All About Radiators

The goo that was in the thermostat is evidently all through the cooling system and although it's had a good flush out, it is probably blocking many of the galleries in the radiator. Touching the middle of the radiator when the bike is running and it feels cool, you can leave your hand on it whilst the two tanks either side are boiling. Removing the radiator and filling up one tank slowly then you notice that all but the bottom two galleries are completely blocked. Water isn't getting exposed to cool air as it crosses the radiator, so it just re-enters the engine as hot as it came out.

Best way of getting scale out of something is with Harpic. You can use bicarbonate of soda, or white vinegar and gently boiling or something but I was running out of time, we are away camping over the weekend and I needed it done now.

For three hours I had Harpic inside that radiator, shaking it and refilling it and trying to get it to cross the galleries. It's made a mess of the stainless sink and eat through half a dozen pairs of nitrile gloves, but the radiator is still blocked solid. Asking around and a few people think the goo might be rad-weld, so if I do manage to clear it then the radiator will just end up leaking like a sieve.

Searching through ebay and I find a second-hand radiator for sale for £30 in St Austell. I desperately message the seller and then stare at my phone all evening, willing a reply to appear but to no avail. Thankfully in the morning he messages back and agrees I can come and collect it. Poor mobile signal in the campsite isn't helping but eventually we arrange for Sunday afternoon. When I arrived in Snozzle I produce a large bottle of water to test it with but although it looks as battered and bruised as mine, it is watertight and water runs across the galleries from top to bottom. It also got a brief filling of Harpic and an external clean too since it was out anyway.

Getting the the fan off the blocked radiator involved firstly the Dremel, then the angle grinder when I got impatient. Thankfully the thermostat was still in the new one and despite it being from a slightly different bike the mounts and hose unions were all in the same place. 

Mounted to the bike without a problem, no mesh guard though but touch wood that won't be a problem. It was late, but with the garage door closed I ran the bike for a little bit to make sure the coolant system was filled completely. Left it overnight and the next morning was happy to see there was no leaks. Fired up the bike, got it up to temperature and when the fan came on to much relief the temperature gage started descending. Radiator it hot to touch across the entire surface and there's a decent temperature difference using the infra-red thermometer when the fan is running.

 Pretty certain the bike is good to go now. Just me to sort out, and lots of admin.

At the time of writing this on Monday evening the total donations to my Cancer Research fun has just passed £2000, plus the gift aid. I'm incredibly grateful for each and every one of you who has donated, thank you very much indeed. Knowing how much faith people have put in me has certainly made the effort/stress/panic of the last few days worthwhile.

If you know of any friends who might like this blog, please forward it on to them, and if they feel like donating then the Cancer Research page is at:

https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/spikesldu

Thank you very much