What did you do in your garage today..?

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So, what does every new to me bike need?

Farkles.... yes, I know I have a problem....

Who wants common plastic fenders?

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When you could pay a bunch of money for carbon ones that do the same thing...

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I also have some LighTech wheel adjusters to go on, but apparently I do not have the right socket for the rear wheel. So that is now for another day.

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I discovered a coolant leak on today's ride. Tired old bike. ZX10R with 156k on it.

I've kinda suspected something's up towards the end of last season ... coolant overflow bottle filling up, sometimes seeing a stream of bubbles inside it ... thinking head gasket leak ... but it sure doesn't run nor act like an engine with a blown head gasket. Yesterday I smelled coolant. This morning I spotted a drop of coolant sitting on one of the coolant pipes. After today's ride - which ended with smelling coolant! - I looked around carefully and shone a flashlight up into the vicinity of the radiator ... and there's visible coolant near the top where one of the upper radiator mounts is attached. The radiator fins were soaked with coolant below this point. Poking around on the forums suggests that it isn't uncommon for the radiator to crack there.

Dammit ... but this is better than dealing with a head gasket.

Seems that aftermarket radiators are fairly readily available. Thinking of buying the aftermarket one ($150ish) and perhaps having the original one repaired if possible. New OEM radiator is available, but $1200+. I'm going to sleep on this. Maybe during the bad weather over the next couple of weeks, I'll take the original one off the bike and see what's up with it.
 
Brian P said:
I discovered a coolant leak on today's ride. Tired old bike. ZX10R with 156k on it.

I've kinda suspected something's up towards the end of last season ... coolant overflow bottle filling up, sometimes seeing a stream of bubbles inside it ... thinking head gasket leak ... but it sure doesn't run nor act like an engine with a blown head gasket. Yesterday I smelled coolant. This morning I spotted a drop of coolant sitting on one of the coolant pipes. After today's ride - which ended with smelling coolant! - I looked around carefully and shone a flashlight up into the vicinity of the radiator ... and there's visible coolant near the top where one of the upper radiator mounts is attached. The radiator fins were soaked with coolant below this point. Poking around on the forums suggests that it isn't uncommon for the radiator to crack there.

Dammit ... but this is better than dealing with a head gasket.

Seems that aftermarket radiators are fairly readily available. Thinking of buying the aftermarket one ($150ish) and perhaps having the original one repaired if possible. New OEM radiator is available, but $1200+. I'm going to sleep on this. Maybe during the bad weather over the next couple of weeks, I'll take the original one off the bike and see what's up with it.
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If you decide to go with OEM, what about low mileage used rad off ebay?

I did that for an '86 VFR with similar mileage and it worked great.
 
Mad Mike said:
I’m religious with oil changes, particularly on late model pickups because they are all sensitive to dirty oil. I blow out air filters as part of my LOF routine so even on my rougher than normal travels, I’ll go 40k on a good air filter.

I’m not much of a F150 fan and would never have one as a work truck, but ironically my daily is an F150 (fortunately its toughest work is getting coffee). I change oil and filter every 6000km, the old coyote has 250k on her and she has 195-205 psi on all cylinders (like new), and quiet phasers.
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Your posts are making me weary of following the service manual for oil changes on my little Mav. Thinking I should do them every 5-8k instead just to be safe.
 
mimico_polak said:
Your posts are making me weary of following the service manual for oil changes on my little Mav. Thinking I should do them every 5-8k instead just to be safe.
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6k is my max, I treat Canadian winters as ‘severe duty’.

My F’d150 has 250k on the clock, religious oil changes and it’s tick free, no phaser noise ant tight timing chains on its Coyote. My Jeep Commander 3.7 just crossed 325k same - engine is as tight as new.

Another tip: many modem engines (all Fords, Hemis, and most GM) are very picky about the first number in the oil type. If it says 0w or 5w, never change to 10w.
 
I’ve soldered a couple of ATV rads over the years using low melt aluminum solder. If you land braze - it’s easy and I’ve never had a fail afterward.
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