I have an older ATV, which has a Kawasaki liquid-cooled engine. I am doing some overdue maintenance on the bike and one of the items I am addressing is changing the coolant. I flushed the system and added new coolant. The specs call for 3 quarts, but I was only able to add around 2 quarts of coolant. I am guessing that when I was flushing the system, the thermostat never opened, so the remainder of coolant (the other qt.) never left the motor. Does this sound logical?
Prior adding new coolant, I pulled the thermostat and tested it on the stove. It seems to open/close just fine. (replacements thermostat is like $60, based on my limited research, so I didn’t want to buy a new if not needed.) After testing and replacing the thermostat, and after adding fresh coolant, I let the bike idle for 15-20 min without the rad cap. I then rode it around for 5 - 10 minutes (with rad cap, of course). Once parked, I pulled the rad cap off and let it idle for a few minutes. While the rad cap was off, I keep looking at the coolant level waiting for it to drop. But that never happened. In my limited research, it sounds like once the thermostat opened, I should have seen a drop in coolant level. Keep in mind, there is not a reservoir bottle/tank on this bike so when viewing the level of fluid, you are looking directly into the neck of the fill port and into the radiator.
Near the end of all of this, I stuck my finger in the neck/fill port and noticed that the coolant temp was warming up. After a few minutes, it was warmer. Is this a sign that the thermostat opened? If the thermostat never opened, the coolant in the radiator would not be warm, right? The coolant would only be warm if it came from the engine, correct?
Sorry for being long winded. Please let me know your thought.
Side note – during all of this, I never heard the fan come on. I will check on that to make sure it is working. But the fan turning on and the opening of the thermostat are independent of each other, right? I know they both are related in that they cool the bike, but they do not interact and work off each other, correct?
Prior adding new coolant, I pulled the thermostat and tested it on the stove. It seems to open/close just fine. (replacements thermostat is like $60, based on my limited research, so I didn’t want to buy a new if not needed.) After testing and replacing the thermostat, and after adding fresh coolant, I let the bike idle for 15-20 min without the rad cap. I then rode it around for 5 - 10 minutes (with rad cap, of course). Once parked, I pulled the rad cap off and let it idle for a few minutes. While the rad cap was off, I keep looking at the coolant level waiting for it to drop. But that never happened. In my limited research, it sounds like once the thermostat opened, I should have seen a drop in coolant level. Keep in mind, there is not a reservoir bottle/tank on this bike so when viewing the level of fluid, you are looking directly into the neck of the fill port and into the radiator.
Near the end of all of this, I stuck my finger in the neck/fill port and noticed that the coolant temp was warming up. After a few minutes, it was warmer. Is this a sign that the thermostat opened? If the thermostat never opened, the coolant in the radiator would not be warm, right? The coolant would only be warm if it came from the engine, correct?
Sorry for being long winded. Please let me know your thought.
Side note – during all of this, I never heard the fan come on. I will check on that to make sure it is working. But the fan turning on and the opening of the thermostat are independent of each other, right? I know they both are related in that they cool the bike, but they do not interact and work off each other, correct?
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