How to Fill my Motorcycle Coolant
How to Fill Your Motorcycles Coolant
The first step in filling your Motorcycles coolant is to determine the correct type and mixture of coolant to use. This information can be found in your owner’s manual. If you do not have an owner’s manual, search the internet for forums specific to the make and model of your bike. There are forums for every brand manufactured and they typically contain a fantastic knowledge base.
Once you have they type of coolant required, you are ready to fill your radiator and coolant reservoir. Make sure your motorcycle is cool. Remove any fairings necessary to access the radiator and coolant reservoir. Take the cap off of the radiator. With a funnel carefully add the recommended amount of coolant to the radiator. Clean up any spills promptly as coolant is toxic and very appealing to pets due to its sweet smell and taste. Replace the radiator cap and start your bike and let it run for one minute. This allows the water pump on your bike to circulate the coolant throughout your engine and forces any air in the system into the radiator. Turn your bike off and carefully remove the radiator cap. With the cap off, top off the radiator with coolant/ Replace the cap.
Most coolant reservoirs have hot and cold fill levels. If the motor is hot, fill the reservoir to the ”Hot Fill” line. If the motor is cold fill it to the “Cold Fill” line.
If there are no indicators on your reservoir, fill the reservoir to 1/4 full. Take your motorcycle for a ride long enough to get it to its normal operating temperature. When you get home, immediately fill the coolant reservoir on your motorcycle to 2/3 full.
Wipe any spilled coolant off of your motorcycle and put the fairings back on your motorcycle making sure you have secured them properly. Clean up any coolant that may have spilled on the ground and dispose of the cleanup materials properly. Store any remaining coolant properly.
If you first need to drain your motorcycles cooling system, open the drain petcock. The drain petcock is typically located on the bottom of the radiator on the left hand side. Make sure you have an adequate catch pan to contain the drained coolant. Start the motorcycle momentarily to evacuate all the coolant from the system. Once the coolant is drained, close the petcock and follow the fill procedure outline above.
