Adding coolant

[SkooterG]

However, coolant never wears out from mileage or use. Only from contact time of the liquid with the innards of the engine.

Are you sure about that? Why would Yamaha specify a mileage limitation if mileage had nothing to do with it. Some quick internet searching was indecisive - I found several statements that besides time, miles also wears out coolant, but none with any supporting facts as to why.

 

[ionbeam]

At the very least, anti corrosive agents become depleted over time. The engineers have to give some sort of a specification for change intervals. I would hope they did a minimum sanity check on the chemistry of generic coolants and chose to look at the most severe operating conditions the cooling system may see in setting the change intervals.

 

[Fred W]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure.

The only part of the coolant that "wears out" is the anti corrosive additive package. And that gets used up from extended contact time with the metal insides of the cooling jacket.

I'll have to do some googling to find supporting evidence to that effect, but that has always been my understanding in automotive applications, and there is really no difference in our MC application.

 

[ionbeam]

Fred, I believe you will find that the anti-corrosive additives are to help dissimilar metal reactions in the presence of water, temperature and in some cases even galvanic reactions. Almost all mainstream coolants also contain some form of lubrication for the pump seals. Automotive engines offer a broader range of dissimilar metals than is seen in most motorcycle aluminum engines with aluminum radiators.

Technically, a coolant isn't 'failed' or 'used up' until corrosion starts, seals leak and/or the coolant can no longer remain in the liquid phase in the cylinder head heat pockets.

 

[Fred W]

My google foo is letting me down. All can come up with is various opinions and conjecture (similar or opposite to my own).

The coolant manufacturers will not say. They say to ask the vehicle manufacturers. Vehicle manufacturers seem to often put a mileage (sometimes huge) as well as elapsed time interval on their change spec.

I think I'll keep changing mine every two years regardless of miles. That's way more often than the average North American does.

 

[Constant Mesh]

One could always just pump a little coolant into the expansion tank via the breather hose which is open to the atmosphere just below the fairing. There would be a little gurgling as the air escaped during filling but it would work.

A better solution would be the addition of a tee fitting in the breather hose up near the expansion tank. By permanently attaching a small length of hose to the tee one could add coolant via this hose which could be tucked away under the fairing when not in use. This would work quite well in the Gen I units since the breather hose connects vertically to the top of the expansion tank. Inserting the tee just above the tank would make it relatively easy to add coolant.

 

[ionbeam]

My google foo is letting me down...

You can try to back-door the search. Try searching organic acid technology (OAT) and hybrid organic acid technology (HOAT). These acidic coolants are supposed to dissolve corrosion and extend the life of the coolant. In the real world they actually created damage and corrosion (part of the controversial nature, leading to law suits). Because some coolants like Dex-Cool are supposed to be an extended change coolant that (may have) caused damage the equivalent to corrosion in a short time people are willing to talk about actual replacement intervals based on real information. Dunno, it's a thought. This was a BIG DEAL in my car club with Chevy LT-1 and LT-4 engines.

 

[charismaticmegafauna]

Those who maintain large fleets of motor vehicles (where 100s of vehicles = thousands of $$$)

coolant isn't changed unnecessarily. When servicing their fleets, maintainers (when considering coolant) talk in terms '5 years', '250K miles', and 'lifetime'.

They do, however, frequently sample coolants: checking the pH, filtering, and "sweetening" the coolant with an additive package.

 

[RaYzerman19]

Those who maintain large fleets of motor vehicles (where 100s of vehicles = thousands of $$$)

coolant isn't changed unnecessarily. When servicing their fleets, maintainers (when considering coolant) talk in terms '5 years', '250K miles', and 'lifetime'.

They do, however, frequently sample coolants: checking the pH, filtering, and "sweetening" the coolant with an additive package.

For the $15 it costs for fresh, why not go fresh. Modern coolants last longer than 2 years, some claim 5 or 'lifetime'. My preference is to change it when convenient around 3 years or my next valve check, but that just works for my situation, YMMV.

 

[Monty]

A plug for Engine Ice. Great stuff. :clapping:

 

[odot]

Why is it ok to talk about coolant for three pages but taboo to talk about oil? Me thinks this thread should be in the NERP file. But, nevermind...just trying to bump up my post count.

 

[Harald]

The last bottle of COOLANT I bought claims it's good for up to 150,000 miles and 5 years. I wonder if Yamaha is still thinking of old technology coolants that require more frequent changing when they spec'd the change interval? Maybe the factory fill is old technology because they don't want to spend the engineering dollars to test these newer coolants? Maybe the factory fill is cheaper, so they don't want to spec new extended life coolants which will lower their profit margin? I don't think anyone (other than Yamaha) can answer those questions.

I personally don't get too excited about whether I meet the exact Yamaha change interval because clearly the coolant I'm using is good for MUCH longer. Each valve check interval is probably a good time to keep it simple. :clapping:

 

[SkooterG]

Manufacturers of ALL sorts of products CLAIM all kinds of things.

You don't actually believe any of that marketing B.S., do you?

 

[RaYzerman19]

I've been convinced for a while that the Maintenance Schedule has a couple of items that are make work projects for the dealers... like TBS every 4000... but 2 years for coolant is standard recommendation, and yep, I'm convinced it's good for longer enough to make it a convenient time to change it.

 

[Harald]

Manufacturers of ALL sorts of products CLAIM all kinds of things.

You don't actually believe any of that marketing B.S., do you?

YUP. I believe everything I read on the internet also!

 

[RadioHowie]

Maybe the factory fill is cheaper, so they don't want to spec new extended life coolants which will lower their profit margin?

You probably hit the nail-on-the-head right there. We all know Yamaha sourced their recent model wiring harnesses to the Keebler elves, so why NOT save some bucks on coolant???

 

[johndaub]

I was checking my coolant level and it was at the lower level, I want to add some but getting at the cap doesn't look that easy. How do you remove cap without removing a lot of plastic?

If I remember correctly, I think that you CAN work your fingers in there to get the cap off of the reservoir and add coolant with a turkey baster.

+1 I can pop the top with my fingers and I got a funnel at Pep Boys with a flexible tube and an on/off valve. I put coolant in the funnel, the tube in the coolant reservoir and open the valve until the correct amount is added.

 

[Constant Mesh]

Why are you losing coolant?

I've changed the coolant each time I've checked/adjusted the valve clearances. I've never needed to add coolant between clearance checks. In fact the level doesn't appreciably change between checks.

My expansion tank must have been overfilled a bit at the factory. Soon after I got the bike from D&H the expansion tank breather hose dumped a bit of coolant on the ground. The factory must want to make sure it's filled to the brim.

I don't mind taking the plastic off to add coolant simply because I've never had to add any. Maybe a little coolant evaporates from the expansion tank and exits the breather hose. But it must be a miniscule amount since my level doesn't drop much over a three year interval.

Liquid loss from evaporation is not much of an issue with the Gen I bikes. The breather hose rises vertically from the top of the tank and the hot liquid vapors quickly condense in the hose and fall back down into the tank.

 

[Strayshot]

I kinda cheat. I take a~3ft piece of clear PVC tubing, put one end in the reserve tank on the bike, the other end in the coolant jug, take a rag and the blower attachment on my air compressor and pressurize the coolant jug and watch the coolant level in the reservoir until it reaches desired level. Note: I am very careful when pressurizing the jug - I feather the trigger so that there is just enough pressure to make the coolant flow through the tube - don;t go loading up something like that with 100 psi.....

I also use this same technique when I change the fluid on manual transmissions on my cages when the filler port is not accessible via funnel.

-Rick