Coolant renewal

[PeteH]

Im looking at refreshing the coolant on the Tiger, is there a cheats / easy way to it without having to remove the tank to get at the rad cap ? I have a good and free supply of distilled water so thats not a problem.
Was thinking of getting her up to temperature and slackening a bottom hose while filling through the expantion tank with hot water...would this work ??

Cheers

[Chris Canning]

If you have the hand of a 5 year old maybe,but baring in mind get it wrong and the thought of the 10 minutes to take the tank will seem a minor detail,first time I changed mine jeeze it took for ever to clean the crap out of the pump,do it right,do it slowly and do it with some form of rust inhibitor I use Siloklene Pro Cool but there are loads of options.

[Bixxer Bob]

 

If removing the tank puts you off you need the practice anyway Pete.  Just remember the old rules, do it when its empty (less chance of it distorting) and clear a space to put it down before you start.

While you're in there, do your throttle bodies, you'll be glad you did.

[PeteH]

Bike was running fine last time it was out and im a firm believer of if it ain't broke etc.....last time the tank was off I had to lever it into position to get the front bolt in...so I'm thinking minimal intrusion by basically getting it up to temperature to open the thermostat...slacken a bottom hose then flush through the expansion tank ...sound readable ?

[Chris Canning]

I had trouble with my tank because I took it off for two weeks and it lay on the garage floor,so now when working on the bike get on with it instead of messing about  :icon_wink:

Battery and box off

Tank off

Undo bottom hose and drain

Undo radiator cap and flush through with clean water and also the water pump.

Check the header tank,mine also has a layer of gunge in,took it off filled it full of 10mm nuts and swish it about came up like new.

Put pipes back on and steadily poor coolant via the rad cap on a slowly slowly catchy monkey basis,not just bollock it all in and put the rad cap on !! when the level is up too the top squeeze the pipe to do check there's no air lock when happy put rad cap back on.

Then slowly poor coolant into the header tank to the level.

[smokyjoe]

Does the tiger use the ordinary blue coolant or is it the pink oaty coolant ?   

[PeteH]

Always used the ordinary blue stuff, can't say I've seen any other color...