Bike overheats since changing the coolant...many times now

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77Gowing
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Re: Bike overheats since changing the coolant...many times now

#16

Post by 77Gowing »

If it is deemed a blown head gasket, only get OEM gaskets.
Dont worry about how much work it is or not. It needs what it needs and thats that. We all have to start somewhere and you are lucky, you have experienced NGW gurus ( not me) that have your back.
Best of luck youll do fine.
"Less is More" Anonymous

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Re: Bike overheats since changing the coolant...many times now

#17

Post by RogueCreature »

Thanks guys. I will have to see if I can find someone. Im here in San Diego. Otherwise its going to the vintage shop :/ Ill post pics later today
1977 GL1000
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Re: Bike overheats since changing the coolant...many times now

#18

Post by dontwantapickle »

77Gowing wrote:If it is deemed a blown head gasket, only get OEM gaskets.
why?
I have installed at least 2 dozen head gaskets over the years and have had great success using Athena gaskets.
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Re: Bike overheats since changing the coolant...many times now

#19

Post by pidjones »

Head gasket for me is just "a job to be done". But, I've fone a few. The left head gasket on this year's rescue (a '78) showed that it leaked when I first put water in the system. It poured out the #4 exhaust port.

I had spare head gaskets and some o-rings, so off came the belt guard, belt, carb rack (not pulled out, but unbolted and bungeed up), valve cover. Soak all 6mm bolts (10mm heads) with your favorite penetrating oil. Tap on the two bolts that hold the 90 degree water elbow to the top of the head. They are bad about breaking off, so be patient. Tap, soak, tap, soak, try, tap, soak etc. If you break one, it usually breaks (at least for me) where you can still get a vice grip on it. You will need a new gasket for that joint, and both o-rings that go to the tube in it.

Loosen completely all valve adjusters, break loose (in FSM order) the head bolts (don't forget the bottom 6mm bolt!), start tapping with a mallet to loosen the head from the block. Keep taping. It will come loose eventually. There are (2?) "dowels" - thin walled tubes around head bolts that locate the head - don't mess them up, although new are available. The hard part is removing the old gasket and residue from the head and block. Don't loose the oil control orifice, and get new o-rings for it. Make sure the block and head are FLAT - use a straight edge and strong light behind - or what some of us do - apply Dykem blue to the surface and lightly sand it with 600 grit glued to flat plate (float) glass. Then check for high spots knocked down. I reassemble exactly as the FSM states, plus chasing all headbolt female threads with a tap and wire brushing the male threads clean before applying moly to them and the washers.

Knocked this out (last time) in less than four hours without hurrying. First time will take a bit longer (days is Ok), and it SHOULD, or you'll soon be doing it the second time. Lots of discussion about Honda or aftermarket gaskets. I won't enter that frey.
"Love 'em all.... let God sort 'em out!"
Ex 2006 GL1800 - the Black Pearl SOLD! to make room for:
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Re: tBike overheats since changing the coolant...many times now

#20

Post by 77Gowing »

OK, When I as a newbie started with my first and only Wing work. I made the mistake of going to Sabre Cycle for a full gasket kit. Ended up using only the valve cover gaskets. They were lousey for fit & function. Bought OEM replacements & Randaak's rubber grommets, now no leak.
Did not want to start an arguement. I kept the Sabre Cycle kit on the side while I put the bike back together only for comparison purposes. The Sabre gasketz were absolute crap. IMHO
"Less is More" Anonymous

77Gowing
1977 GL1000 "O'le Blue." (sold :crying)
2014 Yamaha 950 V Star (sold)
2017 Indian Scout Std w/ABS (sold)
2009 Honda VTX1300R "Me Brudder's" (sold)
1984 Honda Interstate "84' 2outa4." Gone
1982 Honda GL1100 "After thought." Gone
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Re: Bike overheats since changing the coolant...many times now

#21

Post by AZNGW Rider »

Did you ever figure out what was causing your overheating issue?

Inquiring minds want to know.
1976 Goldwing GL-1000
1998 Royal Star 1300
2001 Honda Shadow Spirit 750
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Re: Bike overheats since changing the coolant...many times now

#22

Post by redglbx »

I would add a couple of learned lessons from my 76 where I had a several year journey of over heating.

After reading through all this I believe you have a bad head gasket especially with coolant coming out of the pipes, like suggested lay out the spark plugs, one or two will probably look steam cleaned, if you pull them from a freshly run motor you may get steam out of the affected plug hole, maybe.

Also, if you run the engine with the radiator cap off and you have bubbling & bubbles in the coolant you probably have a bad head gasket.

If your bike has been ran with a silica coolant for any length of time you may have the silica mud settled in the bottom of the radiator restricting flow requiring a boil out to get it clean. Personally I only use the blue Asian non-silica coolant anymore after experiencing the silica mud plug.

If the hoses are fairly old they may be sucking closed restricting flow and causing overheating. I went to the local hardware store & got some springs that fit Snugly inside the hoses to help keep them from collapsing even a little.

If you’ve never replaced your thermostat you probably should, also if it doesn’t have a small drilled hole in the flange I drill a 1/8” hole and position it to the top to help bleed the air out of the system.

Radiator fan, just because it runs doesn’t mean it’s right, mine ran just fine but found it to be quite slow. When new it only moves about 400cfm of air I believe, mine was very stiff so moved much less. A new 9” electric that’s supposed to flow 1800cfm is a bit noisier but it sure moves air.

Even after all this my bike would still over heat in traffic on a warm day or whenever I exceeded 70mph for any amount of time. I even had a custom radiator made with 30% more capacity with still no joy.

So ultimately after struggling with this for many years I finally fixed it this year, ignition timing ! Randakk has always said that statically timing these motors will cause them to be 10deg over advanced, I always called BS on it but after finding my flywheel mismarked a couple of years ago I use a degree wheel occasionally to verify my reworked timing marks (paranoid). This year I set the timing with the degree wheel set up on the lh cam gear & lo & behold it was advanced 10deg because I have always static timed it and was sure of the timing.

Well I can tell you that Randall was 100% correct and after resetting it dynamically to the correct spec my 76 just runs better and surprisingly no more overheating.

I believe on my bike it was more sensitive because it makes a lot more h-power than it did stock, it started at 54rwhp with the last dyno run at either 81 or 83rwhp can’t remember but I’ve since cut the heads .040in and added my highly modified 1100 carbs that out flow the oe 1000’s. More horsepower equals more heat.

Anyway from what you’ve said it sounds like you have a bad head gasket but I think you have some investigations to do before you tear it apart, good luck !
Red 1976 oe owner
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Re: Bike overheats since changing the coolant...many times now

#23

Post by dontwantapickle »

redglbx wrote: Fri Nov 20, 2020 11:44 am ..........but I’ve since cut the heads .040in and added my highly modified 1100 carbs that out flow the oe 1000’s.
Interesting. please tell us more about these mods.
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Re: Bike overheats since changing the coolant...many times now

#24

Post by AZNGW Rider »

Yes, do tell.
1976 Goldwing GL-1000
1998 Royal Star 1300
2001 Honda Shadow Spirit 750
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Re: Bike overheats since changing the coolant...many times now

#25

Post by desertrefugee »

Yeah that is interesting, considering the castings dictate the airflow through these carbs.
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Re: Bike overheats since changing the coolant...many times now

#26

Post by redglbx »

Lots of things affect the airflow not just the castings and if you can equal or exceed the air flow of a larger opening through a smaller hole you will improve the air speed and homogenization of the fuel/air and make more power and because it’s better mixed it will do that with much less fuel.

I wrote a couple in depth articles on all this for the vjmc & CWC news letters. The easiest things are to reduce the throttle shaft cross-sections and use properly fit button head screws to hold the throttle blades to the shafts. I ended up with close to 100 hours in modifying those 1100 carbs and actually ruined 3 sets before getting it right.

The whole exercise started out to see if the multitude of claims that 1100 carbs are superior to 1000 carbs, they aren’t by a large margin, no better performance in a stock to stock comparison, no wheelies, no better fuel economy, it ain’t there. Less power & torque ! So I started to modify things until they were better, much better ! Getting the Jetting right is a big deal on both the 1100’s and 1000’s . Details throughout these bikes are opportunities, Everything is a compromise made to cost & manufacturing regardless of what the engineers wanted or thought. Make sure everything is as gois as it can be ! Pretty simple really, just a time thing.
Red 1976 oe owner
1976 LTD restored
1980 CBX , in the que, to fix the ignorant heavy handed owner
1981 CBX
1977 CB750 K7
2014 FJR OE owner, sold
1980 GL1100
1984 GL1200 naked
1969 CL350, in the que
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Re: Bike overheats since changing the coolant...many times now

#27

Post by dontwantapickle »

redglbx wrote: Fri Nov 20, 2020 10:45 pm I wrote a couple in depth articles on all this for the vjmc & CWC news letters.
got any links to these articles?
any pics?
I am really interested in knowing exactly what you did to get 81 or 83 rwhp out
of your 1000.
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Re: Bike overheats since changing the coolant...many times now

#28

Post by dontwantapickle »

maybe start a new thread so this one doesn't become any more hijacked.
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Re: Bike overheats since changing the coolant...many times now

#29

Post by tlbranth »

Similar thing has happened to me. Drained coolant, put in flush w/distilled water and left it on an idle. Boiled over while I wasn't watching (wife spotted it). Let it cool down. Sucked the overflow dry. Drained flush, filled w/distilled water & ran on an idle. Boiled over again. Let it cool, drained water & filled w/antifreeze/water mix. Took it for a run. Temp gauge acted stangely - stayed low then suddenly went high and came down again. That looked like a thermostat foible. In all this the fan never came on. I have the Beck/Arney switch on this bike. The strange stuff never happened prior to this coolant change. Haven't had time to check further yet. Retired and have waaaay too many projects. I'll post if I find the culprit though.
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Re: Bike overheats since changing the coolant...many times now

#30

Post by gltriker »

dontwantapickle wrote: Sat Nov 21, 2020 1:03 am
redglbx wrote: Fri Nov 20, 2020 10:45 pm I wrote a couple in depth articles on all this for the vjmc & CWC news letters.
got any links to these articles?
any pics?
I am really interested in knowing exactly what you did to get 81 or 83 rwhp out
of your 1000.
Me, too! :oldies

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RE: a thorough fuel tank cleaning
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