to be a head, gasket or torque issue.  No way that can be a design weakness.  My bet is the dealer will just want to replace the gasket and retorque the heads.  If it happens again they'll probably want to machine the head but I'd push for replacing the head.  Since you can only machine them down two or three times.



I wouldn't get too out of sorts over the problem, so long as they fix it the first time and do it quickly.  Be thankful you found it during winter.



Good luck, post back the outcome.

[Kill Switch]

Just developed EXACT same problem and EXACT symptoms on my '99.  Thought it was the head gasket, but it is probably the coolant overflow located near top of engine.  It will leak down on top of engine then down front, making it look like a headgasket leak.  Head gasket would leak more when hot, not stop...like mine and yours.  I just filled the coolant resevoir and put too much in.  Keep a watch and don't do anything drastic yet.

[whoa]

Head gasket would leak more when hot, not stop.

Good point.  On mine, I took cleaner and scrubbed all around the area in question and ran it up again.  In my case, I could see clearly that the leak was coming from the head gasket.



If you have access, you might try the same thing to verify the leak is coming from where you think it is.

David

[NortonCharlie]

I had a "cold leak" on my 01 955 tiger,  It was a hose clamp that needed a little extra torque.  I thought it was strange that it only leaked cold, but it only leaked cold.  Mine was off to the left side and dripped to the floor,  I used a plumb bob to trace it op to the point of drip.  It is hard for me to see how a head gasket could leak cold,  but I was a bit suprised by the cold hose leak also.  I suppose the aluminum head has a higher co-efficient of thermal expansion than the steel bolts.  The head will shrink more than the bolts, but you would think there is more stretch/compression than that in the system.



For your sake I hope it is a leaking fitting or hose

[pauljones1227]

I too have developed the 'cold leak' on my 05 Tiger....Must be something in the air.

Mine is coming from somewhere under the tank which then run perfectly down all the hoses on the left hand side of the bike.

From a quick inspection it looks like its coming from the large top hose where it is connected to the engine. Hard to see though and can't be bothered to rmove the tank unless it gets worse

[abell]

pauljones1227 - I had exactly the same issue on my 05. Whether it was a cold leak or any temperature leak was hard to determine, because it has been cold since I bought the bike.



Either way you will need to remove the tank to tighten up the obscured hoses, unless you have very tiny hands or a very clever screwdriver. It is an hour or two's work and worth doing - the coolant dripping down the hoses beneath it cannot be especially good for them.

[Will]

You may want to check with your dealer to see if your 05 is subject to the head bolt recall.  I was just told yesterday that my 05 (one out of 3  sold by my dealer) needed to have the head bolts replaced.  Evidently they had just recieved this info from Triumph over the last few days.

Will

[abell]

Cheers Will, I will give them a call.

[Roy]

Talked with my dealer today.  They informed me about the recall that involves improper head bolt torque and replacement of head bolts.  Delivering to the dealer tommorow.  Not very happy about a teardown of my my new Tiger.  My '02 was flawless until its untimely death a 43,000 miles at the had of an SUV.



Roy

[abell]

Which bolts are the head bolts anyway?

[whoa]

Which bolts are the head bolts anyway?

They are under the cam cover.  Its too bad but at least they caught it and have a recall.  You sure want that corrected before problems come up.

[abell]

FYI: The dealer tells me my 2005 Tiger is not part of the recall regarding the head bolts.

[Roy]

Just picked up my '05 from the dealer.  Talked with the technician about what changes were made by Triumph to eliminate the leaking problem.  He said the biggest change was the head gasket.  It is now a laminated gasket (metal/composite/metal).  If you look at the interface between block and head it is visible.  The dealer also said that this bike was before the recall VIN range, but did the work under the recall anyway.  It is under warranty so the repair would not have changed anything for me.  The dealer who did the work is Polaris, Victory, Triumph of Chattanooga TN.  They had the bike for 5 working days and did a good job.  I am impressed with their service.  Also they have probably the best prices in the country.  Glad to have the Tiger back.  



Roy