coolant dump?
 

Hello

I hope somebody can shed some light on the chain of events that happened to me last Sunday,
with a possible explanation as I am baffled:confused:

The plan was to make the Popham meet so Saturday I set about changing the oil/filter etc and all was fine.:)


Sunday all that was left to do was roll the bike out and set off,
I warmed the bike up as usual and there was some discarded oil/WD40 burning of the exhaust pipe,
so thought nothing of it. So good to go then the temperature gauge started to give erratic readings.
ie dropping to zero the back up to normal, But when I reved the bike all seemed to settle down to normal.


After about 5 miles I found a good stretch of road and thought I would
"blow out the cob webs" so to speak as the bike had been sitting for three weeks proir not being used.


Then things got intresting, there was a muffled BANG!
next I new my carbon panels opened up like "chitty chitty bang bang"
and for a split second I thought I was going to take off ,
So I pulled in quick sharp only to find coolant all over the LHS of the bike. :(


I know you are thinking "he forgot to lockup the Duez fasteners"
But I did in fact duc tape them all up,
So after closer inspection found one of the new coolant pipes with a 10mm cut in it.
What I can not understand is there must of been some force behind the panels to blow them off the bike in such a way and do so much damage?
Is it possible for coolant pipes to expand like a balloon to eventually burst dumping coolant?


The LHS/RHS panel is distroyed the nose cone can be repaired,
but no time soon. My initial thoughts were I have blown a main gasket,
but I am starting to think the erratic temp guage was a sign something was wrong,
whether the coolant hose was split or not and as the engine warmed up the inevitable was going to happen.


Well after 6hrs at the side of the road last Sunday waiting for the RAC this is the out come.





The cut in the pipe is the one showing and its under neath close to the engine casing,
I have emailed "Airmax" (ebay) and "Airmaxsport" twice to purchase a replacement hose, but as yet no joy.
I am sure they are a good brand and not at fault,
but a reply would of been courteous to say the leaste.:rolleyes:


TopiToo


PS now trawling for a CB500:D

I suppose anything's possible, but at a pressure of say 6psi and a rate of flow that's relatively low, I would have said that fairing loss as a direct result of the hose failing was unlikely. Which Dzuses failed - the ones along the top of the side panel where it meets the nose?

I had a similar failure on my 748, and even with a full belly pan to catch all the water the only thing that happened was my rear tyre got wet.

Have a look here.

http://www.ducati-john.co.uk/coolant-blockages.htm

Ray

Hello injected

Exact ones all three top Dzues including the nose cone one failed, I managed to grab the LHS panel in the confussion,
but the supprise was finding the carbon patch I did from a previous off was ripped away from the inside of the panel.
It was a clean break, is it possible the heat of the coolant caused this? As this patch was well sealed covering the coolant pump which is
one of the main parts to be ground down.

The reason I ask is although the bike was upto temperature how hot would the coolant be after a 15min run?

TopiToo

Hello Ray

good post, again these were all new pipes fitted after a complete rebuild.

But I will start to strip the bike again tomorrow and I know not ideal but try and save the coolant that is fresh in the system as its not cheap.

TopiToo

Hello

This is what it done to a tecmoto carbon panel.
The middle section was patched from the inside,
and although not done professionally it was a sound job using all the correct materials.



TopiToo

Guage erratic could be down to an airlock as the guage cant read steam temp but only liquid temp which is maybe why it kept dropping to zero.
hose splitting was probably an airlock.
fairings coming away was prob due to the hose exploding due to the steam pressure.
all a guess steve but highly probable.
you need to check the head gasket is not leaking into the coolant mate

Just what are you using for coolant, looks like its made a right mess.

There must have been a big build up of pressure to do that sort of damage.

Can't say I've heard of the hose manufacturer before but I had look at their website http://www.airmaxsport.co.uk/

and it reckons 5 bar pressure is an OK working pressure, thats about 70 Psi, way above what you'd expect in a Ducati cooling system.

They don't appear to list a Ducati Kit on their website but appear to flog 'em on Ebay???

You are sure there are no blockages in the little pipes on the header tank as per link?

Ray

Hello AK

I was worried about that, just not ready yet to expect the worst.
Bit like a kick in the balls on a return from a holiday.

appreciate the sound advice mate.

TopiToo