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Disappearing coolant


NoOne65

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How much is missing? I'm guessing it is repetitive, e.g. you have filled it a number of times. How low does it get?

Let the bike sit overnight, pull the oil dipstick, and look for condensation or even a little emulsification on the stick. A leaking water pump seal can lead to coolant escaping into the crankcase.

Could also be a head gasket, but that usually results in flow the other way - exhaust gas into the coolant - you still ultimately lose coolant, though.

Could it be a pinhole in the rad or a hose, leaking onto the headers and evaporating? Seen that too...

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Does the overflow bottle fill when hot, then go low when cool?

I had crud under the cap seal that would prevent the coolant from returning to the radiator. The overflow bottle would overflow when riding, so I wouldn't see it leaking.

Daughters car had same problem, but it was a cap with old stiff seals

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My thought...pinhole leak in system (probably radiator).

I don't have a problem with fluid loss, but when the plastics are off the bike and you let it warm up, you'll see this "puff" of vapor coming from the radiator about where it was repaired/patched, and YES, it keeps passing leak tests. I can only presume you might have a bigger "leak" where fluid is lost in vapor form and doesn't condense on anything with enough quantity to be obvious.

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It's probably leaking somewhere hidden and evaporating. Pull the tank and look at the hoses and stuff behind the motor. Some leaks will only flow cold then seal up as things expand and soften, some only with a hot engine when there's pressure.

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