Coolant in petrol overflow

[Speed addict]

Hey guys,
So today I got ten minutes from work, looked down at my petrol tank and there was coolant EVERY where all over my jacket and bike and helmet.

I topped the coolant up and started my ride home tonight, and looked down and noticed that the coolant was escaping from the petrol cap.

does anyone here have any idea why on earth the coolant would be collecting in there?
I have attached a photo.

thanks in advance.

 

[Metals 907]

There is a hose misrouted. Any work done lately? I would guess ,radiator side coolant hot overflow to the fuel cap overflow hose. Trace back the hose from the coolant overflow tank.

Just a guess.

 

[KwicK To Master KTM]

There is a thread somewhere on here with another owner had the same thing - If I remember correctly he explained why the coolant got there - someone on here may remember where the thread wad posted?

 

[big_sur]

Under the left side panel, there's a bunch of hoses for tank overflow and emissions crap. Looks like your coolant overflow hose got mixed in and likely hooked up to the tank overflow hose.

 

[Treachery]

That's one of the strangest things I've ever seen.

 

[EnergyHOU]

Definitely a hose misroute issue. As mentioned above, any recent work done?

 

[Speed addict]

Work has not been done on it for over 1500km, and that was just its first service, no one has touched the bike.
i will have to get it into a shop and get it looked at, this is the weirdest thing ever.

 

[Metals 907]

How long is your commute? Only thing I can think of would possibly be is, perhaps the bike has never been hot enough to pop the relief on the radiator cap. ( until now ) . I it is the only way possible I can fathom it building enough pressure to spray.

 

[Metals 907]

Easy check to see if in fact it is the coolant overflow line would be to pull the hose off the nipple @ the radiator cap and see if the coolant in the gas cap drains out. I'd follow up with a little air blown through to clean out. I would probably drain your remaining fuel and replace it it with fresh petrol. The glycol won't mix with the petrol and will cause you problems if you just run it through.

 

[Speed addict]

The commute is about 35 minutes, it happened on an 6 degree Celsius morning, cruising on 100kmh.
i have thrashed this bike in the mountains and not once has something like this happened.

 

[Metals 907]

Check your hose routing. The hose/tube from the radiator should route to the coolant overflow catch, the fuel tank vent should route to the charcoal canister ( not sure all the models equipped with this emissions system) , if it isn't equipped with said canister the tank vent just dumps to the ground under the bike.

We can speculate and armchair mechanic this issue to death. Only way to the bottom would be to start by pulling the fairing and tracing back your hoses/ tubing.

 

[Mr Bean]

On my bike there is one hose from the coolant overflow and one from the fuel overfill but they both meet at a T piece where they share the same bottom hose. Im thinking perhaps the bottom hose is pinched/blocked which would force the coolant to go up the fuel overfill hose and end up like it has.

It's a stupid design and Ive disconnected the T piece so now it has 2 separate drain hoses

 

[Fasteddy]

^^^^^^ what Mr. Bean said.....

FWIW...

There are two hoses that go to the fuel tank, one is internal vent for vapor recovery the other is splash / catch overflow located within the cap ring which is where the coolant is coming from. The overflow hose is Y' ed into the over flow hose for the coolant reservoir, not connected to the charcoal can, and the out put of the Y should run down and out the belly pan / lower fairing. That drain hose if kinked or clogged etc. would cause your issue and you may want to ensure your radiator cap can hold at least 1.4 bar of pressure...

 

[Metals 907]

Thanks guys. Something preventative to do next time I have my fairing off.
Thank you to the OP for posting this problem. I've yet to see another writeup on this .

 

[green_bread]

It's a stupid design and Ive disconnected the T piece so now it has 2 separate drain hoses

This... exactly. I also removed the T and made each hose its own individual drain.

 

[Old3]

It took me about 5 minutes, just pull the rear three fairing bolts and you have enough room to yank it out. I just put the rad vent hose into the fairing panel where .i can see it and it will trap coolant so I'm aware of it and ran the fuel vent down to the bottom where the original drain went.

Unreal. So stupid. Probably cost more to do it wrong by adding in the Y than to use another 12" of hose.

 

[Speed addict]

Thanks heaps guys, I'm going to have a play with it now.
on the other hand, should there be this much coolant coming down the drain hose? Just seems like a lot of coolant to be losing.

 

[Al Pal]

Waking up another old post but I discovered that below the Y union, the hose then passes behind a plate attached to the side cover, presumably to keep it away from the exhaust. it looks like you have to pull on the hose below the plate as you put the side cover back on otherwise the slack is above the clamping plate and kinks. My hose was kinked shut because of this but no back-flow as it was also pressed against the exhaust and had burnt half way through. Also as you pull down on the hose, thread it in to the bottom hole of the belly pan so it drains clearly. Design is a little poor. I think I'll do the 2 longer hoses and no Y union. I'll also see if i can do something to stop slack hose getting near the exhaust. Don't want fuel overflow splattering on a hot exhaust.

 

[stevieboy]

Mine was burnt away also. Happened after service to change out a bad fan. Those guys made more trouble than they fixed.