I currently ride a 1999 FS600E. This bike is close to mint condition and has been garaged kept in a climate controlled garage since 1999. Since it had not been started since then, I drained all the fluids and flushed the coolant. However, I have had it boil over on me now twice while trail riding. I was told by the previous owner that they run hot. Should it be doing that? Any suggestions would be great. Thanks.
Boil Over
- Thread starter Husawhatsa
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My 400 gets pretty hot on gnarly trails. I have a trail tech vapour instrument thingy which senses temp on the coolant hose and it gets a red light quite often but I never heard it boil.
My buddys wr426 boils way more and makes aloty of noise about it. I've been thinking about fitting a samll computer case fan with a manual switch as a cheap fix cos I like gnarly trails :wink:
My buddys wr426 boils way more and makes aloty of noise about it. I've been thinking about fitting a samll computer case fan with a manual switch as a cheap fix cos I like gnarly trails :wink:
try a radiator cap from a 2008 530 or 450 KTM EXC its 18 bar and the original is 14bar raises the boiling point.loz16h said:
ORANGEBERG
Joined Jun 2007
4K Posts | 1K+
south east WA Australia
make sure the coolant is about 50% glycol
mine popped the lid pretty quick with 30% but not with 50%
I think if you use more than 50% the system is less efficient at transferring heat, Dale has a post on that somehwere.
also note the level required is pretty low.
Regards
Bushie
mine popped the lid pretty quick with 30% but not with 50%
I think if you use more than 50% the system is less efficient at transferring heat, Dale has a post on that somehwere.
also note the level required is pretty low.
Regards
Bushie
A few thoughts for you........
As Orangeberg says, changing the cap to a higher rating will help. It is also very possible that the cap you have is just bad causing it to boil over much more quickly.
Question: When you replaced the coolant, did you clear the system of air??? The older bikes like your's do NOT have a bleed screw on top of the head like the newer bikes do. Some of the older models have a little allen screw between the header pipes on the head that can be pulled to vent trapped air in the head. Or there is an easier way........
Take note of the level of the coolant in the radiator, should be about 10mm's or so above the rad tubes.
Turn off the gas. Lay the bike all the way down on it's left side, and leave it there for 30 seconds. You'll probably be able to hear the coolant moving through the system. Now stand the bike straight up and check the level, correct if necessary. Now, lay the bike down on it's right side, again for about 30 seconds, or just wait till you hear the fluid stop moving through the system. Stand the bike back up again and recheck the fluid level.
You might repeat these steps a couple of times to make sure you have burped it thoroughly. A guy named Fletcher, who was a factory Husaberg mechanic over here in the states told me about this. If you don't do this, you'll have an air pocket in the head.
On my 94 I even went so far as to drill the rad louvers with many small holes to allow more air flow through for better cooling.
When you get into the slow going, don't lug the bike too much, keep the revs up a bit to flow more coolant through the system.
If these steps don't alleviate your problem, try switching to Evans coolant. I run it in both my 04 550, and my 01 501. You will not have boil over problems anymore once you switch to Evans. You will still need to burp it though. If you go this route, shoot me a pm, so I can fill you in on the easy way to do it, you don't need the prep fluid.
As Orangeberg says, changing the cap to a higher rating will help. It is also very possible that the cap you have is just bad causing it to boil over much more quickly.
Question: When you replaced the coolant, did you clear the system of air??? The older bikes like your's do NOT have a bleed screw on top of the head like the newer bikes do. Some of the older models have a little allen screw between the header pipes on the head that can be pulled to vent trapped air in the head. Or there is an easier way........
Take note of the level of the coolant in the radiator, should be about 10mm's or so above the rad tubes.
Turn off the gas. Lay the bike all the way down on it's left side, and leave it there for 30 seconds. You'll probably be able to hear the coolant moving through the system. Now stand the bike straight up and check the level, correct if necessary. Now, lay the bike down on it's right side, again for about 30 seconds, or just wait till you hear the fluid stop moving through the system. Stand the bike back up again and recheck the fluid level.
You might repeat these steps a couple of times to make sure you have burped it thoroughly. A guy named Fletcher, who was a factory Husaberg mechanic over here in the states told me about this. If you don't do this, you'll have an air pocket in the head.
On my 94 I even went so far as to drill the rad louvers with many small holes to allow more air flow through for better cooling.
When you get into the slow going, don't lug the bike too much, keep the revs up a bit to flow more coolant through the system.
If these steps don't alleviate your problem, try switching to Evans coolant. I run it in both my 04 550, and my 01 501. You will not have boil over problems anymore once you switch to Evans. You will still need to burp it though. If you go this route, shoot me a pm, so I can fill you in on the easy way to do it, you don't need the prep fluid.
so Husawhatsa? all good now?
All good info above for myself included, my 04 450 recently boiled on a rocky hillclimb that I've done probably 20 times over the years and never had an issue, I then remembered I had boiled the bike on a previous ride on a single track strewn with fallen trees after a storm, I hadn't bled the air from the head since. The bleed screw makes it easy on the later model, since doing that no hassles.
All good info above for myself included, my 04 450 recently boiled on a rocky hillclimb that I've done probably 20 times over the years and never had an issue, I then remembered I had boiled the bike on a previous ride on a single track strewn with fallen trees after a storm, I hadn't bled the air from the head since. The bleed screw makes it easy on the later model, since doing that no hassles.
2001BRUTE said:
Chris,
You get a gold star and an evening in the corner of excellence for using the search function, or at least having looked through the forum and contributed to a thread that is months old. Well done indeed!!
Dale
Are you positive it is overheating or could it be blowing past a leaky head gasket & spitting coolant out that way?
My experience with the Vapor temp sensor thingy is it will get to 90+ celcius in a few minutes on a hot day if you don't keep moving.
My experience with the Vapor temp sensor thingy is it will get to 90+ celcius in a few minutes on a hot day if you don't keep moving.
Dale, cant beat a thread revival 
reminds me of burning questions i have to ask
maybe someone can just spare a little advice. Im worried about my bike overheating this summer. British roads can get snarled up pretty bad and i was just wondering how long it would have to be sat to do any damage to the engine? I have started fitting a BIG computer fan where my right hand side rad-fins should go, kinda looped over those two rubber rods that go to the rad scoops. Will it be enough just to switch this on whilst in traffic or moving slow ? I realise SM's arent designed to tootle along at 10mph but sometimes its just unavoidable !
Help !
reminds me of burning questions i have to askmaybe someone can just spare a little advice. Im worried about my bike overheating this summer. British roads can get snarled up pretty bad and i was just wondering how long it would have to be sat to do any damage to the engine? I have started fitting a BIG computer fan where my right hand side rad-fins should go, kinda looped over those two rubber rods that go to the rad scoops. Will it be enough just to switch this on whilst in traffic or moving slow ? I realise SM's arent designed to tootle along at 10mph but sometimes its just unavoidable !
Help !
on-one-wheel said:Dale, cant beat a thread revival
maybe someone can just spare a little advice. Im worried about my bike overheating this summer. British roads can get snarled up pretty bad and i was just wondering how long it would have to be sat to do any damage to the engine? I have started fitting a BIG computer fan where my right hand side rad-fins should go, kinda looped over those two rubber rods that go to the rad scoops. Will it be enough just to switch this on whilst in traffic or moving slow ? I realise SM's arent designed to tootle along at 10mph but sometimes its just unavoidable !
Help !
This was my solution, I bought a used 06 tank so that I could put the stock fan kit on my 04 550. The other thing that's nice about the 06 type of tank is that the way the tank and shrouds are made, they have channels cut in to promote the induction of cool air, and the tank is set back from rad to allow better flow.
I also found a guy who was parting out an 07 FS bike and bought the radiator off of him so I could use the stock thermal well for the temp switch.
There is another thread in the cooling section about being able to get higher temperature, temp switches than the stock 85C temp switch to keep the fan from running a lot.
Your stock stator will pull the load of the fan just fine, however, there is not much left over for charging the battery. That's one reason why the thread for the higher temp on/off temp switch thread is there, to help with battery recharge.
I had SPARKS re wind my stock stator, and converted to a straight DC system, and put on a universal Trail Tech 150 reg/rect. The SPARKS stator puts out 120 watt's, so for off road riding like I do, the fan can be running all day long, and it still keeps the battery up to full charge even with numerous stops and starts.
Or the cheapest route is to just install Evans coolant and forget about the fans period. I run both the fans and the Evans to keep pressure to a minimum in my system.
Ok. Now I found this thread and DaleEO spells it all out. I do have the little grub screw between the exhaust headers but I can't shift it so I'm off to the shed to lay it down!
A technique that I use on all 'water' cooled vehicles is to squeeze the hose(s) numerous times during and after filling with the cap removed. It 'burps' the air and I can't recall when it hasn't worked successfully. No problems with my 98 501 with this method, and with my 07 650 the bleed screw only ever issues coolant after using this method to fill.
Thermostats can exacerbate the problem, as they are closed when doing this. They always have a small bypass of some sort, so this method is essential when these are fitted, IMHO.
Steve
Thermostats can exacerbate the problem, as they are closed when doing this. They always have a small bypass of some sort, so this method is essential when these are fitted, IMHO.
Steve
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