Slight, occasional Radiator leak, ... odd one:

[Zfrebird4]

I can do a ride of 60 or 140 miles, park my 86 VR in the garage, not start her for about 2 or 3 days, then have a small puddle of about 3-4 drips. Found fluid on TOP of the bottom hose, but not on the ring coming out of the radiator; (don't know what to call THAT part; someone will probably suggest penis! LOL). Checked resovoure, and it was up ok. Ran in the normal heat range from FC to Estes Park and back, and no drip after the ride or 6 hrs later. Do I have a pressure problem, or something?

 

Doubt it is the radiator, as I think Squidley serviced it before Lonna let him surrender her (the bike of course) to me in 06.

 

Thanks for any wisdom! LOL. And wow, what a site this is, thanks to all of you.

 

Jack Tharp

Fort Collins, CO

aka

DePreach: weddings, outside and motorcycle ones prerred! Funerals if needed; and NO FUNDI HERE, just a guy with a well centered faith. JZ

 

And I love to ride in any direction except down, and I'm not ready to go straight up yet!

 

[Snaggletooth]

Are you sure it's not coming from o-ring on the control valve.....(by pass) the on/off selector and dripping down to the lower hose? These bikes are famous for that valve starting to drip when the temps cool off and then stop when it the engine warms up. Mine drips during winter storage and nothing all summer. I replaced the 0-ring this spring so I'm waiting to see if I still get my winter drip.

[friesman]

My 85 drips antifreeze only when the temp at night drops to about 40 or less. There is a small spot under the valve when I get her started in the mornings.

 

NOW if I could just get a handle on where the last of the oil is dripping from i would be set.....

 

Brian

[BOO]

Yeah I had that happen to an 86 I had also, don't think it just that year though. Been so long ago I can't remember the exact part that was causing the problem but it is definitely a cool down problem. Mine would only leak as the engine was cooling down after a ride, believe it was an O ring though. I also had a bike that would leak real bad as it was warming up but that was the only time it leaked, don't remember fixing that one though.

Sorry I can' tell you exactly what the problme is but it's a common problem and someone will jump in with the fix.

BOO

[painterman67]

my 91 does the same thing just in a slightly different place. I think its the cooling downof plastic next to the metal of the radiator and rubber parts cool and shrink at different rates, It only does it on mine when its cold outside.

 

 

 

David

[safetyguy]

I had the exact same symptoms on my 88 VR and just repaired it. Problem is now gone. The cause of my problem was a leak coming from the thermostat housing when it was colder outside-- yours could be caused by the same thing. These gaskets are subject to a lot of temperature extremes and if they haven't been replaced before, they are over twenty years old.

 

Based on advice here on ventureriders.org, I replaced the following parts on my VR--

 

Refer to the diagram on www.boats.net (see below)

 

27 11H-12412-00-00 SEAL,THERMOSTAT $1.16

28 26H-12413-00-00 COVER,THERMOSTAT $11.94

29 93210-45511-00 O-RING [93210-43713-00] $2.18

 

http://www.boats.net/parts/search/Yamaha/Motorcycle/1986/XVZ1300DS%20VENTURE%20ROYALE/WATER%20PUMP/parts.html#

 

You can also get all these parts at your local Yamaha stealer but it will cost slightly more. But you will save shipping charges (so in the long run, it could be cheaper to get it locally).

 

 

I didn't need to replace the thermostat cover but someone suggested that it may not be a bad idea to replace since it is made of plastic and is located behind an exhaust pipe (and may have warped over time). While in there, I also replaced the thermostat with a NAPA 156 thermostat (which is much cheaper than the OEM from Yamaha by about $20).

 

I also bought Skydoc17's radiator drain valve update kit for $5 or so and put it in at the same time. (see classifieds on venturerider.org )

 

In all seriousness, if the leak is small you may want to wait. It is a frigging pain to get at these gaskets. That is why I replaced everything that I could while I was in there. Plan on about two hours or more (with the emphasis on more) to complete the job.

 

Here are the steps that you are needed (as best as I can remember). Refer to the service manual for more sepcific information--

 

1. Remove all the plastic that covers the radiator and lower part of bike

2. Drain coolant per the service manual

3. Remove radiator (mounting bolts, hoses, etc).

4. You will need to remove the front exhaust pipe on the right side. It will slide out of the exhaust collector if you are gentle. NOTE: There is almost no way to get an allen wrench in to remove the bolts holding the thermostat cover without removing this pipe. The wrench hits on the exhaust flange -- but maybe you have a different allen wrench than I do. I tried three different ones with no success. Plan on using something like PB Blaster to get all the rusted bolts/nuts/etc loose on the various exhaust clamps.

5. Remove thermostat cover, thermostat, thermostat gasket, o-ring, etc.)

 

Installation is almost the reverse of diassembly. You can install skydoc's kit at this time as well.

 

 

Other suggestions of what that can be done at the same time, replace all radiator hoses and hose clamps, replace the two O rings on the joint between the water pump and the thermostat housing (part #22 above). Your call on all of these.