Antifreeze leak

[harpo]

I have been getting a slight antifreeze smell when I start up but no sign of leak. The other day I came out and saw several drops of coolent on the grown, I looked for a leak under the tank,the hoses and felt around and can't find anything.I ran the motor till the fan came on several times but did'nt see any more antifreeze.

 

[griff]

Maybe OFace will chime in here, but he had a leak on one of the coolant hoses that went in the oil cooler. This is behind the headers and you really can't see it unless you take off the lower fairing. Might look there.

 

[hppants]

Have you (or a mechanic) recently checked/adjusted your valve lash? The coolant pipe o-rings on my bike were seeping ever so slightly between my 1st and 2nd check. It never made a drop on the ground, but when the bike got real hot, idling at a stop, I could smell a very faint aeroma of coolant. Over 2 years, I added maybe 3 ounces of coolant. There was some corrosion on the pipe, and I suspect it was seeping between the o-ring and the pipe itself. I cleaned everything up and (fingers crossed), no trouble yet. Although it's not necessary, if you (or your mechanic) dis-assembled the thermostat during this process, there is the possibility that this o-ring is also leaking.

If you get on the ground and look up at the front of the motor, you may see some seepage from the head.

Otherwise, to do a thorough examination of the entire cooling system, you will need to remove all of the plastic and the fuel tank.

 

[RossKean]

On my last valve check, I didn't get the hose that goes to the coolant pipe on tightly enough. I ended out with a pretty good stream of antifreeze flowing over the engine. As hppants mentions, make sure the O-rings to the coolant pipe are OK. It is unlikely that these are the problem if the pipe wasn't removed but worth checking. If there is a significant leak at the O-rings, the "wells" will be full of fluid.

Another source could be the overflow tank; either too full or one of the hoses leaking. It wouldn't end out on the engine, however. Check the "weep hole" on the water pump since there have been some reports of slow leaks there. Again, the fluid would not end out on the hot engine.

You didn't mention where (in relation to the bike) the fluid appeared on the ground. Hope its not a head gasket!

Edit: Just reread the original post and you mention that the smell is noticed on startup; not with the engine hot? In that case, the fluid does not have to be contacting hot parts.

 

[PhilJet09]

In case you didn't know, the water pump is located low on the right hand side of the motor and looks like this:

There are a couple o-rings and a ceramic seal inside that can go bad. Sometimes a bit of grit gets lodged in the seal and it drips a bit, then goes away, sometimes it just gets worse. There's a weep hole on the bottom of the pump where it'll drip from.

Here's what it looks like apart:

Just one possible source for leaks, but it's easy to check.

 

[0Face]

I'd start with the hose clamps. It appears that after many cycles of hot/cold the clamps can lose their tightness. That was what was my issue. It would leak if i turned the engine on for a minute and then turned it off. but not after it was hot. Just a little leak that would stop.

I went ahead and replaced the hose and the two clamps. It was probably over-kill, just tightening the clamp might have done it. But for $10 for the hose and two new clamps I went ahead and did it. I would have been kicking myself if that was the part that went in southern Utah in July...

The leak:

New hose and clamps. Make sure the clamps are facing a direction that makes it easy to get to and tighten. Sometimes I think the factory guys face **** the wrong way just to torture us.

And be sure ask what the best coolant to use is....

jk.... don't ask...

 

[harpo]

The only coolant that I have seen on the bike is between the radiator and front of the motor. I lifted the tank and felt around, but couldn't find a leak. No sighs of leakage in a while but still smell coolant at start up.

 

[0Face]

Unfortunately, if you want to get to the bottom of it, you're going to have to take off the plastic and take a good hard look around. It's not hard to do. A little tedious but not high on the difficulty scale.

 

[15wannabe]

My money is on the waterpump seal...just a few drips at start-up coming from the weephole. I have read somewhere that this was not all that uncommon for the 2nd gen '07 and on. It's quite common with the Royal Star Ventures!

 

[Boxer]

I too had a leak that I could smell but never could find until removing the

the side covers. What I found was a hose clamp that need just a slight

tightening. The leak was at the water jacket joint and just dribbled down

the tubing and steamed on the headers. Never enough of a leak to puddle.

eader pipes.

 

[ionbeam]

If you don't mind cleaning up a little mess, you can spray the cooling hoses at the connections with a white foot powder. Even the small leaks will leave a plain mark. Foot powder rinses right off with a little water after the leak has been found.

 

[0Face]

I too had a leak that I could smell but never could find until removing the the side covers. What I found was a hose clamp that need just a slight

tightening. The leak was at the water jacket joint and just dribbled down

the tubing and steamed on the headers. Never enough of a leak to puddle.

eader pipes.

Mine leaked right where the arrow is, at that clamp. As I said above, I replaced #5 and the two clamps, but that was probably not necessary.

 

[harpo]

With the side panel on the left side off of the fairing, and looking up between the header pipes and the motor at the top I could see a drop of coolant hanging from where the faring butts up to the motor. There are signs of dried coolant on the left side in the area of the drip; this is on the radiator filler side. I have looked around the hoses and see no sighs of leakage and none in the water pump area.Whats the chance that the over flow hose is leaking going over to the over flow tank?

 

[rbentnail]

If you don't mind cleaning up a little mess, you can spray the cooling hoses at the connections with a white foot powder. Even the small leaks will leave a plain mark. Foot powder rinses right off with a little water after the leak has been found.

+1. Foot powder, baby powder, etc. An old trick, been using it for a lot of yrs. Great to find that hard-to-spot or intermittent leak.

 

[PhilJet09]

Snug up all the hose clamps a bit and I bet you'll be fine. You should also check if any of the hoses are rubbing anything and wearing through.

 

[eastern5]

A year ago I changed my antifreeze and after the change I would get like a dropper full of antifreeze on the ground. After some days of checking what I can about the strange leak it ended up being the bigger hose clamp off the water pump. I did not apply enough torque to the clamp screw on install.

Yeah so part of the maintenance I removed the big hose and loosened the drain bolt off water pump. But as a result of the troubleshooting I was really surprised to find out how loose the hose clamps were. I went ahead and tightened all hose clamps. No more leaks.