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Leaking Radiator

SergeantChuck

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I just had my first part failure on the NCX. My radiator has sprung a leak and I was not aware of the issue until I had parked in my garage. I drained a decent amount of fluid from the radiator before removal so I'm glad to say that I did not run the bike dry. I'm also thankful that the radiator is easy to remove.

I have been riding for 30 years and never once had a bad radiator and the NCX is the first bike I have added a radiator guard. LOL. I ride the bike daily and primarily travel interstate and state highways so there is plenty of opportunities for debris.

The reassembly seems pretty straight forward but I'm more than happy to listen to any tips, tricks, or suggestions. Now the search begins for a radiator and they are not cheap.

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in the photo, the 2nd row from the bottom looks like it's been tampered with. The very small fins (or whatever they are) are not spaced evenly as they are in every other row).
 
in the photo, the 2nd row from the bottom looks like it's been tampered with. The very small fins (or whatever they are) are not spaced evenly as they are in every other row).

I thought the same thing but I did not mention it. I did nothing to damage the radiator during removal.
 
Any chance the radiator guard rubbed the radiator the wrong way and caused the leak ????


Agree the fins are damaged in the second row and the third water tube up has a mark on it ???

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Any chance the radiator guard rubbed the radiator the wrong way and caused the leak ????


Agree the fins are damaged in the second row and the third water tube up has a mark on it ???

I thought about that prior to the removal of the guard. I could not find any points of contact and the back side of the guards showed no signs of a rub. It is definitely something to think about during the reassembly. Thanks
 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^

HUGE assumption that the radiator cover or protectors actually protect .......and it is possible they can cause more problems than they solve. The radiators are very thin and and any rubbing or movement from cover, mounting wires, brackets, ties and the like can easliy rub and cause a leak.
 
My bike is back on the road and I chose to take Beemerphile's advice and contact a radiator repair shop. If your ever in the Little Rock area and need some radiator work be sure to look up River City Radiator. This guy (Ted) is awesome. Nicest dang guy I have ever met although he did talk my ear off. Fixed my radiator on the spot. I had assumed I'd have to drop it off and come back. Nope, he had it fixed in less than 30 minutes.

The clear up any questions. The leak was not caused by a rub between the guard and the radiator. The leak was not caused by debris. The spot where the radiator leaked was free of any strike damage or abrasions. The repairman's best guess is a weak spot in one of the lower core tubes. The pin hole was located on the top side of a tube where it is much more protected.

Initially, he could not detect the leak. He ended up spraying high pressure water in the radiator which still failed to open the hole so then he "dried it out" by using a propane torch to heat the outside of the tubes. This process made the hole visible. It was a very small hole.

Just glad to be back on the road.
 
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So what is the cause of the wavey fins ( blue area) was the repair/leak in that area?????
 
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So what is the cause of the wavey fins ( blue area) was the repair/leak in that area?????

I typed this once and it did not post so here is the short answer.

The leak was in the blue area but repairman didn't think it was tampered with. All wavy fins are in one row which might be hard to do is someone was deliberately damaging radiator. The paint on the wavy fins is scratch free although that might be hard to tell in photo due to a dirty radiator. No damage to paint leads one to believe it came from the factory in this condition. Also, flying debris would likely damage more than just one row too and create damage that looked more like a dent.

In short, he has no idea. He figured it was a flaw from the factory.
 
Don't find many shops like that any more.

I found this shop by reading the reviews of previous customers. The reviews were so good at this shop I figured he had his employees writing them but I decided to give it a shot. Glad I did. The place looked like Sanford & Sons but he does darn good work and he is cheap. I don't think I mentioned it in my previous message. He charged me $30. I thought that was more than fair considering the price of a new radiator.
 
How often did you change the coolant and what brand did you use? Did you mix it with distilled water or was it a 50/50 mix?
 
Something stuck between the guard and the rad (tree limb/branch) could possibly do that damage if pulled straight out. Tip: never use distilled (de-ionized) water in a radiator or anything metal. By nature, water wants to be 'ionized' and will pull ions when it can-in a radiator, water will pull the ions from the metal in the radiator and over time, cause pin holes...and doesn't take that much time...
 
Something stuck between the guard and the rad (tree limb/branch) could possibly do that damage if pulled straight out. Tip: never use distilled (de-ionized) water in a radiator or anything metal. By nature, water wants to be 'ionized' and will pull ions when it can-in a radiator, water will pull the ions from the metal in the radiator and over time, cause pin holes...and doesn't take that much time...

As far a distilled water .......the shop manual, owners manual and common service manual says "use only distilled water"

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Then there's the HONDA premix coolant that says made with deionized water

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You're talking about corrosion by electrolysis.

Water (tapped or distilled) and electric current always causes electrolysis.

To avoid this you've to use always the proper coolant at 50/50 (like Honda Type 2) analogy that contains silicate-free corrosion inhibitors and replace it according to the scheduled maintenance.

Also all the electrical connections and cables must be in good condition.

You can easily check this one by using a voltmeter. If you can see some mV through the radiator on the voltmeter then you've problem...


Another patent is to use a cap with a sacrificial magnesium anode (the more sensitive metal is attacked first). It's heavily used on boats but I'm not sure how effective is in a vehicle or if it's not causing any problems to the closed circuit of a vehicle. (On boats it's in the open sea).


In general we never use anything else than distilled water because we will destroy the water pump and other components with the dissolved minerals and salts that contains and they're corrosive...

Google it for more details...
 
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