| Author | Message | ||
     No_rice |
so heres what im thinking. i am loading the bikes up to head to florida. the 09 1125 will be fine because it has regular factory antifreeze in it. the 08 though has some stuff to in it for running at the track. i am pretty worried about the thing freezing on the open trailer on the way to fl. dont really feel like wasting a bunch of antifreeze just for it to sit on the trailer and get swapped back out for track stuff again when im there. so my question is what do you guys think i can get it drained fairly well and just leave it. a few little bits of it in the system shouldnt cause any harm like having it full of water or some similar thing and having it freeze and expand and crack everything. i think if it is drained fairly well it should be ok, then i can just fill it back up when i get there | ||
| Kevin_stevens |
Wind chill doesn't have any effect on water freezing, if that's what the "open trailer" comment implied. If you look, some of the track coolants *do* provide anti-freeze support. Water Wetter doesn't, but one of the others does. Engine Ice, maybe? That would avoid having to make two changes. I wouldn't just drain it. The problem with freezing isn't usually having the whole system freeze up, it's specifically the small cooling passages in the head etc. where ice formation can cause damage. If you just drain the system, those little drips/dregs are likely to remain, and be *more* likely to freeze without the body of coolant to act as a buffer. KeS | ||
| Milleniumx1 |
If you're considering draining it once, then I'd be inclined to do it twice. Put some cheaper 50/50 for the trip, and drain it before going to the track next time. Although it's not likely, if you needed to start the bike anywhere along the journey (trailer trouble, etc), I wouldn't want it empty. Mike | ||
| Froggy |
I replied to your PM, hopefully you will get better answers in this thread.  | ||
| Kevin_stevens |
Yeah, Engine Ice works for antifreeze protection and you can use it at the track: http://www.engineice.com/ Dump that in there and call it good. KeS | ||
| Daggar |
An anony posted a while back and said that Engine Ice type coolant should NOT be used in these bikes. | ||
| Dentguy |
Wind chill doesn't have any effect on water freezing, if that's what the "open trailer" comment implied. Actually it could have an effect on how fast the water freezes if you want to get technical. But I know what you mean. Wind will not lower the water temp (in the bike in this case) lower than the outside temp. Wind can lower the water temp in the bike to the outside temp faster. If you are going to be driving through temps that are below freezing don't risk it. If not, the wind won't make your water any colder. I wouldn't just drain it either for the same reasons KeS gave. (Message edited by dentguy on January 01, 2010) | ||
| Xl1200r |
Daggar - did the annony give a reason? | ||
| Daggar |
No, but Hootowl posted this link: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ja02209a018 | ||
| Jdugger |
Watch the temps and wrap an electric blanket around the bike if it gets below 35. | ||
| Kevin_stevens |
I think at some point you just have to accept risk on stuff like that. The manufacturer is never going to give you carte blanche to use anything other than their approved products. In lieu of some specific design reason NOT to use an alternate, you kind of just have to use your best guess/common sense. In this case, my train of thought runs something like this: - Well, I *know* people run these things at the track in race series, so they damn sure aren't running EG coolant in them - There's three risks in changing coolant: thermal capacity, water pump lubrication, and chemical incompatibility/corrosion. - I can monitor thermal capacity, and I have a lot of experience/confidence running Water Wetter in other motors. - Likewise water pump lubrication with alternate coolants, unless the Buell water pump works in some weird way, which I haven't heard. - Corrosion shouldn't be different unless there are significant hunks of magnesium in there. If so, I'd want to be careful to choose something warranted safe for magnesium. Finally it would come down to "what are the racers running?" in this case. That's not always the best answer, but neither is "if the factory thought it was ok, they'd have said so"; reality is they aren't going to do that, or at least not going to write it down in a legal document. KeS | ||
| No_rice |
thanks froggy! sorry been really busy trying to get the house winterized so i can split. i already had engine ice in it, but its good to -26 or so if it was not diluted at all and im sure there was a little water yet in the system from flushing the antifreeze out of it. i checked it with the hydrometer and it was saying it was only good to +20. but im not sure it reads that stuff correctly since they have different hydrometers for different types of antifreeze. its already way below zero here anyway. and as far as windchill that doesnt make any sense. so the windchill can make everything colder except water?! i realize thats not exactly what your saying, but your saying windchill doesnt exist basically. trust me i can feel the difference between 0 actual and the -30 below it is calculated at with windchill. that wind still blows across the surface of whatever effectively cooling that object also. like my damn skin!!! so wouldnt that cold transfer through a metal object...? i could easily be wrong, but to me thats like saying an object near an object on fire will not have heat transfer and raise its temp... either way, i just dumped the old stuff. it had been in there long enough anyway and could have used to be freshened up. threw in some antifreeze since i had gotten some free. i'll flush the system good with vinegar and water when i get to fl and go from there. thanks guys now to hopefully tackle flushing the plumbing in the house tomorrow and putting antifreeze in those lines... ugh | ||
| Kevin_stevens |
The only thing windchill is calibrated for is the effect on naked human skin. Certainly it conducts temperature faster than still air, as was mentioned earlier - so if it's 30 degrees out, yes, your bike will freeze *faster* if it's blowing 60mph. But if it's 33 it won't freeze no matter how hard it blows. You may, though. KeS (Message edited by kevin_stevens on January 02, 2010)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_chill (Message edited by kevin_stevens on January 02, 2010) | ||
| No_rice |
well right now its -4 and -19 with windchill. and ive been outside workn on stuff half the day... ugh |
