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Do I Really Need to Change Coolant?

12K views 8 replies 9 participants last post by  nayr14 
#1 ·
Hi There,

The same factory coolant has been in my bike for about 3 years now, yet the engine typically runs at 5 bars, on a hot day, 6 bars. Is it necessary to swap out for some new coolant? I've heard you are supposed to get new stuff put in every 2 years or so.
 
#3 ·
Just did the coolant on my 99 Tiger. It needed it trust me. It kept getting hot and spewing coolant.
One clean water flush, up to temp then drain.Took rad off and had it pressure tested at a local company. No problems. I put a new pressure cap on as the old worked seemed ok but was very rough when you operated it manually off the bike. Re-filled with rad clean, then two more flushes. I even spent an age cleaning the expansion tank. I can now see the level whilst on the bike and see the level rise when it gets hot. Worth the effort for me.
What a difference!! No more dreading heavy traffic :) Mine doesn't have HOAT coolant. I'm not sure of the interval for HOAT.
 
#4 ·
Do you really have to do anything on the maintenance schedule? No, dont bother with any of it. These new bikes are bullet proof and will run forever on piss water and bacon drippings. Its not like the coolant provides corrosion protection or helps lubricate the water pump or anything like that.
 
#6 ·
I bought a 2009 in March 2015 and rode the bike as was. But on hot days it would get to 7 bars so this year I changed it with Engine Ice. So far I have yet to see 7 bars but I have yet to ride in 90+ degree weather. It's been in the 80's and I've had as high as 6 bars. But yes the process is easy to flush and drain it. We'll see how it goes. Might do mine every three years.
 
#7 ·
Changing the coolant is less of a matter of how well it cools and more to the fact that as the coolant ages it loses it's effectiveness for lubricating the water pump and corrosion resistance.

Just do it at the scheduled maintenance times. The engineers don't tell us to change things and service things just for the fun of it.
 
#8 ·
there is a lot of very good advice here! yet, personally i would err on the side of caution and change it. now, i only have experience with engine ice. the only thing with that stuff is, it heats up quicker but cools down quicker and keeps cool while running. so it is kind of apples to oranges to regular coolant.
 
#9 ·
I changed mine with Prestone AF2100 a month ago, cost me $8.44. Triumph doesn't even recommend draining the overflow tank in the service manual (I thought this was odd, and partially drained it anyhow since I had leftover coolant). Just disconnect the lower hose on the radiator then the drain bolt at the bottom front of the engine (it leads into a metal coolant pipe).

Then fill it up, lean the bike left/right, run/rev the engine for 20 seconds, top it off again, lean the bike then rev the engine again and do a final top off.
 
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