Thanks to all of you!

[NinjaBob]

Thanks to Ed & Linda for another great BS. And thanks to all who helped with my radiator, especially Eldon and Bill. I made it the 500 miles home without a hitch. Eldon's Stopleak seemed to do the trick probably helped by Bill's advice to run without the radiator cap screwed on. The cool weather certainly helped too so thanks, Mother Nature. And thanks to the member whose name I forget who pointed out the coolant puddle beneath my Concours.

It was 52-54 F when I headed out at 6:45 Sunday morning gradually rising to 78 by 10:00, I never got more than 1 bar on my temp gauge all that time. (One, two or three bars is normal) I saw 2 bars occasionally climbing grades on 14 and 127 but back to 1 bar on the downhills or flats. First stop for gas at 200 miles and the leak area was bone dry. After noon the air temp got to 88 F on I-40 through Little Rock but I only saw three bars in stop and go traffic, dropping back to two at cruise and that remained the case all the way home. My dilemma now is what to do with the radiator but I will post that elsewhere.

PS I hope Gayla is not too sore today!

[Downs]

Glad to hear ya got home in one piece with all your fluids it he right places I think you should try running it a little while with the stop leak in place around the home base area and see how it holds up. Hell it could get ya another 80k miles

Either that or start scrounging Ebay for a salvage one

[NinjaBob]

Thanks. I did do a 20 mile loop today, with the cap on tight and pushing it a lot harder than I did riding home from BS. Still no leaking.

Glad to hear ya got home in one piece with all your fluids it he right places I think you should try running it a little while with the stop leak in place around the home base area and see how it holds up. Hell it could get ya another 80k miles

Either that or start scrounging Ebay for a salvage one

[bldrman]

I don't have any idea what kind of leak you have Bob, but there may well be a radiator repair shop in your area that's perfectly capable of doing a permanent repair at a reasonable price. I'm on a first name basis with a great one in our neck of the woods that's repaired everything from m/c's to crawlers for me. Just a thought! Good luck. Syd

[Downs]

It looked to be leaking where the bottom corner of the core meets the plastic tank.

[bldrman]

Plastic! UGH! Oh well! Syd

[RichGrab]

Plastic! UGH! Oh well! Syd

Yup Syd, I would wager to guess most (all?) m/c radiators are now made with some plastic. I too was astonished to find that my 1999 Saturn SL2 had a plastic radiator. So not too surprising to hear it is in a large size touring bike. They have to keep the weight down somewhere. I'd rather have a plastic radiator than a plastic frame, engine or tank.

[Downs]

Yup they don't bed real well lol. I hit a deer in my Saturn Ion Redline and it kinda rolled up under the car. The lower mounts for the radiator bolt on and one of those bent all the way around and snapped the lower corner of my radiator.

My Miata had a copper radiator that was just worn out to no end and wasn't salvageable. Sold it off for scrap and put a new one in there that had plastic tanks top and bottom. Should have just popped the money for an aluminum one anyway since I supercharged it not long after that lo.

[NinjaBob]

I don't really know whether the tank is plastic or not but I will check in the AM. I need to pull the wheel and fender and get my face up in there for a close look. I do know of a radiator shop not to far a way that fixed my SV650 radiator a few years back. That is probably where I will go.

[Neirbog]

PS I hope Gayla is not too sore today!

Hey Bob, here's what I found out at the orthopedic surgeon's: Apparently I tore all the ligaments out of my left thumb, which will need surgery to reattach. ( Going for a second opinion Tuesday ). Weird how much you use your thumbs, or try to when they are non-functioning. The knee surgeon thinks the knee will heal on it's own. Still no feeling in the knee, which is probably a blessing. He said the nerve damage may heal, if not, it's ok without it, as they have to cut those during surgeries sometimes anyway.
Afraid the bike is totaled. Went bike shopping on the way home from the doctor's office...
Gayla