Antifreeze drip

[santa]

 Found a drip of antifreeze on the floor after I had run the bike for about 5 min. Started it up again a couple days later and couldn't get it to leak again. Am I going crazy or what? The bike had not been run for a couple months before this.

Santa

[old2soon]

Upper hose clamp on the upper radiator hose-usually. Be CAREFUL when you go to tighten that clamp. RIDE SAFE.

[Brian]

Look close at the top of the engine. I found the hose clamp on the thermostat housing a little loose once. If it is coming from under engine there are two pipes with special tapered rubber 0-rings that are pressed into the block, one on each side. These are what the top hose off the water pump connect to. Then I also had the radiator cap leaking. Bending the tabs a little bit to tighten the cap fixed that issue.

Onetime during a rad flush and fill with fresh anti-freeze I filled the rad more than normal reducing the air space at the top. This then forced the cap to lift as designed to put excess pressure into the reservoir. The over flow hose connection at the bottom of the container was leaking. Further inspection of the overflow bottle revealed that the OEM reservoir hose connection was never open to the bottle. An 1/8th inch drill bit took care of this issue.

Good luck.

[Firefighter]

My Interstate did the same and it was the upper radiator hose clamp. With the bike on the side stand the drip was in a strange place. I ended up leaning the radiator forward to get to mine. I didn't like the narrow clamp, looked like it might cut the hose so I changed it out to a wider one and positioned the clamp so I could hopefully reach it next time with out loosening the radiator.  Firefighter

[Ricky-D]

Since each radiator hose has two clamps, one on each end it is misleading to

simply state the leak is the upper radiator hose clamp because there will

be some who will simply start cranking down on the hose clamp at the

filler neck, possible destroying that part of the radiator.

The hose clamp that most commonly is associated with leaking  is the lower clamp on

the upper radiator hose. This clamp is behind the radiator and information to access

that clamp has already been described in previous posts.

Faulty information is worse than no information at all.

***

[DK]

See extensive thread same subject about one month ago.

[Firefighter]

I agree, don't crank down on the radiator hose clamp screw at the thermostat or the lower connection of the upper hose if it don't leak. Sorry!

[cookiedough]

My upper radiator hose clamp on right side behind the radiator cap on my I/S has leaked a few drips from time to time leaking down the front of the huge chrome timing chain cover just to the left of the horn assembly.  I haven't messed with it yet since have to take off the right I/S pod to readjust or re-tighten, but if it gets worse, I will have to.

It seems to happen over winter for me or when the bike sits idle for more than a few weeks I get a tad bit of seepage from that area.  If ridden weekly,  I don't see the leak then.  I'm tempted though to put 2 metal hose clamps up there one where it is at now which is in about 3/4" from the end and put another one at the very end of the rubber hose itself. Not sure if needed, but can it hurt???

[Firefighter]

If it is a straight nipple I wouldn't think it could hurt, If the nipple has a raised end to keep the clamp on I wouldn't clamp it there. When I replaced the hose clamps on my IS, the factory clamps were very narrow and I used automotive clamps which were wider. I think over time with all the heating and cooling cycles the hose and clamp tend to loosen and drip. Don't tighten the clamp so much that the hose stretches out, just snug a little more. My opinion only.  Firefighter

[Ricky-D]

Actually, the best thing to do before tightening the hose clamp would be to

loosen the hose completely freeing it from the pipe and cleaning the connection,

both the pipe and the inside of the hose. I don't think many would do that however.

The second good thing to do would be to loosen the complete hose clamp around the

whole circumference and lubricate it before tightening it.

Now some may take exception to this little step, but I tell you

that you chance destroying the tightening ability of the clamp by deforming the threads

cut into the band and also are not guaranteeing that you will equally tighten around

the whole circumference of the hose by omitting this simple step.

A little common sense will go a long way when dealing with a small leak from a coolant hose.

Do it right and get it right.

***

[Firefighter]

I have found over the years that snugging the clamp is best. If you remove the clamp, it is best for the hose, to put the clamp back in the same location. My experience is with automobile hoses. Firefighter