Summers Almost Here... What are my Coolant Choices?
Posted: June 10th, 2007, 2:57 pm
Boilovers are never fun out on the trail... what can we do? For one, realize that excessive clutch slipping puts ALOT of heat into the engine... and is a underlying cause to many boilovers. Slow riding also pushes the cooling system to its limits. No airflow = boilover... every time. Now, to the issue itself.
First, you need to determin your plan of attack. Do you want to:
A: Stop Boilovers.... Period.
B: Make you bike run cooler.
C: Recover Lost Coolant.
The first two are two totally different scenarios.
Scenario 1 is easy... switch to a "boilproof" coolant, like Evans.
http://www.evanscooling.com/main27.htm
Your engine may run hotter, but the coolant wont boil. This is a good choice if your racing, or riding Baja where a boilover may mean pushing the bike to the next village. BUT, it does have its shortcomings. Running hotter ( Up to 300 degrees!! ) is not good for overall engine life. Your warning device to boilover , i.e. the big cloud of steam fogging up your goggles, has been eliminated. If you choose to run Evans, please notice other signs of high tempertures like surging, funny smells, and pinging.
Scenario 2 is also easy. Switch to the best coolant available... pure water. All coolant additives address things like freeze protection, corrosion, and seal conditioning. None of them add the the heat exchanging properties of distilled water. 90% distilled water + 10% Redline Water Wetter is probably tough to beat... and a hell of alot cheaper than Engine Ice, which is probably distilled water with blue food coloring added. Very few of us need freeze protection, or the other issues additives deal with. The above mixture should work very well for the majority of us... and save us a few dollars to be better spent elsewhere. Remember that adding to much W/W will defeat what your trying to accomplish.... maximum heat transfer.
http://www.redlineoil.com/products_cool ... tegoryID=4
The second tool is the cap. Running a higher pressure cap helps in two ways. The added pressure raises the boiling temperture of the coolant, and it also enhances the heat transfer from the coolant to both the engine parts and the radiators tubes..... A true " Win - Win" situation. A KX500 cap ( 1.5 bar rating) is the quick way to go.... but pricey. Kawasaki is pretty proud of this cap, its something like $25. I'll put some effort into finding the "PepBoys" version. The higher pressure will expose any shortcommings of your seals, hoses, and rad's themselves.... so be prepared to bring these components up to the task at hand.
Lastly, coolant recovery. Ive seen everything from turkey basters to WR coolant tanks adapted to CR's very nicely. Members who have tackled this task, post up your stories and photos.
Riding season shouldnt be limited by your bikes ability to cool itself.
Hope these ideas help you to ride as much as possible!!
First, you need to determin your plan of attack. Do you want to:
A: Stop Boilovers.... Period.
B: Make you bike run cooler.
C: Recover Lost Coolant.
The first two are two totally different scenarios.
Scenario 1 is easy... switch to a "boilproof" coolant, like Evans.
http://www.evanscooling.com/main27.htm
Your engine may run hotter, but the coolant wont boil. This is a good choice if your racing, or riding Baja where a boilover may mean pushing the bike to the next village. BUT, it does have its shortcomings. Running hotter ( Up to 300 degrees!! ) is not good for overall engine life. Your warning device to boilover , i.e. the big cloud of steam fogging up your goggles, has been eliminated. If you choose to run Evans, please notice other signs of high tempertures like surging, funny smells, and pinging.
Scenario 2 is also easy. Switch to the best coolant available... pure water. All coolant additives address things like freeze protection, corrosion, and seal conditioning. None of them add the the heat exchanging properties of distilled water. 90% distilled water + 10% Redline Water Wetter is probably tough to beat... and a hell of alot cheaper than Engine Ice, which is probably distilled water with blue food coloring added. Very few of us need freeze protection, or the other issues additives deal with. The above mixture should work very well for the majority of us... and save us a few dollars to be better spent elsewhere. Remember that adding to much W/W will defeat what your trying to accomplish.... maximum heat transfer.
http://www.redlineoil.com/products_cool ... tegoryID=4
The second tool is the cap. Running a higher pressure cap helps in two ways. The added pressure raises the boiling temperture of the coolant, and it also enhances the heat transfer from the coolant to both the engine parts and the radiators tubes..... A true " Win - Win" situation. A KX500 cap ( 1.5 bar rating) is the quick way to go.... but pricey. Kawasaki is pretty proud of this cap, its something like $25. I'll put some effort into finding the "PepBoys" version. The higher pressure will expose any shortcommings of your seals, hoses, and rad's themselves.... so be prepared to bring these components up to the task at hand.
Lastly, coolant recovery. Ive seen everything from turkey basters to WR coolant tanks adapted to CR's very nicely. Members who have tackled this task, post up your stories and photos.
Riding season shouldnt be limited by your bikes ability to cool itself.
Hope these ideas help you to ride as much as possible!!
