Speedtrip

Switched to the blue Engine Ice the other day. Not sure what Triumph puts in new but it did not age well. It had turned a brownish color and I had to rinse the expansion tank several times to remove what appeared to be dirt.


Afterwords I let it warm and took it into slow traffic and it ran noticeably cooler also taking longer for the fan to kick on. Yesterday I took it out and wrung its neck for a couple of hours and the temp gage never got above seven bars.

The Prophet

Strange that the coolant would go sour after only a couple of seasons. I'm no expert, but maybe the "brown" stuff is some sort of sealant? Factory installed? What was that gook we used to put in old car radiators? Can't remember.

My absolute best method of getting technical questions answered has been to call Triumph USA Headquarters in Atlanta, ask for Peter. Super nice guy, and always helpful. I call Triumph in England as well, but only from my office phone (). Oddly, the guy to speak to there is "Peter" also! Must be a conspiracy.

Sadly, most sole Triumph oriented websites have turned into strange and endless bickering forums, much like old women gossip, with less and less to offer other than passing (wasting?) time. Embarrasing places where guys who have accomplished very little in their real lives can pretend to be "know it alls", and gain a false sense of achievement in a virtual, surreal world. Weird, but true.

Actually, I stole / plagerised that from an article on "Internet Gaming Addiction", but it translated well to these self proclaimed forum "experts".

Point is: Pleas find out what that "Dirt" is, sounds interesting, and would be very useful info to us all.

Ride safe!

Speedtrip

The shop manual says that they use a permanent type 50% glycol antifreeze that is blue which it was originally. I changed it after a Friend had sent me a post from a Tiger forum (Tiger 1050.com) in which members said that the original coolant was turning to Jello. Mine was not in a gelatinous state, but had deteriorated.

I also don't frequent other boards as much as I used to. A lot of moto forums out there seem to be getting very corporate and less enthusiast based.

kingmoham

With a little help from wikipedia, there are generally 3 types of coolant (anti-freeze). The 'Jello' effect apparently comes from contamination of the propolyne glycol based coolants...read below:

Methanol

Methanol, also known as methyl alcohol, carbinol, wood alcohol, wood naphtha or wood spirits, is a chemical compound with chemical formula CH3OH (often abbreviated MeOH). It is the simplest alcohol, and is a light, volatile, colorless, flammable, and poisonous liquid with a distinctive odor that is somewhat milder and sweeter than ethanol (ethyl alcohol). At room temperature it is a polar liquid and is used as an antifreeze, solvent, fuel, and as a denaturant for ethyl alcohol. It is not very popular for machinery, but it can be found in automotive windshield washer fluid, de-icers, and gasoline additives to name a few.

Ethylene glycol

Ethylene glycol solutions became available in 1926 and were marketed as "permanent antifreeze," since the higher boiling points provided advantages for summertime use as well as during cold weather. They are still used today for a wide variety of applications, including automobiles.

Propylene glycol

Propylene glycol, on the other hand, is considerably less toxic and may be labeled as "non-toxic antifreeze". Propylene Glycol oxidizes when exposed to air and heat. When this occurs, organic acids are formed viz. Glycolic acid, Glyoxalic acid, Formic acid, Carbonic acid & Oxalic acid. If not properly inhibited, this fluid can be very corrosive. Protodin is added to Propylene Glycol to act as a buffer, preventing low pH attack on the system metals. It forms a protective skin inside the tank and pipelines which helps to prevent acid attack that cause corrosion. Beside cooling system breakdown, biological fouling also occurs. Once bacterial slime starts the corrosion rate of the system increases. In system where a glycol solution is maintained on a continuous basis, regular monitoring of freeze protection, pH, specific gravity, inhibitor level, color and biological contamination should be checked on routine basis. Propylene glycol should be replaced when it turns reddish in color.

The Prophet

Here's a bunch of stuff I found this morning, just for kicks...

http://www.engineice.cc/

http://www.valvoline.com/carcare/art...cid=2&scccid=1

http://www.aa1car.com/library/coolantchart1.jpg

http://www.aa1car.com/library/coolantchart2.jpg

Then finally this one, which sounds ominous...

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/autom...m_dexcool.html

All in all, probably more info than we'll ever need, but interesting nonetheless, and so far no UFO Aliens or Bigfoot or the US Government have been involved in any Coolant Conspiracies (CC's). Sounds like:

a.) Don't allow any air to migrate into the coolant system.
b.) Thoroughly flush out absolutely everything when we change coolants.
c.) Inspect that radiator cap.
d.) Change coolant every year, it's good insurance?

It would be interesting to know which coolant manufacturer Triumph uses on new bikes. Triumph Dealer? Triumph in Atlanta? Anythiong in the Triumph Owners Manual?

Ride safe!

Speedtrip

Changing the OEM coolant and flushing the system sooner than later would be a good idea. It is worth changing just for better cooling if nothing else. When I flushed the system I put distilled water and a cup of white vinegar in and ran it for a bit to try and get all of the old stuff out.

old paul

Perhaps in this case, but it is not a universal truth. In the trucking industry they keep a close eye on the ph level to decide if/when to change. Especially when dealing with mixed metals (aluminum/steel/iron) there can be issues, and the type coolant can have different effects on the various engine seals.

For example: Mid 90s GM products came with the orange coolant, and was due to change at 100,000 miles. Anyone who made the change wound up with a leaking water pump within 10,000 miles.

Freightliner had issues with ph levels in coolant becoming acidic, which corroded heater cores leading to a very high failure rate in the cores.

So, do your research, but automatic change is not necessarily always the best option.

Speedtrip

Makes me wonder if there was an issue with the original coolant installed that caused it to deteriorate so soon. Also got to thinking that I may have made a mistake in using vinegar and water to flush as far as PH is concerned.