Bimota Forum

Evilchicken0 · Joined: 12 May 2010 Posts: 2996 Location: London

Does that mean it will still dump some coolant when you start it after any work ??? I'd hate to change the "character" of the bike
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Andrew034 · Joined: 02 Apr 2017 Posts: 52 Location: Sydney

I'm a little late here, but are you sure the cooling system is actually leaking?

A few years ago when I was changing the coolant on my SB6, I cracked the bleed valve on the coolant distributer and filled the cooling system. I then ran the engine until the thermostat opened and the fan activated. Having checked everything was OK, filled the overflow bottle to the correct level, fitted the radiator cap and left it at that.

A few rides later, I noticed the overflow bottle was empty. Figuring there was a leak, I looked for the tell-tale marks of dry coolant and found none, I pressure tested the cooling system and it checked out.

So again I cracked the bleed valve and poured coolant into the radiator. Soon it was full, but this time I was more vigilant and I noticed that no air or coolant was obviously venting from the bleed valve.

Sure enough when I removed the bleed valve cap, I discovered the bleed union was blocked. A poke with a skewer fixed the problem, another half litre of coolant went into the radiator, coolant vented from the bleed valve and the problem was solved.

Are you sure the issue isn't an air pocket in the engine?

Andrew....

Evilchicken0 · Joined: 12 May 2010 Posts: 2996 Location: London

Not sure what you mean by the "bleed valve".
I rune the engine with the rad top off until the bubbles stop then let the engine cool replace the cap
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Andrew034 · Joined: 02 Apr 2017 Posts: 52 Location: Sydney

There is a chrome metal coolant distributer tree above the motor. On the tree, there is a 10mm bolt (from memory) with a copper washer, that bolt is the cooling system bleed valve.

If you look at page 20 of the parts manual (on Classic Bimota Spares website: https://www.sfogliami.it/flip.asp?sc=uddan2ilnh3mj4r5o0h2rdkdgmx3bfqg&ID=117613#page/12), part 29 is the coolant distributer and part 31 is the bleed valve.

Andrew...

Evilchicken0 · Joined: 12 May 2010 Posts: 2996 Location: London