Change your coolant...
 

The XT trivia quiz question about how often you should change the coolant in an XT made me wonder if my 2010 XTZ had ever had it done. It takes a bit of stripping to get to the radiator cap (the fuel tank has to come off) but look what i drained out:

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...psw3pvq8rc.jpg

I flushed some amount of brown gack out of it and I've refilled it with fancy Bardahl pink coolant. The expansion tank had green coolant in it but it gave the impression that the system was filled with the same stuff. Not so - check yours if it hasnt been done in a while.

David

Eeeuuuwwww :emoticons:

This is now added this to my list of jobs to do.

I too may have been fooled by the fresh looking coolant in the expansion tank!

Good post and a reminder that all may not be as it appears.

Thanks,

Sandman.

2010 model, eh?
Think I'll wait a year before I do mine :-D

Good shout. It's not just the colour that's the problem, coolants lose their corrosion inhibiting properties over time, which is the main reason for the three year interval.

Brake fluid changes are another often neglected area. Just like the coolant looking clear and a pretty colour in the expansion tank, brake fluid can look equally clean and clear in the reservoir/inspection window. However, lurking in the depths of the pipework, the master cylinder and in the calipers it can be a horrible murky mess and full of moisture, which is a brake system's worst enemy.

So change you brake fluid too, particularly if you have no idea when it was last done...

So is it possible to put a hosepipe in one of the coolant hoses and flush the engine until its clean ? Would the water pump allow this ? Or would the engine need to be running ? How do I prevent an airlock in the system ? Gonna do this before my xtx goes back on the road in spring. Cheers :-)

If you drain out anything that looks as bad as mine then you get as much out as you can with a hosepipe in the radiator neck then fill it with water and caustic flushing fluid. You run the bike up to temperature which pumps the flushing agent around and then drain it all out. Fill with clean water, run bike for a few minutes, drain and fill with coolant. It's explained very clearly in the Haynes manual and probably in the service manual available on here too.

D