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Took bike out for a breezy ride the other day. 64° and 20 plus mph wind.
Stopped to fuel up and noticed small puddle of antifreeze under radiator. There is 2 tubes coming out from under radiator and 1 was dripping antifreeze.
With the given air temp, normal cruising speed I am at a loss.
I do not have engine coolant temp gauge to give accurate engine temp.
Any thoughts to remedy this
Rich

If they're two tubes, about 3/8", those are the trans cooler lines. The coolant is coming from somewhere else and dripping off of the tubes. What side of the bike is it dripping from? Check your fan to see if it is loose. They are famous for loosening up and wearing a hole in one of the tubes.

Sitting on bike the tubes are on the bottom left.
Clear tubes about 3/8 to 1/2 id

There is an issue with some v8Choppers where the wires get chaffed coming from the fan and blow the fan fuse allowing the radiator to over heat and antifreeze to spill out of overflow. I would check your fan fuse and if it is blown then check the wires.

Rich When my son Zach picked mine up at the factory It was dripping antifreeze, turned out lower rad. hose was loose. Hope that's your leak! tom

I hope so as well. Upon further review tubes are black not clear.
Interesting though it only was dripping at that time. Bike is in garage and no leaks

I live by my water temp gage and oil pressure, You should get the kit from Stan Water temp guage and chrome cup that bolts to right rear head. It was very valuable sorting out a killwitch problem right before BW. PS one tube is from puke tank, not sure of other one.

Never mind.
I didn't realize we were talking V8 Chopper

Iron Maiden wrote:There is an issue with some v8Choppers where the wires get chaffed coming from the fan and blow the fan fuse allowing the radiator to over heat and antifreeze to spill out of overflow. I would check your fan fuse and if it is blown then check the wires.

Just turn the key on ... is the fan running? The V8 Chopper fans are wired to run constant. The chaffing Sue is referring to is on the left side of the rad cowling. I've seen this a handful of times. See if fan is running first ... go from there.

One of the hoses is overflow for rad and the other is probably overflow for fuel tank. Follow them up ... the one should go to front right underside fuel tank

we all know how loud our fans are. So yes fan comes on when key is turned.
gonna have to keep a close eye on things.
I noticed on Stan's site he sells the chome housing for temp gauge. I didn't see the actual gauge. Are you guys digital or water filled or just average temp

DIGITAL

LAYNRBR wrote:we all know how loud our fans are. So yes fan comes on when key is turned.
gonna have to keep a close eye on things.
I noticed on Stan's site he sells the chome housing for temp gauge. I didn't see the actual gauge. Are you guys digital or water filled or just average temp

Good the fan is on, I figured it was otherwise the coolant would not be dripping it would be blowing out

The gauges are digital like Buck stated. I believe Stan uses Dakota gauges exclusively but I could be wrong - I was wrong once that I remember. I'm sure Stan could get the guage along with the cup for you or you could order something that suits your taste and order it yourself.

Back to the "small puddle" ... Has the coolant been topped off at all, maybe during service? Your a new owner that's why I ask that. Have you looked in radiator or overflow, what's the level look like?

Actually when I purchased the bike I did look at the level of antifreeze in radiator and couldn't gauge it so I did add some. It didn't take much at all till I was able to see it.
I have rode the bike for about 2 months on and off between the weather.
I will be in touch with Stan on Monday to see what set up he has for gauges.
Perhaps it is the over flow and all is good.

LAYNRBR wrote:Actually when I purchased the bike I did look at the level of antifreeze in radiator and couldn't gauge it so I did add some. It didn't take much at all till I was able to see it.
I have rode the bike for about 2 months on and off between the weather.
I will be in touch with Stan on Monday to see what set up he has for gauges.
Perhaps it is the over flow and all is good.

I'm guessing since fluid was added that your dribble is coolant pushed through overflow. A good temp gauge is never a bad thing to have, your making the right move! What engine config do you have (just curious not that it matters here)? I was surprised how cool my engine runs (427) ... it actually runs cooler then I like and I plan to install a switch to cycle the fan.

372 ci w/ nitrous.
I took bike out today for a couple of hours and no drips.
I am having a hard slammed sound from top of forks when I go over bumps or unavoidable pot holes. I found this gap in fork bearing but not sure if it's normal.
Thanks for all the input for those who responded
Rich

^^^That^^^ doesn't look right, to me.
Forward that pic to Stan

Rich -

I agree with John, that doesn"t look right to me either. Is the gap the same on both sides? I would 100% get advice from Stan ...

Glad your coolant issue seems to have been from overfill and that is resolved.

Ah that 327 is a nice engine, nice loppy cam ... sweet. How much nos you blowing through there?

Don

Running 100 shot.
Gap is the same on both sides but just on the back side. The front is tight.Seems like the angle of the forks is causing this gap. I lifted front end of bike up and then lifted up tire and forks to see if there is any play. All seems to be tight with no play.

LAYNRBR wrote:Running 100 shot.
Gap is the same on both sides but just on the back side. The front is tight.Seems like the angle of the forks is causing this gap. I lifted front end of bike up and then lifted up tire and forks to see if there is any play. All seems to be tight with no play.

Curious how your clunk and dribble is going ... I believe we solved the dribble issue with topping off coolant. I'm just wondering if you contacted Stan about the gap and clunk. My trike rides a little rough but that's due to a really stiff suspension ... no banging or clunking. I would look at my trike but it's 1,000 miles away right now. I have cleaned and polished it hundreds of times and almost certain I would have seen that ... I'm a bit particular.

V-MAN wrote:

LAYNRBR wrote:Running 100 shot.
Gap is the same on both sides but just on the back side. The front is tight.Seems like the angle of the forks is causing this gap. I lifted front end of bike up and then lifted up tire and forks to see if there is any play. All seems to be tight with no play.

Curious how your clunk and dribble is going ... I believe we solved the dribble issue with topping off coolant. I'm just wondering if you contacted Stan about the gap and clunk. My trike rides a little rough but that's due to a really stiff suspension ... no banging or clunking. I would look at my trike but it's 1,000 miles away right now. I have cleaned and polished it hundreds of times and almost certain I would have seen that ... I'm a bit particular.

Particular...my favorite word....my wife calls me anal, I prefer to call it as being particular as well LOL. BIG difference in my humble particular opinion

Hanginon wrote:
Particular...my favorite word....my wife calls me anal, I prefer to call it as being particular as well LOL. BIG difference in my humble particular opinion

Yea that's what my wife and friends say about me too ... they say anal, I say "particular" ... I'm with you Jim, BIG difference! Looking forward to meeting, I think we'll get along just fine!!! I think we could have a pretty large group of "particular" individuals here ...

V-MAN wrote:

Hanginon wrote:
Particular...my favorite word....my wife calls me anal, I prefer to call it as being particular as well LOL. BIG difference in my humble particular opinion

Yea that's what my wife and friends say about me too ... they say anal, I say "particular" ... I'm with you Jim, BIG difference! Looking forward to meeting, I think we'll get along just fine!!! I think we could have a pretty large group of "particular" individuals here ...

I couldn't agree more V-Man! Looking forward to meeting and riding soon!! And of course, embracing our "particularity" in numbers!!