Bright orange liquid

[Don'tPanic]

I commuted on my F3 to work today, when I got back home I noticed droplets of bright orange liquid on the right swing arm, right under the shock. The shock does not appear to be leaking. I believe the coolant expansion tank is also on the same side. Is it coolant? Do you know what it could be?

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[JayBros]

Shine a light on the coolant tank and compare the colors.

[Don'tPanic]

Shine a light on the coolant tank and compare the colors.

Yep, it's coolant. Now I gotta figure out how it gets on the swing arm :banghead:

[RICZ]

Yep, it's coolant. Now I gotta figure out how it gets on the swing arm :banghead:
Have the overflow/breather hoses been mis-routed?

[Don'tPanic]

no, the overflow hose is in the right place and is routed all the way down. I'm afraid the tank is cracked, the coolant is way below the cold line. The spyder is still under warranty, I'll have to make a trip to the dealer.

[cptjam]

??? The “A” arms are up front, the swing arm is on the back end. Touch each connection to find the leak.

[dmjessup]

Hi All! I am new to forums. I was unable to figure out how to post my own thread, but I have an issue that is similar to this one. Could help us all with some learning. I believe I have a breather tube issue. I took my bike out to work yesterday and went on a lunch break ride. When I went to leave for the day I noticed a large puddle of antifreeze underneath my bike. Got the bike home, took off all of the panels and noticed that half of my antifreeze tank was empty. It was halfway between full and fill. Got to looking around. Everything looked fine underneath except there was a container directly behind the antifreeze reservoir that was soaked. I felt all 3 tube connections that are connected to the reservoir. All dry except the breather tube. Directly underneath the breather tube was a puddle of antifreeze. That is my best guess of the problem. Any clues as to why it would all of a sudden decide to throw antifreeze everywhere? I attempted to load a photo. Again, still new to this so I am not completely sure how to navigate this yet. If it helps, I have a 2011 RSS 990 SE5. Thanks for any help! 172773172773

[Don'tPanic]

??? The “A” arms are up front, the swing arm is on the back end. Touch each connection to find the leak.

The metal doodad that connects wheel to the frame. You understood me :)

[Don'tPanic]

Hi All! I am new to forums. I was unable to figure out how to post my own thread, but I have an issue that is similar to this one. Could help us all with some learning. I believe I have a breather tube issue. I took my bike out to work yesterday and went on a lunch break ride. When I went to leave for the day I noticed a large puddle of antifreeze underneath my bike. Got the bike home, took off all of the panels and noticed that half of my antifreeze tank was empty. It was halfway between full and fill. Got to looking around. Everything looked fine underneath except there was a container directly behind the antifreeze reservoir that was soaked. I felt all 3 tube connections that are connected to the reservoir. All dry except the breather tube. Directly underneath the breather tube was a puddle of antifreeze. That is my best guess of the problem. Any clues as to why it would all of a sudden decide to throw antifreeze everywhere? I attempted to load a photo. Again, still new to this so I am not completely sure how to navigate this yet. If it helps, I have a 2011 RSS 990 SE5. Thanks for any help! 172773172773

I'm thinking it could be the cap not sealing well. All my connections are dry and I don't see any cracks. I'll add the coolant and replace the cap. I'll also have the dealer look things over.

[Peter Aawen]

I dunno if this is preaching to the choir or not, but for those who aren't up to speed on this stuff, if your coolant level is halfway between FILL & FULL when the engine hasn't been run for a while, saaay, in over 12 hours, then you really don't need to top it up to FULL, cos all that'll do is dump that extra coolant out when the engine warms up next!! But if it's halfway between FILL & FULL within seconds of stopping or while everything is hot, then you might want to keep an eye on the level to make sure it's not dropping while you continue to ride, and wait til it's cold again to check the level to see where it goes, cos if it's below the FILL mark when it's cold, then you certainly need to top it up....

Anywhere above the FILL mark when it's cold means the coolant level is OK, & as mentioned, filling it to the FULL mark when it's cold but already above the FILL mark will almost certainly mean that it's gonna dump some if not all of that extra coolant when it warms up & expands the coolant next time you ride!! As you thought, a loose cap could certainly be the cause of that puddle under the Spyder when you went to go home; but even without that, if your lunch-time ride was the first real 'warm day' ride it's had for a while, then it is quite likely that it's simply the first time it's actually got warm for a bit & because of that the coolant expanded & it got rid of that extra coolant from when it got topped up when the level was somewhere between FILL & FULL while it was warm before you put it away last!! My Missus does that to me all the time - altho I guess I should be thankful that she checks the oil & coolant herself! She's good that way, even checks the tire pressures sometimes! :2thumbs:

Our RT is a 2013 Ltd with the V-twin motor, so it uses a bit of oil, & my Missus knows to check the oil AFTER every ride, so she does that, taking her time, then once the oil's all done she checks the coolant.... Of course, by the time she gets around to doing that the coolant's already started to shrink back down from the FULL & expanded level after the recent ride, so it's down from FULL a bit but she still tops it up, every time! So of course, the next time I ride, once everything gets warm enough it piddles all that 'extra' coolant outta the overflow on me, giving me a heart attack until I remember who checked the coolant last! :gaah:

It doesn't matter which engine your Spyder (or Ryker) has, if your coolant is ABOVE the FILL mark when it's cold, you don't need to put any more coolant in! But if it's BELOW the FILL mark when cold, add enough to get it well above, but do realise that any coolant you add above it's normal cold level will simply overflow once the coolant expands enough to reach the FULL Level when it gets warm/hot - and as things cool down again & contract after your ride, the coolant level will also fall down towards the FILL mark as it contracts. So any level above the FILL mark when cold is fine! :thumbup:

[Gwolf]

Most of the automotive parts stores will pressure test the caps for free.

[Chupaca]

Most of the caps on these machines have a second detent when installing the radiator cap. Not a smooth operation and tough to say the least so when installing the cap make sure it clicks into place twice. The first is to avoid the cap from poping off if checking engine hot and burning the persons hands etc the second is to seal the system for operation. Have seen many on the first only and system works but will leak...:thumbup:

[BajaRon]

It's fairly easy to get the cap on wrong or not tight (last detent takes some effort as Chupaca says). The cap may well be your issue. Especially if someone has opened it recently.

[dmjessup]

Do the reservoir caps on all of the models have a double lock in basically?

[Peter Aawen]

Yes they do, dmjessup. In fact, so do the caps on most motor vehicles! It's basically an 'industry wide' standard. :thumbup:

[dmjessup]

Yes they do, dmjessup. In fact, so do the caps on most motor vehicles! It's basically an 'industry wide' standard. :thumbup:

Just shows you how much of a mechanic brain I have! I guess I will see if I can't get the cap tighter and see if this doesn't fix my problem. Thanks everyone!

[Don'tPanic]

I found the problem.
It was a 1 in a million chance of things going wrong :)

The breather tube is routed through a hole in plastic subfloor on F3, so it was extremely difficult to figure out what was wrong. I decided to do a pressure test, for that I needed to find the end of the breather tube and blow into it - if the cap is leaking I wouldn't feel resistance or very little of it, right? Anyway, I pulled on the tube, but it was stuck, finally it let go and I was able to pull it out, blew into it and found that the cap is holding the pressure. After scratching my head for 5 minutes I figured out what was wrong - the end of the breather tube was touching plastic subfloor in such a way that any coolant going through it caked around the end of the tube, sealing it shut - that's why I couldn't pull it out. Coolant now had nowhere to go except seeping through the expansion tank cap.

I cut the end of the tube at an angle, so now even if it touches something there is still space for coolant to escape.

[RICZ]

You are very resourceful to have found that DP. And then come up with a fix to prevent it from occurring again - you get double Brownie Points.