symptoms of leaking coolant.

[burnoutboy]

what are the symptoms of leaking coolant on a watercooled 2 stroke. I seem to be using a small amount of coolant each ride, but it seems to still run well??

[Russell 350X]

Well, check your bottom end oil, if its milky, you are leaking coolant down into your oil, which normally means a blown head gasket, I had this problem with my old R. Check around the head too, see if its wet after you ride.

[icp4life162005]

Check your ride over for chocolate milkshake. It could also be leaking to the pipe and burning off.

[Rustytinhorn]

First off, make sure your radiator cap seals are still good.

If the mechanical seal is bad in the waterpump, then you should be dripping some coolant out the weep hole on the pump cover. If your tranny oil has been contaminated, then I would think it would be the mechanical seal.

Chances are most likely it is the headgasket. They can be leaky on the inside with no visual signs on the outside. Its is probably seeping into the cylinder and getting burned. I have had that happen to me before. I would loose a little each ride, until one day when it got bad enough I started loosing my compression into the cooling system. This caused the coolant resevior to start spittin and shootin coolant out the overflow. The coolant entering my cylinder never effected my performance, but loosing the compression into the cooling system made my compression go down.
If enough seeps in, then you will start blowing white clouds of smoke out the exhaust, and it would probably smell a little like coolant too.

Have the bike at operating temperature and running while you check for leaky or cracked hoses, loose connections where it could be dripping out, or a pinhole leak in a hose or in the radiator core somewhere. Having the bike hot and running will cause the cooling system to be pressurized, making it easier to spot leaks.

Try a compression test, if your compression is low then its a headgasket. However, with such a small leak, your compression could very easily still show full pressure, even though the headgasket could be leaking.

To recap:
Check radiator cap.
Check hoses and radiator for leaks.
Check headgasket, head, and cylinder for signs of leakage.
Check tranny fluid. If milky, chances are mechanical seal leaking.
If all those are good then its probably a (internal) slightly leaky headgasket, which I believe are usually the most common problem for leakage in your situation.

That will keep you busy for a while.

[burnoutboy]

First off, make sure your radiator cap seals are still good.

If the mechanical seal is bad in the waterpump, then you should be dripping some coolant out the weep hole on the pump cover. If your tranny oil has been contaminated, then I would think it would be the mechanical seal.

Chances are most likely it is the headgasket. They can be leaky on the inside with no visual signs on the outside. Its is probably seeping into the cylinder and getting burned. I have had that happen to me before. I would loose a little each ride, until one day when it got bad enough I started loosing my compression into the cooling system. This caused the coolant resevior to start spittin and shootin coolant out the overflow. The coolant entering my cylinder never effected my performance, but loosing the compression into the cooling system made my compression go down.
If enough seeps in, then you will start blowing white clouds of smoke out the exhaust, and it would probably smell a little like coolant too.

Have the bike at operating temperature and running while you check for leaky or cracked hoses, loose connections where it could be dripping out, or a pinhole leak in a hose or in the radiator core somewhere. Having the bike hot and running will cause the cooling system to be pressurized, making it easier to spot leaks.

Try a compression test, if your compression is low then its a headgasket. However, with such a small leak, your compression could very easily still show full pressure, even though the headgasket could be leaking.

To recap:
Check radiator cap.
Check hoses and radiator for leaks.
Check headgasket, head, and cylinder for signs of leakage.
Check tranny fluid. If milky, chances are mechanical seal leaking.
If all those are good then its probably a (internal) slightly leaky headgasket, which I believe are usually the most common problem for leakage in your situation.

That will keep you busy for a while.

thanks alot for that. much appreciated!!!

if i take the cap off when the motor is running(but still cold) and i see bubbles would this mean its leaking??

[RedRider_AK]

My old Yamaha 500SX would eat coolant like nobody's business. The exhaust smelled really funny and it didn't have as much "get up and go" as it normally would.