Hi, I searched for this but found nothing.

I'm trying to get the bike ready for Wallace, ID next weekend, and after a short warm-up the upper and lower radiator hoses were building pressure to the point that the upper was starting to slide off of the barb on the motor. I had a problem with my thermostat sticking last year and the hose from the water pump to the base of the cylinder would blow off. I took the stat out and solved the problem. (I do let it warm up for a long time now)

But, that hose isn't building up with pressure this time. Currently, I am running a PWR radiator, with a 16lb cap, no thermostat, and stock hoses. I don't understand why this pressure is building up. I don't believe the cap is defective, it seems to be functioning properly, but then again it hasn't been puking into the overflow either.

Any help would be great.
Thanks,
Ben

 

TTT
I'm trying to get her ready for next weekend. Any ideas? I don't want one of those puppies to blow 60 miles from my truck. I have pictures but I'm not sure how to post them.

Any ideas/reccomendations appreciated.

Thanks

 

Any ideas folks? I'm dying to go for a long ride.

 

I don't think you solved the problem with removing the T-stat you put a bandaid on. You need to put in a new thermostat, this will allow the coolant in the radiator cool and return to the engine to cool it back down. That is the way the system was designed to work, removing the thermostat allows the coolant to cycle through the radiator without cooling and eventually the all of the coolant gets hot and creates the pressure you are seeing. I would replace the cap also.

 

I see. That does make sense, but why aren't all of the hoses bulging? The only hoses bulging now are the ones not affected when the t-stat was in. Does that make sense?

Correct me if I am wrong:
Coolant flows down the radiator to the lower hose, into the water pump, up the cylinder, through the t-stat and back to the radiator via the upper hose.

If this is the case I would think all of the hoses would be bulging because the water pump isn't exactly my idea of a prime cooling spot. Plus, wouldn't the pressure be evenly distributed over the entire system?

Thanks again,
Ben

 

"Correct me if I am wrong:
Coolant flows down the radiator to the lower hose, into the water pump, up the cylinder, through the t-stat and back to the radiator via the upper hose."

That sounds correct, however when you had the bad thermostat this was effectively creating a blockage back to the lower radiator hose. With the t-stat out there is no longer any pressure on that hose and as the cylinder heats up it will create the pressure on the upper hose. Also if there is any air in the system it will eventually go to the highest point (upper hose) and could be bulging the hose.

With the engine off, take off the cap while it is cold and make sure the radiator is full if not top it off and then fire it up without the cap on and verify that the coolant is flowing real good. This will tell you that your water pump is working.

"If this is the case I would think all of the hoses would be bulging because the water pump isn't exactly my idea of a prime cooling spot. Plus, wouldn't the pressure be evenly distributed over the entire system?"

Not necessarily, refer to my "Air" comment.

BTW, good first name,

Ben

 

Most likley this is the weakest spot in your system try not to over analize take everything back to stock as far as the thermostat and make sure your cap is good and the radiator is flowing properly you shouldn't have any more problems.

 

I had thermostat failure one time on a big trip in idaho and had to remove it with no spare to install, and ran fine the whole trip without it with no pressure issues. true that the coolant does not spend as much time in the radiator without a thermostat, but it did not make much of a difference and I do have a temp gauge to monitor and confirm.

most likely your bulging issue is air in your system, air allows steam to be created at high pressures,
to properly be certain all air is out, fill it up, leave the cap off, run the motor at idle watching the water flwoing thru the fill neck, you will see occasional bubbles come out, and as they do the level will drop, keep filling it as it drops and when bubbles stop and the antifreeze starts to come up the neck from thermal expasion due to warmup put the cap on. be sure the expansion tank is at the proper level now too, so that as the coolant cools and constracts there will be coolant in the expansion tank to draw from, otherwise it will draw in air and you are back in the same boat again.

of course, when doing the above filling procedure, if you have a good thermostat installed, you will have to run the motor long enough for it to warm enough for the thermostat to open before you start seeing the flow thru the fill neck and only then can the bubbles get out. these bubbles hide in nooks and crannys of the water jacket casting, and flow needs to be happening to get all of them out.

 

Ben is a pretty good name [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

Thanks a lot for you help.

Being a new radiator, maybe I didn't get all of the air out before and after I removed the thermostat. I'm going to try to check it out today, and I'll try everything I can. I don't have a Can-Am dealer very close, I'll have to order a thermostat so I can have it before spring break.

Thanks again for the help, I'll let you know how it works out.

Ben

 

Well, I checked the water pump. It works. I tried putting the thermostat back in, seems as if it is working. The hoses did bulge a little, but not as much as before. I let it idle for about 35 minutes, and nothing happened. I guess I'll see how it works next weekend in Wallace!

Thanks for the help,
Ben