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Any helpful tips anyone can give me?
I have a coolant leak right in the heart of the "V" of my VFR... I strongly believe it is one of the hoses attached to the downstream side of the thermostat as I'm pretty darn sure it does not leak till the thermostat opens... anyway this is apparently a common issue and is almost always an improperly tightened hose clamp.
Anyway I have never messed with the cooling system.. for this job I have to:
- Remove gas tank completely (never done this)
- Remove airbox completely (never done this, just changed the filter)
- Remove Throttle bodies (hoping I can skip this somehow and reach tools through to the hose clamps)
The throttle bodies is the big thing I'm concerned about.. they are all mounted onto a frame together but it looks like a huge mess of vacumn tubes and there is a coolant line running through as well for the fast idle.
I've got everything laid out carefully in the garage, prepared with bags + post it's to mark fasteners, etc..
I'm also ordering all the "must replace" parts as well..
This job still creeps me out. I believe the leak is due to someone else not securing the hoses correctly... (I had the thermostat replaced under warranty a few years ago) Pretty sure it would cost me close to $500 to have someone else do this work and I'm not sure I'd feel so great letting someone else do that at this point as the last two big maintenance items I paid a honda dealer for were not done properly.
But the damn thing is so complex anything I take apart I worry will become a reliability weak point. I have the service manual, etc.. and will be being super careful and taking my time.
Would I be better off draining the coolant right away or should I try and postpone that until I'm absolutely sure I have to do it? I think it's going to be obvious where the leak is, but once I tear it down I will not be able to start the bike... this is a slow leak and there are a LOT of hoses buried in there so I want to make sure I get it.