temperature problem on my nc30 :/

[JIGGLYB4LL]

thank you for the lift up. feeling a bit disheartened but i'm not gonna give in...i'm just far too impatient!
my fella's gonna help me saturday and if we still cant do it i'm gonna get on rick olivers case to save me lol

gonna jump in the shower now and then get back to cake baking and cross stitch

[Neosophist]

I just wrote loads and it didn't post, FFS!

Anyhow.

This is getting overly complicated. Your bike is sick, do not ride it when leaking water, it can cause much more serious damage. You only need to remove the sump if your waterpump shaft has broken off, in which case the bolts are only 8mm M6 bolts with little torque, are you turning them the correct way and have the approriate hardware to remove them? i.e. 3/8 8mm socket + ratchet?

Eitherway, here is how to diagnose / repair the entire cooling system.

Read all of this before attempting it, follow it through and you shouldn't have anymore cooling issues if the fault lies in the cooling system.

1. Drain the coolant first of all.

Pretty self explanatory.. there is a drain-bolt on the water-pump (larger bolt) and two drain bolts under the front downpipes.

2. Verify that the waterpump is functioning ok.

Remove the cover from the waterpump and remove the cover to see inside the pump, becareful not to remove the whole pump from the engine as all the oil will spill out, if you do want to remove the entire pump, such as for replacement then drain the oil too.

With the cover off check that the waterpump is clean and shiney, if not then it is usually beyond repair but if it does appear to function ok then just clean it up. Inspect the blades, make sure there all present and not broken or rusty, next check the drain hole.. this is on the underside of the pump, if it's clean all is good, if it's full of rusty crap then this is a sign that your water-pump is leaking and needs to be replaced.

Make sure it spins. Put the killswitch into the 'on' position to prevent the engine from starting and crank it over a few times... the waterpump should spin around, if it doesn't then theres a problem with the drive-shaft of the pump, you'll need to remove the waterpump and probably the sump to get the broken bits of shaft out.

If everythign checks out move onto step 3, if not replace the waterpump.

3. Check the Thermostat.

The thermostat keeps most of the water from going around the radiator until the engine is warm, this allows the engine to heat up quicker. It's located on cylinder #4 (front right when sitting on the bike) inside a globe shape canister with two pipes attached to it, remove the bolts to get it out.

If this has failed then water won't be going around the radiator and the bike will overheat.

The easy test is to boil a pan of water on the stove. When you see lots of bubbles from the water shut off the heat and drop in the thermostat. It should open (the middle part moves open). If this happens then your thermostat is usually ok! If it doesn't open, or only opens slighty then it needs to be replaced.

This is only a simple test but in most cases good enough to verify a working / faulty stat. If you want to be more technical the haynes book tells you the exact temperates and how much the stat should be open so you can check with a thermometer.

4. Flush the system.

Now the systems all open flush it out. I remove both hoses from the water-pump before doing this. To do this take a running hosepipe and put it into the radiator fill port... lets copious amounts of water flow from the rads until they are nice and clear.. the water will come out the hose you disconnect from the water-pump.

Reverse flush by putting the hosepipe into the bottom hose and letting the water come out the radiator filler-cap hole.

Next put the hosepipe into the other hose from the waterpump to let it flow around the engine and thermostat housing.

We are basically running as much water through the engine in all possible directions to remove debris and crap.

5. Inspect the radiators.

Now we've flushed the system, verified the thermostat and water-pump are ok it's time to look at the radiators.. are there many bent fins? Lots of mud / roadgrime embedded?

You can remove the rads and soak them in a big bath of strong detergent / tfr overnight and hosepipe them down with a gentle brush before-refitting. You can buy a fin comb from ebay / motorfactors to straigthen fins out.. tiem-consuming but can help if you have many bent fins.

6. Reassemble and refil with coolant.

Remember to replace the drain screws and make sure all hoses are firmly onto their mounting pipes and the clamps are tight but not overly tightened.

Mix 50% coolant / 50% distilled water if using antifreeze that hasn't been premixed. Make sure the anti-freeze is silica free and suitable for aluminium engines / water-pumps. If in doubt buy from a motorbike shop and verify it is the correct type.

With the bike on the side-stand fill the expansion bottle upto the MAX mark. If it has old fluid in it, you can remove it and wash it out first, make-sure to reconnect all hoses.

Now fill the radiator slowly until the coolant is brimming at the filler hole.

7. Bleed the system.

An important step so do not skip bits.

Gently squeeze the lower hoses to dislodge any airbubbles. check for leaks (anything major should show up pretty easy!)

Start the bike on the stand with the rad-cap still off and let the bike warm up until the temperature is approaching half way... while it's warming up gently squeeze the lower hoses a few times.. becarful of hot pipes.. also inspect for leaks.

Don't worry about any coolant that overflows when you squeeze the pipes.. when the temp gets to 1/2 way or very close snap the throttle to bring the revs upto 5000rpm and let it settle.

Do this 3 - 5 times and turn the engine off.

Let the bike fully cool down and replace and lost coolant... if coolant over-flows at it often does make sure to wash down the bike with fresh water to avoid coolant damaging paint.

Refit the rad-cap and you are done.

8. Rad-cap.

This is often over-looked (much like the stat) but an important part of your system.. if it opens too early you'll loose a lot of coolant uncessary until the bike eventually over-heats. You can get the cap pressure tested at a good automotive shop but after a full over-haul especially with a 20+ year old cap I always replace it for peace of mind. Last thing you want on a long journey is the cap to fail.

If you are determined to use the original, make sure the rubber sealing washer underneath is in good condition, it should be free of cracks, clean and supple.

If it looks like a 50 year old baseball glove and has the flexibility of granite it might be best to replace it.

If you've got this far then you have a good working cooling system.

Check the hoses after a short ride with the cap on to make sure there are no leaks, as the cap will allow the cooling system to pressurise.

If you have no leaks then your system is good!.

Any further cooling related problems are 99% not related to your cooling sytem but due to other failures, such as head-gasket failure etc, which I'll save for another post.

[CMSMJ1]

AMEN

[JIGGLYB4LL]

Neosophist thank you!! Can't believe u typed that out and list it...think at that point I woulda put my comp thru the wall!!! X
I carried on yesterday and have found that my thermostat has had it, so I'm gonna replace it then carry on with the other checks and hopefully that's the only problem and will be easily solved :)
Thanks again everyone, I am much more confident with my bike now and this has been a real learning experience for me!!
Can't thank u all enough!!! Xx

[JIGGLYB4LL]

just wanted to update, my beast is back on the road! yay!!!

don't think it had ever had any previous care poor thing!!
in the end I had to replace the thermostat, both thermostat o rings, the rad fan and the rad cap!!
thanks to Rick Oliver and geoff33 for supplying parts it is now running sooo much better and seems quicker too!
I definately need a new lower radiator too but that might have to wait until funds allow
basically the whole cooling system needed sorting, no wonder she didn't run properly!!
thanks again for all the advice, was really useful!!
thanks!
x

[hardnutdvd]

keep an eye on the chinky rads threads. some have been ordered to test for quality. and they are very very cheap

[JIGGLYB4LL]

the cheapest I found are on eBay
item no. 140612600893
and 250884940568

do u reckon these look any good?

streeeesssssss!!! lol

[Deviant400]

the first one is what id go for , but im told you need to carfully bend the lower left of the rad mounts to fit the fan, not a massive headache for the money,
the second one (silver) has no rad fan mounts not really any good unless its for a race bike

[JIGGLYB4LL]

thanks for pointing that out, I didn't even think to look at the mounts!! :-/
I'll definately bare that in mind!! x

[hardnutdvd]

Geoff is the member that is hoping to buy a load
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