Coolant(liquid). And weird vapour locks..

[Guest]

Does coolant separate? Why when I pulled my lower rad hose on the triumph was it green and the stuff I poured out of the rad brown and horrible? The crap that came out of the thermostat hole was awfully brown also. I am thinking of refilling it without the thermostat in place and running it up to temperature a couple of times before putting the thermostat in and topping off. The 955s are kinda known for their air pocketed coolant system.

[Doomrider]

Oil in the coolant. Probably from a blown head gasket. Also, combustion gasses can push the coolant into the overflow tank.

[derwood]

There are compatibility issues with some different brands and/or types. That may be what you are seeing. Especially if you don't know what coolant is in the bike.
Oil will not stay mixed with coolant.

I would flush and fill, try and get all the air out...you may have to crack hoses, there may be bleeder valves or screws. (kawasaki I-4's had a bleeder screw in the pump bowl of the water pump)

Don't use car or truck antifreeze in a motorcycle, ..no green stuff.
Use premixed motorcycle or small engine antifreeze.

Also there is this stuff I was considering for the hawk if I find a source, Evans Waterless Coolant....http://www.evanscooling.com/ Oh, it's about 50$ a gallon

EDIT I read a report on the Evans coolant, (written by a competitor) ... http://www.norosion.com/evanstest.htm ... now i am having second thoughts. Apparently having no water it is more viscous than regular coolant, It also has a specific heat of .65 , regular premix coolant is .85 . so it is not as good at cooling as regular premix ethylene glycol.?
Still a good product for collector car type of thing (corrosion)but a regular use motorbike, I think I might be giving up too much cooling capacity.

[Steve]

Don't use car or truck antifreeze in a motorcycle, ..no green stuff.
Use premixed motorcycle or small engine antifreeze.

There are, of course, some exceptions to this.

Honda has a pre-mixed coolant available for its bikes, but it's about $20 or so for a gallon.

The best source for the same stuff is at the Honda CAR dealer, where it's about $12 for a gallon.

Yeah, it's more expensive than getting a gallon of the "regular" stuff and mixing it yourself, but it's only a few bucks more, you have the right stuff in the right quantity and ... just how often do you do this, anyway?

.

[smyers]

The nasty brown sounds like the rust inhibitors are breaking down. You will see this alot in older cars. If the bike was sitting at all, this is pretty normal. Should be ok with a normal flush and fill. As far as air pockets, i'm not real sure on your bike, but i had a jeep i had to park on a pretty good incline to get the coolant bottle to be the highest point in the system. that way when running the air would work its way through to the top.

[Agemax]

any anti freeze will be fine as long as it is suitable for aluminium engines.
flush it, fill it, run it with the cap off until it gets hot enough for the thermostat to open.
any air locks will bubble up to the top.
top up and refit rad cap.