Coolant hoses

[ouchez]

Do you gents have to tighten your coolant hoses very often?

On my 05 I have noticed at the beginning of my riding seasons they need to be tightened as 1 or 2 will be found leaking around the fitting.

O

 

[alorio1]

I have an 85 bought new in 85, never had that problem..........

 

[alorio1]

I did replace the 0 ring on the drain valve once, better make sure your overflow line to the resevoir bottle is not pinched or restricted in some sort of way causing pressure to build up and no way to escape. Make sure you have a stock rad cap.

 

[VMAX1260]

I have an 85 bought new in 85, never had that problem..........

+1 never had a problem too

 

[RaWarrior]

Never the actual hoses, the rad drain petcock tends to drip a teensy bit over the cold winter but never leaks at all during the summer.

 

[Rusty McNeil]

Never had a leak from any of the hoses.

Have had a slight weep from the drain valve once, it quit.

And a slight leak from the thermostat housing neck under the right front exhaust pipe due to extreme contraction once when I started it up in 25 degree weather when riding with shad up in Wyoming...it went away as soon as it warmed up.

The cap should relieve at about 12-15psi so the hoses aren't under very much pressure if the cap is relieveing properly..

 

[vmax2extreme]

Do you gents have to tighten your coolant hoses very often?

On my 05 I have noticed at the beginning of my riding seasons they need to be tightened as 1 or 2 will be found leaking around the fitting.

O

I have an '05 with no issues at all. I've even flushed it out once and added water wettter with the change.

 

[ouchez]

Thanks guys for the replys.

Last year after the winter set up I found some drops under the Max and checked the hose clamps and they were all rather loose, tightened and no problem last season. Today as I went to start the bike for the first time this year noticed drippage under the bike and found one hose where it was leaking around the connection and it was rather loose, tightend all again, ran bike,,,all good so far.

My new, last year, PC680 battery really turned my motor over with authority and Max started very quickly after filling the bowls twice after being drained all winter.

O

 

[tfisher65]

Funny, I have had a few issues with the cooling system on my 05'. Second year around 10K couple of the hoses leaked a little, tightening fixed that problem. Then last year I had to replace the top of the thermosat housing as it had warped (plastic) causing an annoying leak. The bike has never overheated and has always ran within normal range. It's all good now.

 

[RaWarrior]

Hmm...do you have worm gear hose clamps? Pretty much all the hoses on mine have the wide black spring-tab clamps which I assume are factory. There's one screw clamp on the rad side of the coolant manifold, which seems kind of out of place since all the others are springs. I haven't had any leak issues with it, but if you are I'd get a new clamp for it.

The issue with worm drive clamps is the area right under the drive doesn't really get cinched down, why a lot of the time in automotive use there's two with the gears 180* apart. The traditional kind also tend to loosen up in applications where there's wide temp swings and vibration....i.e a motorcycle.

 

[ouchez]

Hmm...do you have worm gear hose clamps? Pretty much all the hoses on mine have the wide black spring-tab clamps which I assume are factory. There's one screw clamp on the rad side of the coolant manifold, which seems kind of out of place since all the others are springs. I haven't had any leak issues with it, but if you are I'd get a new clamp for it.

The issue with worm drive clamps is the area right under the drive doesn't really get cinched down, why a lot of the time in automotive use there's two with the gears 180* apart. The traditional kind also tend to loosen up in applications where there's wide temp swings and vibration....i.e a motorcycle.

Yes,

all worm gear hose clamps.:ummm:

O

 

[Rusty McNeil]

Hmm...do you have worm gear hose clamps? Pretty much all the hoses on mine have the wide black spring-tab clamps which I assume are factory. There's one screw clamp on the rad side of the coolant manifold, which seems kind of out of place since all the others are springs. I haven't had any leak issues with it, but if you are I'd get a new clamp for it.

The issue with worm drive clamps is the area right under the drive doesn't really get cinched down, why a lot of the time in automotive use there's two with the gears 180* apart. The traditional kind also tend to loosen up in applications where there's wide temp swings and vibration....i.e a motorcycle.

My '99 had all worm gear clamps on the radiator hoses both ends and various little hoses under the radiator. The two big hoses that go in to the top of the heads have spring clamps.

 

[Saml01]

If you need to keep tightening your hoses to stop leaks that means you need to change your hose. If you have some slack, you can also cut the end off and just use a fresher piece to clamp down on.

For those that have a leaky drain valve. Before you install a new seal, put some permatex black in grove first.
When you reinstall the valve, put it back in the OFF position and let it sit one night before filling with fluid. You wont have a problem ever again.