coolant/thermostat

[markc]

Hope somebody can help,
While replacing tax disc I noticed that my bike seems to have sprayed coolant all down left side of engine over the gearbox covers etc. Tried to have a look to see where it was coming from and looks like a leak from the bottom of a black unit on the left side behind the choke cable. Is this the thermostat? Also is this a common problem? And how the hell are you supposed to get at it?!!

Thanks
Mark

[sirch345]

It sounds like it is coming from the thermostat housing, if your bike is one of the earlier models that did happen from time to time, just keep your eye on the coolant level, you shouldn't be loosing enough to notice a drop in level. On the later models (mine included 99 model) Honda fitted a piece of pipe to the housing so it didn't make a mess over engine. I have noticed, not very often, my bike has lost a little coolant before,
cheers Chris.

[mecon]

Mine is an FX and it uses a little coolant too (I use about 100ml per 5k miles)

Bear in mind the total system is only about 3 litres on a motor chucking out about 100bhp - thats a lotta heat. I'll bet that when it's parked up, the heat soak is just enough to glug the coolant.

The other place it may leak is the oil pump/water pump seal system. The mechanical water seal is on the outside and the casting has a ikkle hole to drain any leakage - I have an idea this is on the left rear of the motor main casing.

HTH