Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

Well its been a long battle to figure out what was happening with my cooling issues, but today with a lot of help from Robracer we managed to figure out what the problem was.
Clogged radiator...

The bike is running a radiator from the wreckers as the original had rust all through it and was pretty much toast! this was only after 8000km on the clock

Anyway i am going to put a brand new radiator, as all attempts to flush the current one (professionally and at home) have been futile. What i want to know is, is there some sort of chemical i can run through the system to clean all the internal chambers of the engine from grime and shit before i put the new one on? I dont want a piece of crap dislodging from the engine and getting stuck in my new radiator, and i know there is crap in there because when i pulled the thoermostat out i could see build up on the walls.

I dont care if i have to run hydrochloric acid through it as the old radiator is getting tossed away, so if it eats aluminium and gets the job done id be all for it.

Whats the best solution to flush all the shit from inside the chamber walls?

If you have been running the recomended coolant engine should be ok ,if been running pure water that could be a different story.Just a good flush with the hose,fill with coolant and if still concerned just drain and flush a couple of times there after but make sure you get all the water out before adding coolant

Ive always run it with proper coolant, i dont know what the owner before me did, or how he managed to rust an aluminium radiator, but the walls are dirty and i need them clean before the new rad goes on.
The system has been flushed as i mentioned, but there is still crap on the walls, maybe ill try some draino

Owen, speak to Lloyd Penn at Artarmon he should have an answer to your question
Oh & you have an alloy engine so go easy on the hydrochloric acid

robracer wrote:Owen, speak to Lloyd Penn at Artarmon he should have an answer to your question
Oh & you have an alloy engine so go easy on the hydrochloric acid

Say what? Wtf has rusted and caused me all this grief?

i didnt think aluminium rusted

MrWasabi wrote:

robracer wrote:Owen, speak to Lloyd Penn at Artarmon he should have an answer to your question
Oh & you have an alloy engine so go easy on the hydrochloric acid

Say what? Wtf has rusted and caused me all this grief?

The radiator? Glad you've worked it out Wasabi San

thought the radiator was aluminium also...
anyway im glad its sorted aswell, ill give Lloyd a call on monday, but if anyone else has any other ideas they want to share im all ears

you could have what happened to my track bike, it always had water in the system with no conditioner, the plumbing pipe work (steel) was found to be all rusted on the inside caused by electrolysis between different metals and slightly charged water from the main earth and the radiator was clogged

White vinegar is a mild acid and might work in the radiator, a bit like that CLR stuff....I use white vinegar to clear our my kettle when it gets stained
you'll have to leave it in for 1/2 a day or so and then flush it out with a combination of water and compressed air to make scouring bubbles (flush backwards)

Just go buy some radiator flush and use it as recommended. Make sure it's suitable for alloy block engines

BlackRabbit wrote:Just go buy some radiator flush and use it as recommended. Make sure it's suitable for alloy block engines

If you use a radiator flush dilute it more than recomended, I have seen it do nasty stuff to bikes ie , headgaskets , seals etc, most off the shelf flushes are for cars!! so proceed with caution.

May i suggest checking the fuel pump to see how much of that is still there. This is provided no steel bolts protrude into the waterways to provide metal to rust away.