after cutting my ride short yesterday due to my overflow bottle dripping fluid, which today I realize has to be normal because when I took the overflow bottle off the bike and shook it up, it was a beer foam like froth that was in the overflow tank. The same thing was comming out of the overflow tube after a good thrashing of the bike up a 2 mile long powerline road/hill climb. Today I drained my old coolant out, which oddly enough, had metal shavings present, very very very very very fine shavings that I wouldnt have noticed if I hadnt changed the coolant in direct sunlight. I refilled the cooling system with engine ice and noticed the same metal particles floating at the top of the radiator. Am I seeing pieces of my waterpump? a bearing? these are extreme fine shavings almost like an additive was added to the cooling system at some point.

 

Its probably just some loose scaling.
Nothing to worry about.

 

Well it sounds like water pump maybe crapping out. But it could be an additive. Did you buy the bike used? maybe previous owner put something in there. maybe some sorta stop leak. I would try to flush sytem using water hose. then see what happens. Also does these partticles stick to a magnet? If it does well thats not good. would not be an additive. more than likely bearing material. Not sure what pump impeller is made of. probably aluminum. this wont stick to magnet. And lastly a shagged up water pump may create bubbles in coolant from cavitation. Hopefully its just an additive. good luck.

 

Thats kinda what I am hoping too====nothing to worry about. The bike has never gotten hot or overheated, the cooling fan hasnt even come on that I've known. I did ground the sending unit wire and the fan does work. The bike came from Arizona and it saw tempratures there that it wont ever see in Washington state. I get a little paranoid with this bike since I am a auto mechanic and I see broken things every single day, I keep expecting the same thing from this bike. I am at 9,900 miles and have no idea of the service history. It starts and runs perfect so no complaints there and I am not going to check the valves until the rainy season hits. Which starts in late october and goes until the 4th of july weekend LOL except this year the weather has been beautiful. I didnt try to see if the particles were magnetic.
I will just ride the hell out of it and monitor the coolant. I rode it 80 miles on the street today to finish breaking in the new rear tire. I will wait and see what happens. I just dont like thinking I am riding a time bomb thats going to cost more if I dont find the issue now LOL O well I have all winter to fix whatever is happening IF anything is really wrong. This will probably be an ongoing post cause I want to Jet the carb and get a FMF Q4 for the thing. Whats the worst that can happen? overheat the motor and have to buy a 300cc or bigger upgrade kit? LOL

 

Keep running her I'd say. If you notice fan coming on a lot then start worrying. If I remember theres also a temperaure warning light. God, ive been away from home too long. Cant even remember what klx gauge cluster looks like!

 

The strange this is the cooling fan has never come on and the level in the coolant resivoir has never changed either.

 

I dont think you have much to worry about. 99 percent of us here probably would not have noticed the beer foam from the hose in the first place. We just keep riding until something really evident is happening. like a light or fan continuosly running. Or the cylinder head has melted! thats what I do. these are tough bikes. If your not comfortable with that take apart your water pump to have a look. Just to give yourself piece of mind.

 

There is also a rad cap you can get that displays the coolant temp on it.....I often thought of ordering one (just because), but haven't done so yet. They are not expensive though..like $20 CDN? May be a good investment.

 

Oooooooohhhhhhhh! I like that. where u see this to? And will it fit? I believe ours are smaller than a regular one. I like gimmicky stuff especially if it has a good purpose. Hell, I own a digital coffee mug. Why? Just because.

 

ride until she blows is my new motto. I work in the automotive business and have seen the radiator caps that show temprature on them. Our bikes use a radiator cap that looks awefull similar to a common toyota radiator cap. Off the top of my head I dont what PSI toyota's vent at though. I'd like to know if there is a link associated with the previous post mentioning the radiator cap with thermometer. A digital coffee cup? Does it tell you how hot the coffee is? Which brings up another question, at what temprature do you burn your tongue on hot coffee?