Coolant leak at the thermostat housing

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I've got a better idea. Swap bikes and use the new bike as your LD steed instead of the bike thats been airborn, bounced off a playa, slid down asphalt (twice), has a "check engine" light that comes on, has this 'funny' situation where the bars are crook, and has a mysterious coolant leak.... of course I already know the answer to this...
+1

Time to sell that 95K bike to some poor sucker and replace it with a new LD platform. But of course, if you do that, we won't have the benefit of reading all your stories of the woe to come. :lol:

All kidding aside, if it's really that small of a leak, I'd be tempted to let it go awhile and see what turns up. Tough to do with the LD bike tho....

QUOTERad juice

OK, that's disgusting!
Yep, don't wanna know nuttin' about Rad's juices! :aaskull: :bad:

 
slid down asphalt (twice)
Twice?

Unless you snuck by whore out and wrecked it other than that time at the Utah1088 :angry2: , it's only been asphalt surfing once. :p

Really? What about the time you let your other friend ride your bike and he dropped it. Rashed up the side of the bike. Bought you a new side piece, and I think a new BikeJohnny cover? You know, the first time your bike tasted the ground?

 
Somebody pass the popcorn!

ls3.jpg


 
Really? What about the time you let your other friend ride your bike and he dropped it. Rashed up the side of the bike. Bought you a new side piece, and I think a new BikeJohnny cover? You know, the first time your bike tasted the ground?
Gravel.

5-10 mph front end washed out and low-sided after leaving the asphalt. :angry2:

Geese........with the friends I have, who needs enemies?

Hey Arty-Farty, whaddyasay you let me take your FJR out for a little spin? :D

Oh yeah...........

:****:

Somebody pass the popcorn!
ls3.jpg

:rofl:

Hey Lenny, I think he's making fun of us! Lets go kick his ***!
Gee, I don't know Squiggy. It's a pretty ample *** to have to kick! Look what it did to his poor rear subframe!

:lol:

 
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When you do a valve adjust, all of the cooling apparatus on top of the head comes off-as a unit, or in pieces. It has to be removed to remove the cover. It's the worst part of the job, and the most time consuming. When I did it, I took it all apart, cleaned corrosion off of and painted the lower tubes of the water manifold (where they enter the head), as they sit in wells that accumulate water, and the dirt build up retains the moisture, corroding the tubes and the retaining bolts. Anyone with access to an air compressor would be well advised to blow out the junk that accumulates in there whenever the tank is up or off. The water manifold has a very thin anodized coating (gives it that gold color) thats the first thing to go. I also took the opportunity to reseal the disassembled components-I did not need to open up the stat hsg proper, so left that alone.

 
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I know you're mind is made up on riding the dirty old whore for the IBR, at 95K who wouldn't have a connection their machine, but I would seriously consider the logical swap out to the non-crashed low mileage ABS bike. Whats not to like about this scenario? Still a few 'what if's' going on with FJR#1. You want to be at the start line with 100% confidence in whatever machine you decide to run. Remember, a motorcycle is only nuts and bolts and nothing more. Any mechanical issues resulting in a DNF at the day 10 mark, I can only guess would be a tough cookie to swallow? :(

Pull all the stuff you like on FJR#1 over onto FJR#2, ride to either YOC or Desert Valley Powersports to get the tick fixed, then get acquainted with this bike by riding some big miles, and sooner rather than later. A week or so out on the road will put your mind to rest and will then allow you focus all your attention at the main task at hand, bonus hunting.

Farkin around with 2 FJR's is sapping valuable time out of your already busy schedule. ;)

Then if you want, bring FJR#2 out to my place and together we'll get it all properly wired and farkled out. Times a tickin' away.

BTW, that lease rate for my bike is going waaay up in price this late into the year. :lol:

 
If all else fails, 3M high temp silicon will stop just about anything where a gasket wouldn't. You can acutally use it instead of a gasket. Hope you get the old girl settled and back on the road. PM. <>< :D

 
As a follow up.....................

Coolant leak is fixed. I was right in that it was where the two halves of the thermostat housing meet.

Unfortunately, the dealer disassembled everything before I could get a photo of all the coolant traces in the area, but here is one photo that shows some of the coolant leak 'spray' in the area of the t-stat housing. In the piccie, it is located on the black plastic cover forward of the valve cover.

June07015.jpg


Rad was right in that the thermostat itself has the rubber gasket.

June07012.jpg


June07013.jpg


So what went wrong? Well, I am not exactly sure, but it looked like a raised rubber groove one one of the faces of the rubber gasket was aged - hardened and smushed down so that it wasn't sticking out as much as the new one. No observed pinch points or tears in the gasket. You can see that raised edge in the below photo.

June07014.jpg


And, one last piccie showing the old T-stat with one half of the housing.

June07016.jpg


 
:eek: Good pictorial....bet yer happy the housing wasn't cracked or some such thing......or was it/is it?
 
Your photos show the breather hole in the thermostat. When the thermostat is mounted in the assembly the breather hole is oriented at the top of the assembly so that bubbles can work their way out of the assembly and back to the radiator via the breather hose.

What is the cost of the thermostat?

 
Will your bike run cooler if you take the thermostat out? Just wondering.
Yes, but thats a bad thing. TStat determines minimum temp, not max. A motor that runs cold will not tell the ecm it's warm, and to run the normal engine mapping. Instead, it will stay in the cold start, open loop mode, and not come on line. Mileage will suffer, as well as engine and oil life, amongst other things. Engines like heat to a point-the ideal circumstance would be for an engine to not have nor need any cooling system whatsoever, and all btu's contained in the fuel be converted to useable energy, rather than eliminated as waste heat via the radiator.

 
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Ok, a long story short....................

I have finally identified the source of the leak. I think. All trails seem to orginate from the bottom of the thermostat housing. In the photo below, its where #32 and #36 join.

<img src="https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/SkooterG/FJR%20Maintenance/Thermostathousing.gif" border="0" class="linked-image" />
I have 11K miles on my 06 and I found the exact same problem. I looks as thought the gasket is built into the thermostat so you have to buy a thermostat instead of a $2 gasket. I tried to tighten the old one but it was already pretty tight, didn't help. I just hope the new thermostat last longer then the old one. It seems like a defective part if ask me. I wonder if i should put permatex on the new one??

Tony

 
Ok, a long story short....................

I have finally identified the source of the leak. I think. All trails seem to orginate from the bottom of the thermostat housing. In the photo below, its where #32 and #36 join.

<img src="https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/SkooterG/FJR%20Maintenance/Thermostathousing.gif" border="0" class="linked-image" />
I have 11K miles on my 06 and I found the exact same problem. I looks as thought the gasket is built into the thermostat so you have to buy a thermostat instead of a $2 gasket. I tried to tighten the old one but it was already pretty tight, didn't help. I just hope the new thermostat last longer then the old one. It seems like a defective part if ask me. I wonder if i should put permatex on the new one??

Tony
It's not a defective part. Thermostat gasket failures are very rare. You are just one of the unlucky ones it has happened to very early. :(

I wouldn't permatex it. 99% of the time they work fine as designed.

 
Another five year bump. Mainly to say thanks to OP for the thread and follow up.

Don't post much here but shortly after a valve clearance check developed the same leak on my '05 with 40k miles. Was at first thinking the reinstall of the coolant pipe during maintenance had gone awry but once other things were out of the way ruled the pipe out and started scratching head. Mine didn't spray but had developed a drip mid-way between the bolt holes of the thermostat housing (of course). Before yanking the thermostat and opening it up found this thread and it was good confirmation. The gasket is shot and there's a fair bit of corrosion on both faces of the thermostat housing.

 
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