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Water in rad
- Thread starter Fili-mac
- Start date
Mr.Azim
Well-known member
Drain water out, add coolant/antifreeze. Even sitting empty, there can still be some un-evaporated water and since the cold is coming up... it can potentially freeze the lines and cause cracks, etc..
Do the little, inexpensive work now or you'll have to do the big expensive repairs later.
Do the little, inexpensive work now or you'll have to do the big expensive repairs later.
Metastable
Well-known member
If your rad is anything like the one on my bike, there is a whole lower section of the rad that does not drain at all. I would be worried about water freezing in that area.
stormcat
Well-known member
Did you run any additive in the water? I ask because next summer when you want to run plain water, put a couple capfuls of Water Wetter in there. Water is corrosive, Water Wetter adds some anti-corrosion.
As for the winter, yes, put coolant in it after dumping the water out.
rbjeepthing
Well-known member
Which is why you should be running distilled water not the stuff out of your tap or hose.
stormcat
Well-known member
Distilled water is still corrosive. Which is why I have Water Wetter in mine, regardless of the fact that I used only distilled water in the bike. Not frickin' tap water.
You can leave the system dry over winter. Minor pockets of water sitting in low spots in the system won't cause a problem - the water has room to expand if it freezes. Some cooling systems have more than one drain location, in order to allow bigger low spots to be emptied.
Put a piece of tape with "NO COOLANT" written on it over the ignition key hole, to avoid forgetful mistakes next spring.
Put a piece of tape with "NO COOLANT" written on it over the ignition key hole, to avoid forgetful mistakes next spring.
rbjeepthing
Well-known member
Distilled water is still corrosive. Which is why I have Water Wetter in mine, regardless of the fact that I used only distilled water in the bike. Not frickin' tap water.
If you really want to get technical water is not corrosive it's the impurities in water that are corrosive which creates a chemical reaction with the metals found in our cooling system. Distilled water has less of these impurities therefore less chance of creating scaling inside your engine. Water Wetter or Purple Ice both contain additives that fight the scaling aspect associated with the chemical reaction stated. Another valuable part is that traditional coolant has lubricating properties for such things as your water pump. When you run straight water whether it be distilled or not it lacks these properties hence another good reason to run an additive..
Fili-mac
Well-known member
huh interesting... it's an 05 R6, I know of the drain plug on the water pump are there any more?
What I do to prep my R6 track bike for winter is to drain the coolant (water and water wetter) out with the rad cap off. There is only the one drain plug (8mm I think). Then I replace the plug and fill the system with antifreeze and run the bike until it comes up to normal operating temperature. This makes sure that there are no pockets of water and the anti-corrosion protection from the antifreeze has coated all the surfaces. I also siphon the most of the water out of the plastic overflow reservoir and leave the cap loose so the remainder will evaporate. Maybe a little bit overboard but I have never had any cooling system problems. And yes it's a good idea to put some tape over the ignition switch to remind you that you have antifreeze in it that has to be drained at the beginning of the season.
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