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bike was on it's side. now the radiator is making a new noise... (lemmy.sdf.org)

submitted 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

7 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I was inside for a couple hours so I don't know when or how it fell. But when I came out it was on its side. It runs fine but when I'm at about 6000rpm the radiator is making a different noise then before. I'm new to this and paranoid somethings wrong.

Any advice appreciated, thanks in advance

Edit: the bike is a klx 300. Liquid cooled so I'm thinking maybe the coolant leaked out?

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[–] Kanzar 13 points 2 weeks ago

Apparently for mine the cooling fan was rubbing the shroud, so locate that and see what it's doing.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

First, check your oil and coolant levels. Only when you're sure it's not going to damage itself further by running without fluids, run it in neutral and Rev it up to the engine speed that make it make funny noises and try to isolate what's making noise.

I don't think your radiator is making noise. If the noise is coming from the radiator, it's the fan. Otherwise, I would suspect that something in the engines top end isn't being lubricated properly (if I'm imagining the right kind of noise).

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

Seconded, it's probably the fan. You can be sure, after checking oil and coolant of course, if it makes the same noise when cold at 6000 rpm (obv. don't do this for long, just enough to confirm whether or not it's RPM-related), then if first scenario didn't give the right indication, check if the bike makes said noise when the fan just kicks on.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

In normal circumstances the radiator should be making no noise, so if it was making a noise and now it's different there was an issue to begin with, or the noise is coming from elsewhere adjacent.

The coolant system is functionally sealed except theoretically the cap on the overflow bottle; coolant leaking out due to this is unlikely and even if it did, you would have seen coolant on the ground and probably spilled down the side of the bike as well. You would have to be extremely low on coolant to hear air going through the radiator, especially while you were riding. The coolant level is obviously easy to check, and do so, but I think you can rule this out.

Ensure that your radiator is mounted securely and is not loose. Also check that the radiator fan is not loose, and when running the fan blades are not striking anything including the cage around the fan itself, the face of the radiator, or the wire going to the fan.

Also check that nothing else was knocked loose in the tip-over and is now rattling. Plastics, brackets, mounts, lengths of any wiring harnesses, etc.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Can you describe the noise? Rattling, scraping, gurgling?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Rattling I think

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

In that case my two cents would be radiator mount or fan. Get access to the area and tap around on the mounts to see if one is cracked or bent to hold the fan too close.