Coolant flush and fill ?’s for on and off track motorcycles.

[Mike:p]

I have 2 bikes that I will be flushing and filling this winter, a 2007 Yamaha FZ6 and 2009 Honda CBR600RR.
The FZ is my commuter bike with 32,000 miles on it. The coolant has never been changed but has been checked. Never a drop missing and still has good boiling and freezing points. How many times should I flush it with a chemical flush before I rinse with distilled water and add fresh fluid? Should I replace the hoses, pump, thermostat and radiator cap while I’m at it?
Same questions for the CBR plus one more. Is there a coolant that still gives the same freeze protection as normal antifreeze but wouldn’t cause a problem if I got some on the track?

 

[Raceless man]

I simply empty the non glycol coolant, fill with distilled water and run for a few minutes, drain, repeat then fill with antifreeze, run for a bit plug in the battery tender, cover and say goodnight.

 

[Menotomy]

For your street bike, I'd think a single chemical flush is sufficient, but see what the bottle says. Inspect the hoses and replace if in doubt, but the other items should be fine unless you're noticing a problem.

As far as I know the only coolant products that have antifreeze properties contain a glycol component. Both ethylene and propylene glycol are slippery.

 

[HondaGalToo]

For my track bike, which has Water Wetter in it, I just drain, fill with antifreeze, run it up to temp (180) and done. Spring takes longer, as I keep flushing with distilled water until it runs clear prior to putting in the Water Wetter mix.

Street bikes, I change every other year. Usually just drain and fill. I flushed the Versys thoroughly when switching from the green stuff (ethylene glycol) to Engine Ice (polypropylene glycol)

As of now, N2 doesn't allow any glycol -based coolants. Anything that provides freeze protection will be one of those.

 

[bmart]

No coolant at the track. You don't want to be "that guy" when the track is shut down for hours to clean the surface.

My track bikes get a quick flush with tap water and refill with H2O and Water Wetter every off season (Nov-March, usually).

With regard to the street bikes, I'd look at what the manual says. The engineers usually get this stuff right, and many bikes work fine for decades without anyone touching them at all. . Unless you want to become one of those oil change every weekend folks..."just to be sure."

My two street Hondas say every 3 years, so I do every three years. While doing a frequent inspection on your rides is a great idea, taking things (bolts, hoses, etc) on and off frequently just invites the opportunity for an error and is unnecessary. It is why when something breaks...the first place you look is at the last thing touched, and who touched it. lol

You've done the right things by checking it using a few facts (instead of fake news, wives tales, and Internet forum info), and it sounds like it is in good shape to me. (You may remember that I'm the guy who sends off the oil to have it tested and even with my extended intervals, it is well within spec at change time.)

 

[wmhjr]

Judy has it right. For those of us who live up in "Brrrrrrrr - it's cold!" country, filling with antifreeze over the winter is just good insurance in the event that you have a loss of heat in your garage, shop or wherever - or you need to transport the bike through the winter. "Coolant", BTW is, Coolant. Which could be water, water wetter, etc OR antifreeze. Brad, if you're running your bikes without "coolant" at the track I'd love to see how you're not seizing it

 

[Motofun352]

Just for a counter-point......My '95 pickup had the original coolant for 20 years, it only got replaced because the hoses were shot....Does this make me a slacker? PS, it's still going strong, except the frame is getting pretty thin.....

My 2013 Ford doesn't have a coolant change frequency, instead the coolant gets a chemical test every 40k.

 

[Dave561]

Jack I believe it’s scheduled for 100k

 

[tdelegram]

If you blow your motors up at the right frequency you can avoid all these issues.

 

[bmart]

Judy has it right. For those of us who live up in "Brrrrrrrr - it's cold!" country, filling with antifreeze over the winter is just good insurance in the event that you have a loss of heat in your garage, shop or wherever - or you need to transport the bike through the winter. "Coolant", BTW is, Coolant. Which could be water, water wetter, etc OR antifreeze. Brad, if you're running your bikes without "coolant" at the track I'd love to see how you're not seizing it

Sort of... Using that logic, oil is coolant (GSXR). So is air (FJ1200). While true, I don't think that either is in the spirit of the question!

 

[Mike:p]

Seems like I opened a can of worms. Thanks for the advice. I pretty much always follow my owner manual’s recommendations, but I thought that due to my negligence in maintenance of my cooling systems that I might need to take a closer look. Everything on both bikes functions properly. So I’m not worried. I just don’t want to have to do the job twice, especially if I already have everything apart.
Brad, I never want to be “that guy” that’s why my bike is safety wired like the bikes in the advanced group and changing my coolant to something track safe is the next upgrade on my list.
I was hoping that there was a coolant out there that provides freeze protection and I could run at the track that wouldn’t cause problems in case of a get off. I figure that I am more likely to go down since I have less track experience.

 

[Motofun352]

Brad, I never want to be “that guy” that’s why my bike is safety wired like the bikes in the advanced group and changing my coolant to something track safe is the next upgrade on my list.
I was hoping that there was a coolant out there that provides freeze protection and I could run at the track that wouldn’t cause problems in case of a get off. I figure that I am more likely to go down since I have less track experience.

Good on Ya! Everything you can do to improve your bikes crash worthiness is a plus. Truth is there is really no difference in what happens to a bike crash between novice and advance groups...they all suck.

 

[wmhjr]

Sort of... Using that logic, oil is coolant (GSXR). So is air (FJ1200). While true, I don't think that either is in the spirit of the question!

Actually, Brad - in the spirit of the question it's actually far more accurate to really use the correct definition of "coolant" - particularly since we recommend against glycol based additives. Frankly, you're the very first person I've ever met that considers "coolant" to mean "antifreeze" rather than just whatever liquid (such as water). Early liquid cooled engines used water - period - because glycol hadn't even been considered. For all of our engines, water is the primary coolant. Whether it's glycol or water wetter or whatever else that's added - those are additives.

BTW, in some engines oil is in fact the coolant. Those are "oil cooled" engines. And for air cooled engines, obviously it's air that's the coolant. For liquid cooled engines, the "coolant" is whatever the hell you put in it. For almost every single application, water is the principle coolant. The major exception would be specialty products such as Evans waterless coolant (note the specific emphasis on "waterless" as that is what makes it so different from virtually every other major coolant mixture) - whether that be straight distilled water, water wetter, liquid ice, engine ice, glycol based, or anything else.

This is also why the riders manual says....

 

[Menotomy]

Does that mean to say "two flushes of the system with water" and not "two flushes of the system with water wetter"?

 

[HondaGalToo]

Does that mean to say "two flushes of the system with water" and not "two flushes of the system with water wetter"?

I would think so. I flush ~4 times with distilled water (till it runs out clear). Then I fill with the Water Wetter mix. I would recommend distilled water, not tap, for both flushing and mixing with the Water Wetter.

 

[Mike:p]

What do you with the flush water? All the places I have called said that they won’t take it. They will only accept the used antifreeze.
I was thinking about mixing the used antifreeze and the flush water together this time to get rid of it. That way it all looks like used antifreeze. But what about next time. The antifreeze will be good condition and I will reuse it. Leaving me with a few gallons of flush water to get rid of.

 

[Menotomy]

I just take it to an auto parts store and don't tell them it's flush water. Not sure why they would care if their bucket of used antifreeze is diluted a little. Your local landfill, if it has a recycling center, probably wouldn't care.

Your only other option is to pour it down the drain so it goes to a treatment plant, but I'd personally rather not do that. And disposing of the bottles is even more confusing if you try to find info online.

 

[djhurayt]

it is still radiator coolant that has glycol in it, just a very diluted level of glycol . . .

 

[HondaGalToo]

Same as Menotomy. I just add it to the container of waste antifreeze and take it to my local recycling place. It's got at least a tinge of green...they dump it into their big container and give me back my container. Never had a question.

I won't dump it down the drain.

 

[Mike:p]

I think it’s just the people here are stupid.
Example
Several years ago I took down a satellite dish and took to my local “convenience center” and threw it in the metal bin. It was perforated aluminum. The guy that works there said that I had to remove it because they don’t take satellite dishes. Long story short several higher ups were called and apparently somewhere along the line the world fiberglass was removed from the description of fiberglass satellite dishes are not accepted. It cost the county a lot of money to fix all the incompetence.

I will just mix it all together so they will take it.