Hi All,

I have recently bought a second bike which is the rev 3 2003, On the 1st outing after about 1 hour the water pipe from the head to the top of the radiator exploded and split from top to bottom. I replaced the pipe and filled with fresh coolant and noticed the fan had come of its spindle which i then replaced and the bike seemed fine. I took it out yesterday and after about the same length of time i noticed what looked like strawberry milkshake coming out of the gearbox over-flow and the sight glass on the gearbox had turned from red to pink also the fan had come back off its spindle. I am far from being a motorbike mechanic but are very good with cars. Has anyone got any suggestions of what is causing over pressure in the water system which in turn i think has blown a water seal. This bike has recently had a new water pump casing as the other was corroded. The guy i bought it off has offered money towards the repair but if its possible to do it myself and save a few quid then so be it.

strip the whole lot.. pump etc etc.. then you know what is right and wrong.. its simple enough the hardest part being getting the sumpguard back on! if its over heating leaking then somethings not moving or somethings blocked .. so whip off the rad and flush through whip of the side case and make sure the pump is working have all the pipes off and clean out.. have the head off and put a new gasket in.. change the gearbox oil.. stop the fan coming off permanently..and away you go..

Thanks Totalshell,

That sounds simple enough but will need the tourqe setting if i,m taking the head off any i deas.

Any idea on cost if i was to have it done in a shop

I don't suppose you know if it had too much oil in the gear box before do you?

I'd go through the obvious first. If it is a seal somewhere they are easy to do. The bash plate is a serious work out and more tricky than the other bits.

Check the breathers are not blocked or pinched also. The new seal when the case was fitted could have been fitted badly and the new seal wrecked putting it in. They are delicate and need steady and uniform pressure.

If the case corroded and it got coolant in the trans then the milkshake could take a long time to go away,

Might take several oil changes, I have filled the trans with deisel to flush moisture from cases before

Of course several oil changes after that maneuver

The oil level looked fine but the thing that is bugging me the most is the water hose that blew the day before which was like a shot gun going off really loud which leads me to think that there is a pressure build up in the cooling system. The question is what causes pressure in the cooling system

Did it have water or coolant in it? I would have thought it would only go bang/pop if it had air in. Did it have enough coolant in?

Could be head gasket fault over pressurising the rad, but rad cap should have released well before the hose split unless the hose was in poor condition!