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Post by ellpee on Dec 4, 2014 8:40:00 GMT -6
I had some work done a month or so ago on my 2011 Roketa/244cc, including drain/replace OEM Chinese coolant. All good for the most part, but I notice the engine heats up faster than it used to, and heats up a bit more. Specifically, it now takes only a mile or two to reach fan-on temperature, where it used to take several miles, even more on cooler days. And the temp gauge used to rise to the 9:00 position, now it goes up to about 9:47 or so. Neither is catastrophic, but I'm wondering why. Do I maybe just need to add a bit more coolant, or is there something different about US versus Chinese antifreeze that would account for this? I'm going to look at the level this morning and top if off if it seems to need it, but anyone who has had a similar experience, please share.
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Post by fflintstone on Dec 4, 2014 10:24:49 GMT -6
air bubble in it somewhere maybe? does it have a thermostat? I don't know--and after you burped it ,it probably needs more antifreeze--?Oh and yeah,the Chinese antifreeze is known as "cool-aid",so our good antifreeze does make a difference
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Post by ellpee on Dec 4, 2014 12:46:24 GMT -6
Scooter shop did the work, so I'm relying on them to have burped it. Their local reputation is good. (Kymco shop, will do routine stuff on Chinese scoots but nothing major.)
And if it had a thermostat before, it still presumably has one, work order said nothing about anything to do with the thermostat and I didn't ask them to do anything of that nature.
As I say, this is by no means a disaster, as scoot runs fine in all respects, just a small deviation from what I've been used to.
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Post by bobf on Dec 4, 2014 19:40:21 GMT -6
Check the coolant reservoir under the mid cover. If it is still near full, you don't need to add any more coolant. Is the radiator air intake still clear? It should be. Maybe a bit of stress test if your observations find plenty of coolant and free air passage to the radiator seems OK. Just go out and run at close to road speed for an hour. My scoot seems to be fine but I never really watched the water temp except after I did the complete coolant change after it had been run a while. I also did the oil change. All this was done after I had ridden it for a while. I think about 100 miles. I followed the advice of several scooter folks on this website. I removed all the covers. Double checked all electrical connections. Checked all the water tubing and hoses. Tightened lots of screws. Then had to remember which parts came of last so I could rebuild the scooter. I used rubber glue on the screws to try to stop loosening and falling out.
Just some thoughts. I tried my own tear down to gain knowledge and save a few dollars. Not confident in your abilities then you have done good to have a shop you trust to help you out.
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Post by ellpee on Dec 5, 2014 9:08:16 GMT -6
Frankly, we had just come back from our summer digs and I had too much else to do, didn't want to mess with $#$#@ plastics! (Also, wanted them to put in sliders, not a job I was anxious to take on even though there's plenty of how-to info here.)
I checked the coolant reservoir* and coolant was visible but maybe 3-4" below the cap, so added several ounces, now it's maybe 1" below the cap. If that's overfill, it should vent through the drain tube out on the road. Yeah, I need to get it out on some secondary highway and run it near WOT for 20 miles or so. As I implied, the gauge now gets up to about 9:47 before the fan kicks on, but in my rides around town it has never risen ABOVE that point, so I'm optimistic that this is just an anomaly and not a problem. Radiator, by the way, is completely open to the front of the scoot, in the wheelwell, and not clogged with any bugs or other debris, so air flow should not be a problem.
* That reservoir cap surprises me. Difficult to get off, but the most surprising part is that it's not threaded, just flanged. Wouldn't think that would hold pressure when the system heads up. Guess it does, no sign coolant has ever boiled over.
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Post by JR on Dec 5, 2014 10:04:09 GMT -6
The reservoir tank is not pressurized and is just like the one on a auto, when engine is hot and thermostat is open it allows coolant to be drawn in to the radiator should the radiator be a little low. When it cools the excess coolant is then returned to the reservoir.
If the scooter has the slightest pocket of air the fan will either not run at all or run more. The ONLY way to know this is to remove the radiator cap with the engine bone cold and check the level. If it is low then there is air in the system, fill it up, run the engine and keep the reservoir about 3/4 full.
JR
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Post by ellpee on Dec 6, 2014 7:45:23 GMT -6
Well, the fan performance seems normal, and the gauge stayed at or below 9:57 yesterday all through a ~50-mile run, so I'm calling it all good. I will open the radiator cap, though, and have a look.
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