Water leak on my 1st Jen

[adventurer 08]

Checked my 87 Venture today and found antyfreeze on the ground under the bike. It looks like it is coming from a

Drain plug. I tried to unscrew it but it just spins Is there a seal there of some kind? How does it come apart? Here is a picture of it.

[Air Ready Auto]

It does not come apart by unscrewing it. Check the first gen section. There are lots of posts on it.

Edited March 12, 2018 by Air Ready Auto

[RDawson]

I had to replace the O ring on mine. Remove the screw from the side and pull plug out. Be ready for the detent ball and spring to fly away.

[snyper316]

Yeah sounds like fun but did not see anything about a ball and spring glad I hadn't checked mine yet.

[Flyinfool]

@skydoc_17 sells a Stainless Steel replacement for that screw in the side of there. The screw is located on the right side of the plug, It is not easy to see. The one in there has a JIS cross recess head, the replacement is a hex socket head, much easier to work on in the future.

That "drain plug" is really a valve, It must be rotated to the correct position for the cooling system to operate correctly. That correct position is not logical or intuitive. There are lots of pics of the correct position.

 

A leak there is a common thing, the O-ring gets old and hard, when the bike is cold it will shrink and not seal, as the bike warms up it swells and seals. So a hot engine with pressure in the system will not show the leak, but there will be a puddle in the morning.

Use a big clean catch pan for the coolant when you pull that drain, this will make it easier to find the ball and spring.

[Chaharly]

Is it cold in your area? My bike only does it when it gets real cold out. May not even be worth messing with

[adventurer 08]

I am trying to sell the bike so when i moved the bike to show it there was a puddle already on the ground, then when i started it more came out. Kind of killed the sale not knowing where the fluid was coming from.

[CaseyJ955]

Is it cold in your area? My bike only does it when it gets real cold out. May not even be worth messing with

Same with my 89. It weeps a little when anbient temps plummet but fine other times. I think Puc clued me into this, I opted not to worry about it. Checking AF levels are a regular thing anyway and its never been low.

[adventurer 08]

I ordered a kit from Skydoc so that should fix me rite up. Nice knowing the rite person.