Changing Your Coolant

You should change the coolant if you don't know how long it's been in. It's ability to cool the engine is as important as the oil.

• • Changing Coolant and Bleeding the System

Mix up around 2.5 liters(0.25 US Gal) 50/50 coolant with Distilled water(Rain Water/Melted Freezer ice).

1. Remove the seat and tank.
2. Remove the Front Radiator guard.
3. Remove Radiator cap
4. Place a bowl below the Radiator.
5. Remove 14mm nylon radiator drain plug with it's rubber washer.
6. Crank the engine with the kill switch activated a few times.This will help move more coolant out of the system.
7. Replace the 14mm Radiator plug, but only tighten gently as they are very low torque and can easily be broken. It should also have a rubber washer on it. If it doesn't have the washer you can make one out of some old Cycle inner tube and a pair of small scissors.
8. Fill radiator(Check level with a Flashlight) to around half an inch above the fins.
9. Run the engine with the Radiator cap off and wait until the engine Temp gauge gets near the small"Nominal" mark on the gauge.
10. Look with a flashlight in through the cap hole.
11. When the you see the coolant flowing over the fins for a few times the air will have some out of the cooling system.This will also tell you that the Thermostat is working and the Water pump is doing it's job so it's a good system check

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• • Radiator Flushing

1. Drain coolant.
2. Add a couple of bottles of white Vinegar enough as if you were filling with coolant.
3. Run engine up to Thermostat opening temp(See above).
4. Leave over night.
5. Drain vinegar and replace with clean water.
6. Run engine up to Thermostat opening temp
7. Drain Water and add coolant.
8. Re-bleed system as per above.

If you wish you can take the Radiator off and use a garden hose and flush the radiator back and forth after the above. Then gently clean the Radiator fins out and repaint with high temp black paint(BBQ Aerosol Paint is cheap and good from DIY stores).

• • Note:On one recent really badly clogged GL500 Radiator I placed the Radiator in my sink and mixed a very strong solution of [Acid Crystals] and water (Available from home brew beer suppliers or Ebay) and boiled this up in a kettle, (This also cleans the lime scale from the electric kettle), then poured it into the sink until the Radiator was submerged.I left this over night but kept agitating it from time to time.This broke down all the crystalline deposits and cleared the clogged cores.I then flushed it forwards and back with a garden hose.