advice on rad draining + refill

[Anson400IOW]

Hi all,

This is my second post on the site and will seem basic to most, but as i am still getting familiar with my zxr i thought theres no one better to ask than you guys. Right, i have an L1 kwak with an L9 motor and was just wondering how and the most effective way to drain e.g (drain plug location and techniques to drain fully) and also suitable replacement coolant (brands) and mixtures and do you put PTFE tape on the bolts when putting back in to stop the heads snapping?. I know its a basic one but might aswell ask incase the kwak engines prefer a certain type and mixture. Any advice would be great. Thanks.

Adam

[RedexRobB]

Hello and welcome to ZXR world!

we have the manuals on the main site http://www.zxrworld.co.uk/zxr400/manual.html

so you can always refer to them if your stuck

Ive drained mine before and i did it by removing the bottom most pipe on the rad by undoing the jubilee clip and pulling the pipe off, that drains the radiator. I also removed the water pump which is on the right hand side of the bike, this should come undone by removing 3 (iirc) bolts and will drain most of whats in the engine. And last of all there are two or three blanking bolts on the front of the head just under the exhaust headers. Remove these and this will drain any fluid in the engine block.

Cant remember how is best but i also ran the hose pipe through the system till everything flushed clear and let it all drain out. That should give you a pretty fresh clean system to start with.

I dod believe the manual specifies green 50% sft water and 50% coolant. You can buy that pre mixed and you will need about 2.3 litres including filling the expansion bottle. It should be just a case of filling the system but sometime you can get air bubles trapped. When filling give the pipes a squeeze and when you think you have done it, run the engine for a few seconds with the rad cap off and any air should reveal iself as bubbles at the rad cap filler hole. Dont run it too long as it will just over flow.

As for PTFE tape, do you mean for the blanking bolts? Id say best left without, i dont think manual specifies anything and it may well get in the cooling system if its on the bolt.

[Anson400IOW]

Cheers Rob and thanks for the quick reply!

If im to take the water pump assembly apart, will i need to be replacing water seals within it when i put it back? As for the expansion bottle as it has no markings on it, how much do i fill that after rad is full. As for the PTFE, i did mean on the drainage bolts (ive had bad experience with an RD250lc cylinder coolant bolt when the head of the bolt snapped clean off and left me with a slight weep of coolant)

[RedexRobB]

The expansion bottle should have some marks on it, they are moulded into the plastic. If your looking at it from the right side of the bike, the marking iirc are on the left side. And there arent any seals to replace as far as i remember for the water pump.

Its your call on the PTFE. If they come out ok when you do the coolant then there probably wont be a problem in future as its quite likely that that will be the first time they have ever been removed. If they come out ok now after all that time i reckon they will be fine without it.

[Anson400IOW]

Cheers bud, all is good sorted this morning, drained it all through the water pump and flushed through with a hose like u mentioned. I know its of topic but chain guards, is there any where i can get one with "zxr" or "ninja" machined out and highly polished? Also best place for spares? After a few niggly bits. Thanks

Adam

[RedexRobB]

Good stuff!

As for chain guard, ive never seen one, ebay might be a good place. I made my own years ago when i busted the generator cover and cut out the ZXR embossed and glued it to the chain guard.

[Anson400IOW]

Thought you would say that! Keep my eyes peeled then! Thanks Rob