IMO correct, if the system is running ok water should be fine, it's used in many engines mate, road, race, you name it. Air locks can be a awkward in a custom design you would need to study the system and estimate where air maybe trapped when filling the system, adding bleed points in sections where hoses maybe higher than the filler is a good idea, you could try a hose and flood the system to try and remove any air?? Without seeing it I am only guessing to why the system is boiling up.. I keep on about the rad size as you and I know the 1000cc rad is massive! As has been said, hard wiring the fans is an option, does the system boil up if you run the fan all the time?
is there oil in you reservoir/water? if not it's not a head gasket. It doesn't matter how big the rad is, it could be the biggest race rad you find, but when stationary the rad doesn't do anything(unless the fan is on ), there is no air going through it to cool the water/coolant down. your best bet will be activating the fan manually to see if it does cool down or not. If it doesn't then you will have problems, if it does then I really wouldn't worry about it just yet until you are riding a know what is going on then.... My old R6 race bike used to boil over(when coming in after a session) and it didn't have a fan, I put 2 on it with a manual switch and it solved the problem, on the inlap I put the fans on and it was under 90° when I stopped, before that it was 110°-115°.... nothing to worry about just yet LC!
Don't think it's an airlock as you could feel when the thermostat came on, the water wouldn't travel if there was an airlock
All very true, and why most do a cool down lap after a race rad size is a big factor in system design or the rad would be the same size in all applications if the system does not have enough capacity then again you have a problem, flow rate, capacity, surface area are all factors in cooling system design... Like skippy says you have some testing to do before you can conclude what maybe the problem.
I understand this, but I was talking about when the bike is stationary I doesn't make a difference how big the rad is, obviously when riding you will need the correct size rad!
like you mate, just chucking ideas up for LC... First thing I would do was manually hook up the fan and see if it cools the temp down, and go from there....... flip the fan on at 93°, you don't want it to boil over as it will take a bit for the fan to kick in and reduce the temp and the temp will rise a few degrees before it starts to drop as well!
Thanks guys appreciate all the help great way of learning about stuff this project very interesting stuff!
So if the water is flowing around the system (which it is as the rad suddenly increases in temperature as the thermostat opens there cant be any air in the system? or if there was it should be flushed to the highest point in the system IE where the filler is? with the Evans coolant in there it wont boil so will see if the fan can cool it when it comes on at 106 or whatever the switching point is.. If it cant then it extra rad time, if it can then it road test time
you could do this, but ideally the bike shouldn't be hitting 106°. like I said mate, just test it with the fan on to see what happens and go from there, before spending money on evans I would see if it cools down with the fan first, or have you already ordered it? because if it doesn't cool down, then it won't with evans either and you'll have to be looking for another rad or a secondary fan
I think skippy 106 is the standard fan switching on temp for the rr4.. From what I've been told. Will know later I hope I'm keen to try the Evans anyway so it's not money I'm wasting to fix the problem, also system is drained now so may as well try Evans as buy another anti freeze product.
OK well flush fluid is in and been run up until the thermostat opened, just waiting for it to cool and then drain it out and fill with the proper coolant. The flush sucks up (tech term ) any remaining liquid in the system ready for the pro 180 coolant. Funny thing was the fan came on at 50c only shortly after I started it.. ECU controlled so not sure why it did that.. Stayed on for 30 secs or so then went off and never came on again. Good news though at least its working Switched the bike off at 85 anyway as only wanted to get the flush around the entire engine.
I noticed mine did that when warming it up for an oil change on saturday...... a strange thing for it to do, I thought!
OK good, at least its not abnormal then good job I wasnt poking at it as wouldnt have expected it and those things have a surprising amount of kick to them!!
Arthur did an in depth thread on it back a while, Skippy, and he was extremely impressed. Can't find it at the moment but he's a bit of a hero of mine so I was convinced...
I take it back. It was BlackDevil's thread. ...but Arthur's in it... http://1000rr.co.uk/mods-upgrades-accessories-products/8449.htm