smoke from Sprint '96

[ta3one]

Greetings fellow Triumph Rats!

I've been enjoying my Sprint for a few months now and I have a coolant question. When I started the bike this morning I got a little smoke coming from somewhere underneath right of the tank. The bike was out in the rain that night so I figured it maybe just the water, but just in case got the manual out and wanted to check the coolant level. How do you get to that cap next to the overflow tank? Also, the overflow is completely dry ... should I pour some coolant just in case? It's really cold in New England these days ...

Thanks for help,
Andrej

[Roden]

G'day Andrej and welcome,

The smoke you saw was probably steam from some trapped water.

First of all, check that the radiator is full. The radiator cap is on the left side, hidden by the fairing. The radiator should be totally full with nice green (or maybe another colour) coolant.

The coolant reservoir under the seat should have coolant in it. If you look carefully you will see a full mark on the side of it, you might need a flashlight to see it properly. The cap for it is on top of the reservoir and simply pops up, I'm not sure what you mean by "the cap next to the overflow tank". Use a small funnel and top it up to the mark.

Run the bike and carefully check for leaks. Some of the hoses are awkward to get at with the fairing on, good news is, the fairing's not too hard to remove.

Let us know how you get on with those basic checks...

Cheers,

Roden

[ta3one]

Roden,

Thanks for the tip. I got some coolant at the Autozone and now I will keep it at the proper levels. The bike runs great now too ... no smoke or anything. Thank you for your help and I will be checking this site often

-A