Suggested shortcuts for coolant change

[Beast from the East]

Perhaps the Admins might want to move or add these comments to another thread/sticky on 'how to'. I finished my first coolant change at 24k miles over the weekend, following Warchild's 'Blow Job' process outlined here:

FRJ Tech link to coolant change process

I have a couple of suggestions that can shorten the job or make it less complicated - Warchild's contributions have been fantastic and I hope these add to the base of knowledge out there. If these have already been noted I apologize in advance - I did search to see and came up dry:

Improvement 1 - wear rubber latex gloves to keep coolant off your hands. You can absorb small amounts through your skin. This is just a safety tip. I need my kidneys to process the copious amounts of beer, bourbon, and wine I ingest.

Improvement 2 - you do not need to get a length of fuel tubing to do the 'blow job' and force out the coolant from the engine water jackets and radiator. Instead, you can use the overflow breather tube to accomplish the same task- just replace the overflow cap so that you have an airtight seal to the system again, pull the breather tube out of its lower 'keeper', make a fist around the end of the tube so that you can blow against the end of the breather tube without actually putting your lips on it (you don't want to get any residual coolant from the tip of the breather tube and harm you kidneys ingesting even trace amounts of coolant). Blow against your fist and the coolant will come shooting out the drain plug...

Improvement 3 - no need to take off the upper fairings to get access to the radiator fill cap...all you need to do is remove the two lower fairing covers. Instead of pulling the uppers, use a small wrench or screwdriver to loosen the coolant hose clamp connecting to the radiator cap assembly and pull it from the bottom, then rotate the hose under the upper fairings and twist it outward slightly to expose it. Use a medium length funnel that will stick out from the bike about a foot, angled away from the tank and upper fairing, and then you can just fill using the funnel. You are far enough away from the tank and fairings so you reduce the chance of splashing coolant on them, and you just saved an hour disassembling and reassembling the upper fairing.

These are my attempt to give back to the FJR community.

Beast

 

[Dudewado]

Thanks for the timely suggestions.

I'll be doing this job soon, and I'll give your tips a try.

 

[Steve Hunt]

Here's a great alternative according to Motorcycle Consumer news. I plan to order one this week....loves my specialty tools. With a garage full of bikes and lots of mooching friends my NoMar tire changer and tools like this pay for themselves in my opinion. $100

On the other hand if you prefer to mount car tires on your bike, run diesel engine oil, fram filters, Pep Boys gear oil in your diff, or shape your own lexan wind screen in the oven you may disagree.

uview

Part#550000 Airlift tool

 

[FJRONAMISSION]

Perhaps the Admins might want to move or add these comments to another thread/sticky on 'how to'. I finished my first coolant change at 24k miles over the weekend, following Warchild's 'Blow Job' process outlined here:
FRJ Tech link to coolant change process

I have a couple of suggestions that can shorten the job or make it less complicated - Warchild's contributions have been fantastic and I hope these add to the base of knowledge out there. If these have already been noted I apologize in advance - I did search to see and came up dry:

Improvement 1 - wear rubber latex gloves to keep coolant off your hands. You can absorb small amounts through your skin. This is just a safety tip. I need my kidneys to process the copious amounts of beer, bourbon, and wine I ingest.

Improvement 2 - you do not need to get a length of fuel tubing to do the 'blow job' and force out the coolant from the engine water jackets and radiator. Instead, you can use the overflow breather tube to accomplish the same task- just replace the overflow cap so that you have an airtight seal to the system again, pull the breather tube out of its lower 'keeper', make a fist around the end of the tube so that you can blow against the end of the breather tube without actually putting your lips on it (you don't want to get any residual coolant from the tip of the breather tube and harm you kidneys ingesting even trace amounts of coolant). Blow against your fist and the coolant will come shooting out the drain plug...

Improvement 3 - no need to take off the upper fairings to get access to the radiator fill cap...all you need to do is remove the two lower fairing covers. Instead of pulling the uppers, use a small wrench or screwdriver to loosen the coolant hose clamp connecting to the radiator cap assembly and pull it from the bottom, then rotate the hose under the upper fairings and twist it outward slightly to expose it. Use a medium length funnel that will stick out from the bike about a foot, angled away from the tank and upper fairing, and then you can just fill using the funnel. You are far enough away from the tank and fairings so you reduce the chance of splashing coolant on them, and you just saved an hour disassembling and reassembling the upper fairing.

These are my attempt to give back to the FJR community.

Beast

=====

Kool Beast...... but with no pics............ it never happened, you are just making this up....

B....

 

[KiloWatts]

I have also used the Warchild "Blow Job" method to change coolant on the Feejer and it works well. But, after seeing the Motorcycle Consumet News review of the UView 550000 Airlift Cooling System Tool, I also had to have one. With all the vehicles I service, the $98 Amazon.com price seemed well worth it. I've only had it a couple of weeks and haven't had a chance to use it yet, but will report on the results when I give it a try. I too, loves my specialty tools.

KW

 

[Beast from the East]

Looks useful, but only if you have compressed air....sadly, I still live in the Stone Age of tools and all my stuff is hand-driven....so this tool no workie for me.

Not sure if this would work by jamming one end in the top of the radiator fill hose as I described....looks like you need to have a sealed system, and have all the hoses hooked up, which means you still have to go throught the fill cap and have to take the upper fairing off. If that's the case, this tool adds extra disassembly and reassembly effort....but you don't have to go back and do a top up if there was an air bubble, either.

I use this funnel to do the coolant change on my RX7 race car, which has proven very effective in eliminating air pockets, but it's too big and ungainly to use on the bike without removing the fairing.......

https://www.amazon.com/Lisle-22150-Spill-Fr...l/dp/B0002SR6WK

sorry, no pics, believe it or not I don't have a digital camera....old one broke when I dropped it, too cheap to get a new one. You'll just have to 'trust me'.

Beast

 

[Steve Hunt]

I finally used my Uview coolant changing tool. I used it on the SV but have no reason to think it will not work fine on FJR. Hopefully do the FRJ next weekend. Anyway, it worked exactly as the instructions said. I did run through the the step of putting vacuum on the system several times and then after releasing vacuum it did push out a little bit more of the old coolant...maybe an additional ounce each time.

Steve

 

[RaYzerman19]

I have not yet done a coolant change on the Feej. I understand the blow job for a very thorough purge, but what would be the harm in not doing that at all. I would think the small amount of residual coolant would be OK, unless it was 5 years old or discoloured (Canadian spelling). If you change it every two years as recommended, I would think that should be good enough.

Also wondering why a small transfer pump with a hose wouldn't be a good way to fill. Less messy/safer?? I have found that if you fill slow enough you don't get much if any trapped air. Does anyone know if the thermostat has a bleed hole in it that lets a small flow through even when closed? I have not changed one on an FJR, so don't know. If it has a bleed hole, it shouldn't trap air if filled slowly. Of course, you always start up, warm up, and check it....... top up if necessary.

 

[markjenn]

I have not yet done a coolant change on the Feej. I understand the blow job for a very thorough purge, but what would be the harm in not doing that at all. I would think the small amount of residual coolant would be OK, unless it was 5 years old or discoloured (Canadian spelling). If you change it every two years as recommended, I would think that should be good enough.

I'm with you. If you do the job every year or two, I don't see why you need to do anything but do a few drain/refill cycles with water (bringing the bike up to fan operating temp each time), then drain and fill with the A/F mixture. That's what I do and it only requires removing the left dash trim panel and a few fairing screws to get to be able to get to the cap. Even the coolant reservoir on the right side can be gotten in/out by removing the screw and fishing it through the fairing panel (although it is much easier if you have the right side plastic off).

- Mark

 

[iboldguy]

The "blow job" how to looks like an excellent write up, but it looks like it refers to the Gen 1. I haven't seen a write up using the Gen 2.

 

[Fred W]

The main reason we want to do a coolant change-out is to get fresh corrosion inhibitors. The anti-freeze properties of coolant do not wear out, just the anti corrosion additives. As long as you do timely changes (2 or 3 years) there should never be any crap suspended in the old coolant, so there really is no reason to "flush" the system with fresh water, unless you are changing types of coolant.

Assuming that you are sticking with the same type of coolant, the small amount of residual coolant left after a drain is of no consequence. So here's the shortest, easiest coolant change of all:

1 ) Drain as much as you can.

2 ) Refill with 50% coolant 50% demineralized water.

Done.

 

[allrider]

The main reason we want to do a coolant change-out is to get fresh corrosion inhibitors. The anti-freeze properties of coolant do not wear out, just the anti corrosion additives. As long as you do timely changes (2 or 3 years) there should never be any crap suspended in the old coolant, so there really is no reason to "flush" the system with fresh water, unless you are changing types of coolant.
Assuming that you are sticking with the same type of coolant, the small amount of residual coolant left after a drain is of no consequence. So here's the shortest, easiest coolant change of all:

1 ) Drain as much as you can.

2 ) Refill with 50% coolant 50% demineralized water.

Done.

Here's some stuff i picked up that extends the time between flushing the system.

Griot's Corrosion Inhibitor

Engine Coolant System Corrosion Inhibitor

Getting ready to put your baby away for the winter? Driving your collector car less during the upcoming season? When the coolant in your system begins to break down, it forms acids that eat away the metal in the cooling system. Oxygen is absorbed into the antifreeze/water mixture, which rusts steel parts and corrodes aluminum. Corrosion Inhibitor shifts the pH balance towards alkaline and neutralizes pre-existing acids, protecting metals from corrosion. Dissolved oxygen is removed from the coolant to help prevent "oxidation" type corrosion (rust). Contains molybdenum, which helps protect aluminum from corrosion and prevents the buildup of silicate and phosphate deposits, the sludge that clogs your system. A superior product that protects your radiator core, heater core, water pump and coolant system from corrosion. 35 ounce bottle treats two systems. (Up to 44 quarts.) Compatible with all glycol-based antifreeze. Exclusively from Griot's Garage

https://www.griotsgarage.com/product/car+ma...vals&page=1

 

[canyonman]

use a shop vac. pull a few hoses so air can get in and pull the coolant out. works very well and zero mess.

 

[wheatonFJR]

use a shop vac. pull a few hoses so air can get in and pull the coolant out. works very well and zero mess.

Cool...

...ant.

 

[wheatonFJR]

The main reason we want to do a coolant change-out is to get fresh corrosion inhibitors. The anti-freeze properties of coolant do not wear out, just the anti corrosion additives...

Hey Fred, do you have a reference source for the above statement? Or just the Fred's Wise Words of Wisdom1

I like the simple change idea you put forth, and want to make sure I'm not just following some guy's words because he posts alot and it appears before me on my computer screen.



1. Annotated...Fred W., et al.

 

[Fred W]

Well, mostly it's just Fred W3

But that is from lots of reading and discussion on the subject, mostly related to auto engines. Just Googling on "Why change antifreeze" brings up this page: Why Change Antifreeze, which supports my statement that it is the corrosion inhibitors that wear out.

Most procedures you can find do advocate thorough flushing with water. But to my mind that is more of a corrective procedure, for after you've waited too long, than a preventive one. My thought is if the procedure is easier then one is more likely to do it more often, which is preventative.

OTOH, there really is no down side to doing the thorough water flush and blow job other than possibly expending time unnecessarily. Also you need to be certain you get the coolant to water ratio correct as any water left in the system (even after the blow job) will dilute whatever you put in there somewhat.

Besides, I think a lot of guys just like giving their FJR a blow job.

 

[wheatonFJR]

Thanks Fred...I haven't given anything a blowjob and I'm not gonna start now. Since I haven't changed the coolant since I bought this used bike on November of 08, I might just flush with H2O this time and do it the Fred W3 way in the future on a more frequent basis.

 

[RossKean]

I have just changed coolant once so far. I drained the system without going to heroic measures. Filled with deionized water. Started the bike and ran it until the fans came on. Drained, refilled and repeated. I put half the capacity of new, undiluted antifreeze and topped it off with more deionized water. This way the concentration should be correct - don't need to account for the water left in the system. I would be surprised if more than 5% of the original volume of antifreeze remained. As previously mentioned, antifreeze (ethylene glycol) doesn't wear out but the corrosion inhibitors may and contaminants can build up. As far as I am concerned, this simple process can easily be done on an annual basis although I seriously doubt it is needed that frequently.

Ross

 

[Reble9mm]

Since I bought my 06 used and don't know all the history of maint. I did the full"blown" job. Takes ALOT of time to do with starting, circulating, cool down, drain, fill and repeat. 2 days actually to get everything all back together.

I do have the peace of mind that it is ALL fresh coolant and same brand.

Thanks for the write up and short cuts!!!!

Reble