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Overheated this morning!!

7K views 45 replies 12 participants last post by  fredsprint 
#1 · (Edited)
Since buying it on Sunday, the coolant temp has been fine on every ride, including some hot days. It rarely even got up to halfway.

Then this morning, after exiting the freeway, I noticed the slight smell of antifreeze. I glanced at the temp gauge and it was up in the RED! Yikes. Only a mile from work, I limped there using minimal throttle and keeping the RPMs low. I shut it off and the fan kept running as usual, and went inside.

I was actually thinking of having the coolant flushed this weekend, since I'm not sure if it's ever been done. But in the meantime, I'm not quite sure what to do other than check the overflow tank and try to add some water to it.

BTW, today was a cool morning... 52 deg on the ride in to work.
 
#2 · (Edited)
Okay, new question... did I destroy my motor?

Reason I ask is, I went out over lunch with a cup of water. I poured it into the reservoir, which appeared to be empty. I then watched it dump itself out from somewhere around the motor area... can't tell due to the fairings. Even did it twice and couldn't tell. So near as I can tell, I must have ridden the thing at least several miles with little or no coolant in it. I'm therefore assuming my new Sprint is probably no more.

Edit: Googled and read a bit. And yep, I'm 99% sure the motor is going to be toast. Now to find out if it's something I can blame on Triumph (meaning I'll never own another) or if it was something else. Just to know. I may have a ton of high-quality Sprint ST parts for sale soon.
 
#4 ·
Did you buy the bike new from Triumph? or 3rd party? If you bought from a dealer, I'd go back to them for a fix. If private party, you are likely out of luck.
Possibly a bad hose, poorly attached clamp, or blown headgasket. Check your oil for white fluid for the latter.
 
#5 ·
Nah, private sale. I don't blame the seller. The bike ran fine for several days. Whatever happened has happened suddenly. I just want to know if it's, for example, some kind of design flaw, or just happened.

Given how quickly it was draining out after pouring it into the overflow, and where it was draining out, it wasn't the radiator. It's either the hose, or if it's a head gasket, then it must be wide open.

In any case, it's on a flatbed now en route to the dealer where it was going to get tires put on tomorrow (a Triumph dealer). I'll have them look at it because I'm just kinda past dealing with this sort of crap. Besides, best case it needs a hose... worst case it needs a whole motor. I'm just not very optimistic. Like, yeah we could replace a hose, put in fresh coolant and stuff, only to have the motor grenade at a later date.

It's kinda like a friend's car whose motor's oil pump went out when we were on a trip many years ago. The oil pressure gauge never showed much pressure to begin with (which was normal for this car) so we didn't think much of it. Got done with the trip, then decided to take the car to the dealer. They replaced the oil pump (which cost $800 including labor) and the car ran fine for two more weeks before the motor started knocking badly and then quit. He ended up putting another motor in it.
 
#6 ·
What bike do you have?

Hi RobGADV

could you please add into your signature line what model bike you have?

I am not sure when it was in the red that you kept riding. :surprise:

As stated by S1mon, I wouldn't get too excited until you know more. When well maintained the Sprint range of 9551 gen 1 & 2 and the 1050's are very robustly built and to fine tolerances. But the big tip for longevity here is regular scheduled maintenance.

If I had purchased a used bike the first thing I would do would be full service and change all fluids, unless you have a log book fully stamped by a trusted dealer.

Let us know what the verdict is from your dealer, it may not be as bad as you fear.

Cheers
DaveM
 
#7 ·
Sorry for the troubling day but I'd be almost certain it's not a head gasket that went, because you said when you poured water in, it just ran out. If tje engine's not running, it wouldn't really enter the engine that quickly.

Does sound like a busted hose or rad. I'd assume hose first. They're cheap.

Word of caution. Buy a Haynes manual to get instructions on properly filling the bike with coolant. You don't want any air bubbles. It's not rocket surgery but still there's a wrong way.

These motors are great, so it'd be odd of it's something terminal.
 
#8 ·
My sig doesn't show that it's a 2004 Sprint ST? Or is there something else I need to add?

I have a factory service manual that came with the bike. I also have a list of dates that all the existing fluids were last changed (which the owner gave me today in email); none are particularly old, but I will change them all anyway. But yes, that was on my list of things to do.

Given that the bike looks almost showroom new and only 14k miles, I wasn't real worried about it overall. I rode it around for a few days just around where I live, to see how it was and get a feel for it. Temps were fine, it ran nicely, etc. Then I rode it to work once earlier this week and it did very well. I left it home yesterday because it rained, and I didn't trust its tires, so I rode my V-Strom instead.

Today, I rode it in, and I do tend to watch all the gauges, but didn't see the temp gauge get up there til I got off the freeway... so yeah I have no idea how long I may have ridden without coolant in it. Like I said before, once I saw that, I was less than a mile from work. I never thought it was out of coolant; figured maybe a stuck thermostat, so I just limped it there gently. The last time I had a vehicle overheat (my 96 Dodge RAM Cummins in September of 2000), I pulled over, shut it off, and it promptly boiled all the coolant out of it... so that wasn't something I wanted to repeat. I was told after the fact to leave it running, just so the coolant could keep circulating through the motor for a little bit.

FWIW, I do recall that from the time I saw it in the red (and it wasn't MAXED; it was just in the middle of the red) to the point that I pulled into the parking garage, the needle had dropped to just barely in the red.
 
#9 ·
Roger that Rob I understand better now.

well hopefully no damage done and it is sounding like a hose to me too.
I had a 2004 Sprint ST 955i from new until 2011, excellent bike. Plenty pics in the album linked in my sig.

No your Sig only says "Sprint", and there are a few models :)

cheers and good luck mate, lets hope shes all sweet.
DaveM
 
#10 ·
The dealer called... said they aren't sure if they can get to it tomorrow; may be Monday or even Tuesday, so we'll see. He insisted the motor was fine since he could spin it over with the starter. We'll see. I'll be Cautiously Optimistic and hope for the best. I sure do like the bike; I have a crapload of stuff for it on order; would hate to have to send it all back.

I especially like that it doesn't have that typical "sports bike" look that pretty much every other bike like it on the plant has.

Thanks for the info, everybody! And I'll go update my sig.

Rob
 
#12 ·
A mile on the highway with the temp gauge in the red is not likely to have caused permanent damage to the motor, though repeated overheating will eventually warp the head enough to need skimming. Sure do wish I didn't feel qualified to state that with authority! :p

Cheers,
-Kit
 
#13 ·
Triumph built these motor tough for a reason....

Had to be a hose that blew. No way that much water could dump out of the radiator that fast without having a hole the size of a bowling ball.

I wouldn't worry about it. Get the hose fixed fill it up with coolant and ride.
 
#14 ·
Hi guys... time for a followup. I got tired of waiting for the dealer to find time to work on it, so I brought it home today. With what daylight was left, I pulled the fairing and found.... NOTHING. No broken hoses, no signs of anything bad.

I removed the radiator cap. Some rust-colored liquid dribbled out a bit (into a catch pan). Next, I removed the lower hose from where it attached to the water pump and dumped out the contents of the radiator. What came out was all rust-colored. The same color as the dirt here in Arizona. I pulled the thermostat too. It was all covered in rust crap too. What the hell did they put in this thing before? I smelled it... I could barely detect any smell of coolant. This was either pure water or pretty close to it.

My suspicion at this point is that a stuck thermostat must have caused this. Or a leak in the system had lost enough coolant over time that it just ran low enough to overheat. The reason for the water pouring out as I mentioned before appears to be from the overflow. I took all kinds of pix but they aren't cooperating and transferring like they're supposed to, so I'll have to post those later.

Tomorrow I'm going to see if I can get the radiator completely off. If I can, I can do a thorough cleaning of it. Otherwise I'll just button everything back up sans the thermostat and plan to do several full flushes through it with a flush additive and distilled water. Then I can watch and see if there are any other leaks.

I wish I had just done this on Friday rather than sending it to the dealer.. I was just fearing the worst.

So, the question is -- where is the best and least expensive place to order Triumph parts? I want to order a new thermostat at the very least. If the prices aren't bad, maybe new hoses too for good measure, even though these seem to be in good condition.

Thanks!
 
#16 ·
Hi guys... time for a followup. I got tired of waiting for the dealer to find time to work on it, so I brought it home today. With what daylight was left, I pulled the fairing and found.... NOTHING. No broken hoses, no signs of anything bad.

I removed the radiator cap. Some rust-colored liquid dribbled out a bit (into a catch pan). Next, I removed the lower hose from where it attached to the water pump and dumped out the contents of the radiator. What came out was all rust-colored. The same color as the dirt here in Arizona. I pulled the thermostat too. It was all covered in rust crap too. What the hell did they put in this thing before? I smelled it... I could barely detect any smell of coolant. This was either pure water or pretty close to it.

Thanks!
I was just doing a coolant flush last week for my Sprint RS... previous owner didn't do a coolant fluid change for well over 7 years... Mine also came out pretty nasty and full of rust, you can see the fluid color from the first couple flushes with Distilled Water and Vinegar in the coolant flush vid I did. Some really really nasty stuff shows up in the radiator overflow tube at 6:55 in the video.

When you do the distilled water & vinegar flush, make sure you have a good 3 or 4+ gallons of distilled water & vinegar and half a day to kill.

At one point I used garden hose shoved into the radiator refill cap, but I realized to completely flush the system I have to close the drain bolt and fill the radiator to the top, start the bike, let the pump work it's magic through the entire system. The hose can only reach a small part of the cooling system, the radiator itself have to have full fluid level in order to clean.

To test to see if it's the water pump that went bad and not circulating fluids property, you just fill the entire system, close radiator cap but leave the bleed screw off (it's near the radiator cap) and start the bike. Be careful of the fluid shooting out of the bleed hole. You can probably use something to block it from shooting fluid out. If the pump is working properly, the water will shoot out of the bleed hole almost immediately, that means the pump is working just fine. If nothing comes out of the bleed hole after bike starts, then it's definitely the pump that went bad.

I was looking at replacement parts on eBay as well, saw there are plenty of the thermostat housing assembly for sale, some even come with hoses.

Good luck!
 
#15 ·
The Triumph hoses are expensive. I'm planning on replacing mine next time around with silicone hoses from AS3 Performance in the UK, which can be found on eBay.

The only cooling system fiche I see in the US right now is for the earlier models, but I happen to have an '02-'04 thermostat box right here that I can read the part number off of: it's T2100715. It's also very clearly marked "Calorstat TH3328.88J" if you want to try saving a couple bucks by sourcing it from the OEM.

I usually order my Triumph parts from Hermy's as they're a business I like to support. (You may have to call, what with the bad fiche.) There's not a lot of price variation and every time I've tried to save 10% by using a coupon at Bike Bandit I've had one sort of nightmare or another. There are people here in Austin who literally do not believe the things Bike Bandit has done with my orders.

Cheers,
-Kit
 
#19 ·
So rust colored fluid isnt necessarily a cause for concern? Asking for a friend...
 
#20 ·
My experiences. ..

Put the thermostat in water on the stove. Observe if it opens or not when the water boils. If it opens, no need to replace.

Cap. I chased an overheating engine years ago. Flush, re-core, different coolants, to find the cap was not sealing fully.
It's a pressurized system. If the cap isn't sealing it will boil over.

Overfill.
Make sure it isn't leaking when you pour water in it. Might be cracked. It's probably dry because the coolant cooked off.

Fan temp sensor.
Make sure the fan is working. Short the lead from the sensor to your engine. It should turn on. Key may need to be on.

Let us know how it all goes

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Tapatalk
 
#21 ·
If you want to test the thermostat, I also saw "88º C" on the box when I was looking for the part number.

The comments about the radiator cap remind me that that was all I needed to salvage my big road trip a couple years ago. (Well, it was enough to get me from Las Vegas to somewhere between Portland, OR, and Twin Falls, ID, but if I had replaced it right away instead of riding through the desert with a bad cooling system I might not have warped my head in the first place.)

Cheers,
-Kit
 
#22 ·
We should check; oil, coolant & tyres at least weekly, but how many of us actually do? I do it on my bikes but don't remember the last time I checked them on my car. Likely when it gets its rare wash or a tyre looks a bit flat.
Easy to see the coolant bottles on my Tigers, as was the ST1050, but not so the ST955, out of sight out of mind. Shine a torch through to check the level but always give it shake to ensure it's the coolant level & not a dirty tide mark

Good luck with the bike, they are brill, I had a '99 ST955i for 11 years.
 
#23 · (Edited)
This morning before work I went ahead and started flushing. I didn't know about using vinegar, so I just used water for the time being. I'll pick up more distilled water, some vinegar, etc, etc tonight at Walmart after work.

Anyway... I ran two gallons of water through it, which worked out to about six flushes. That means filling the radiator to the top, starting the bike, then adding more water til it's full again as the system fills the rest of the way. Then I put on the cap and let the bike run for 5-10 minutes. Temp came up to normal operating temp fairly quickly.

So... then shut off bike, wait a minute or two, then while wearing an oven mitt, I'd give the cap a half turn and listen as pressure bleeds off. Then I'd remove it. Next, move drain pan under the water pump and disconnect the lower hose from there and watch nasty fluid come out. It took all of those flushes for it to start looking clear again. There's still a bit of rust coming out initially, but I'm going to do at least another 3-4 flushes tonight or tomorrow (time permitting) before refilling with actual antifreeze.

Oh btw, I emailed the previous owner again. His original email said 2-3 years since last coolant change. Now he says it was 2009. ***. And he said the mechanic he used did the distilled water/water wetter combo (with maybe a touch of antifreeze). No wonder it's a rusty f'ing mess.

Any reason to not run the typical 50/50 mix with a little bit of Water Wetter for good measure? That's the same stuff I run in my V-Strom and in previous water-cooled bikes I've owned.

Thanks again for all the super helpful tips!

Rob

Edit: Forgot to add... I had started the bike on one of the flushes, and left it running with the radiator cap off while I went to get another jug of water. When I came back, water was kinda shooting out the top. Would this be due to the water pump working? I didn't actually know about the bleed screw.
 
#26 ·
Anyway... I ran two gallons of water through it, which worked out to about six flushes. That means filling the radiator to the top, starting the bike, then adding more water til it's full again as the system fills the rest of the way. Then I put on the cap and let the bike run for 5-10 minutes. Temp came up to normal operating temp fairly quickly.
Rob... Sounds like your previous owner changed the fluid the same time as my bike's previous owner... Make sure when you have time to do 50/50 distilled water and vinegar flush, let the bike worm up to 100C/212F and turn off engine and give it a good 20-30min soak in there. The mild acid solution will get the rust off the metal parts. When I opened my radiator cap, the rust originally on the cap even got washed away, it's magical! Do multiple times of 15-30 min soak it should get most rust out. I suspect it's overheating and super rusty because previous owner probably just added tap water directly to the radiator for refill which caused the whole system to be rusty... Good luck! Hope you get your radiator the treatment it deserves. :smile2:
 
#24 · (Edited)
Living in Phoenix or not, it should be good with a 50/50 mix and no WaterWetter. If it was my bike I would definatly put on a new radiator cap.

Regarding the last paragraph, the radiator started to build heat and you left the cap off. It had nothing to do with the water pump circulating.

And like 69Bronze mentioned, check the fan and fan sensor is operating correctly!!!!
 
#25 ·
I mix up half a gallon of 50% coolant and half a gallon of Water Wetter, then mix that 50/50 to get 25% coolant. That gives me corrosion inhibitors and a mix that should let out more heat than 50/50 while still providing freeze resistance down to about 15º F, which is literally as cold as it gets in Austin. If you're less... thrifty than I am, I hear good things about Engine Ice. Can't quite bring myself to drop $60 on coolant, though.

In defense of Water Wetter, regular coolant would've probably left you just as ugly a mess after eight years! :eek:

Cheers,
-Kit
 
#27 ·
I'm running Engine Ice in both of my bikes (TT600 & 1050 Sprint). This stuff knocked 10* off the running temp after the thermostat opened. From a constant 200* down to 190*.

AND after switching, when the fan on my TT came on the temp actually went down! Before, the temp would just keep climbing until traffic started moving.


On the coolant flush.

When your done flushing and ready to fill with whatever you choose. Get a funnel that fits tight into the radiator opening. Overfill the radiator so that coolant is filling up the funnel.

Start the bike and let it idle until the fan comes on. The thermostat opening will release the air bubble and burp out of the funnel.

Then just let it cool, pull the funnel and top off the radiator and catch tank. Close it up and double check for leaks.
 
#28 ·
I ordered a set of those silicone hoses today, so when they arrive I will complete the super flush with vinegar. For now, I ran one more regular flush through it and then filled it up with 50/50 and went for a ride. It behaved very nicely. The gauge got about 1/8" into normal operating temp the whole time I was out, and when I got home and shut down, I could hear the fan running.

I'm not going to ride it to work again until I can take it out for a more thorough test... freeway, etc. Probably this weekend.

I'm also going to order a new radiator cap for good measure.
 
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