Radiator coolant level

[07lightning]

so i just had a blown head gasket on my raptor. i lost alot of oil, and alot of coolant. my bottle kept filling/pushing it out, ect.

i replaced it and we went to the dunes for 2 days. for the first maybe 8 hours of riding, a handful of times i lost 1-2 drips from the reservoir, and it maintained the same level. the second day i did about 10 drag races back to back, hotlapping it. my coolant level went from just under full, to 1/4" over full roughly. the radiator did not pull the coolant back in. i started it again at home and let it run for 2-3 minutes and it did not pull it back in nor did it raise again.

so is this something to worry about? my oil is full still, so i did not lose anything. it is not leaking from the weep line on the right side now either. not seeing any bubbles.

[Krandall]

If you pull your front end off and look inside the radiator is it full to the cap there or down? I know coolant expands when it gets hot. but....... when it cooled, It should have went back.

[07lightning]

thats what i thought about it going back in. i found it weird..

i did take off my hood and look inside the radiator. it is not full. the overflow bottle is holding it, but did not get higher after the initial amount went in there.

im confused why its not pulling it back, or showing me a blown head gasket sign.

[Krandall]

I would try filling the radiator back up. my guess is it was an air bubble that was inside the motor and that's where it sits (top of the radiator) and then watch the fluid level after filling it up.

[07lightning]

ill give it a shot.

my only thing is it didnt have any issues like this for the first 10 hours of riding id estimate. this came about from lots of hard drag racing in 80ish degree weather.

[devildog_0431]

my quad just did this.  i bled the coolant system when i just threw the motor back together, torqued the head to 35lbs and double checked after an hour of run time.  it ran fine, no smoke.  then i saw tiny bubbles in the overflow jug, shut it off, tried to restart and it blew white smoke and wouldn't start, just sputter and spin, gotta be a head gasket. 

[07lightning]

mine starts fine, no bubbles, no smoke, oil full and clean. its just not pulling the coolant back into the radiator.

[devildog_0431]

is your water pump making a clicking noise or leaking at all ?  my coolant is recycling into the radiator, the radiator is warm so i know the pump is good.  only thing i did different this time was the machine shop did not put an o-ring on my cylinder, they said the oring would be useless w/ a cometic gasket, and i didn't copper coat the head gasket either, they said there is no use to on a cometic, i'm sure i'll coat it this time anyway to be safe.  what do you torque your head to ?

[devildog_0431]

did you bleed your coolant system ?

[07lightning]

i just dumped the coolant in there. ill look into bleeding it, im assuming thats my problem.

stock bolts at 30 ft lb. stock gasket,

[07lightning]

checked the manual real quick for coolant change. i did it all correctly, except i didnt remove the air bleeder screw. so i guess ill drain my coolant tomorrow into a clean container, then re-fill it with the bleeder screw out.

i had no overheating, no additional filling of the reservoir with 2 heat cycles now, no bubbles, no mixing oil, and no white smoke. so i think ive got air trapped somehow. time will tell or if the head gasket went again, its getting bolted back down with a bigger bore under it. 

[tonyrt44]

is your water pump making a clicking noise or leaking at all ?  my coolant is recycling into the radiator, the radiator is warm so i know the pump is good.  only thing i did different this time was the machine shop did not put an o-ring on my cylinder, they said the oring would be useless w/ a cometic gasket, and i didn't copper coat the head gasket either, they said there is no use to on a cometic, i'm sure i'll coat it this time anyway to be safe.  what do you torque your head to ?

I use cometic gaskets on my big bore, high compression engines with both O-ring and heavy duty studs.
So far no issues what so ever with them.

[devildog_0431]

what do you torque your head to ?