Failing radiator cap or bad coolant?

i would say that that is hard to call. but the point is that on your next ride you should have the cap as the fail safe place again.

i would also point out that husabergs have a very low cap pressure whilst at the same time you wnet for engine ice-type-coolant. this would be deemed a weird set-up elsewhere.

regards

Taffy

what i'm saying is that you/we are keeping the bikes from boiling by using these liquids whilst running a light pressure cap. it's the reverse of everyone else. dale has put up before what he runs and can run.

we're talking 1.4, 1.6 no problem. i think he's been to 2.1 or more. and he recommends..........water!

i'm not saying it's right or wrong, A= i don't know and B=i don't care!

just be aware of how it's done elsewhere. if you do a search you'll find dale has posted all this before now.

regards

Taffy

Re: RE: Failing radiator cap or bad coolant?

LeFrog said:

Well, the issue here is that the pressure cap did not give in as it should have but instead the waterpump gasket did.

I mean really what amount of pressure does it take to blow a 5mm wide paper gasket, with a fair amount of RTV silicone sealant on top and pressed under a properly torque cover?

I would say A LOT MORE than 1.2 PSI.

Well, Dale puts water in there, good for him but I'd like something that boils slightly over 220F and is a bit more heat conductive, as far as I am concerned.

Click to expand...

Actually, pure water is the best when is comes to heat transfer. Better than any antifreeze formulation, whether EG or PG. The antifreeze did not have anything to do with the problem.

Try a new radiator cap. Also, using rtv sealant when not necessary leads to problems as well, at least for me. If it has a gasket already, why goop sealant on it?

RE: Re: RE: Failing radiator cap or bad coolant?

Le frog,
Some gasket sealant is supposed to replace a gasket and not accompany the gasket. Gasket and sealant is making the gap between the sealing faces wider so therefore weaker to pressure biuld up.
Also remember that pressurising water will cause its boiling point to rise...then when it loses the pressure{leak} it will boil rapidly!
But I agree with you that I would think the cap would relieve the pressure before the gasket failed! You can buy a kit that will pressure test your coolant system...but fits on your machine in place of the pressure cap so that is not much help! Only that it will show if your gasket is failing at less than the 1.2 of the cap!

first of all froggy i admire your ability to have a go at things, that's how we learn the limits and answer the questions that everyone thinks they know the answer too!

a tip for you when making a gasket. first of all you can buy packets of gasket card that is all kinds of thinkness up to 1mm. i've had a set for 25 years and used to make a lot of gaskets.

to make it i suggest a couple of tips for you and anyone else for the future: use a toffy hammer with the gasket laying on the WP housing and using the round end, TAP THE INNER AND OUTTER EDGES to get an outline and half break the gasket paper. next, for the bolt holes: build up a variety of different sized ball bearings and press one by hand down and into the gasket over where the hole is. now tap the Bb with the regular face of the toffy hammer. i used to actually hammer the ID, OD and bolt holes out completely with a toffee hammer and only stop when the paper became gasket and lost it's constituent body.

there are cheap little hollow tubes available that actually create those holes if you look for them. bit you did a good job this time.

and for anyone else listening in: there are two types of radiator cap:

japanese
european

regards

Taffy

Le Frog,
I have to totally disagree with you....that is a well made gasket. The making of a gasket is a lost art. It makes you fell like a real engineer to make a gasket and it does the job, especially when it does that job better than the bought one. I learnt using "Kellog " boxes for inlet gaskets on 2strokes when I had opened the inlet port up, so the "bought gasket" was just too small for my oversize inlets!
Taffy is spot on with the toffee hammer etc. Another option is a very sharp scalpel to cut it out once you make the bolt holes with the ball bearings and clamping the gasket paper with a nut and bolt onto the casing. I have read in a magazine that you can spraypaint the outline of the casing. But I am too impatient to wait for paint to dry!!! So toffee hammer and scalpel is the way forward for me!!
I have not used the Wurth sealents. I get mine free from work...so I only use loctite products! The orange loctite is the stuff i use to replace a gasket. But it has to be torqued down and left 24 hours to set before adding oil or coolant etc to system! This stuff has never let me down on a real variety of engines and applications!