Cleaning Coolant Reservoir

[rbrew17]

I accidently poured a small amount of engine oil in the coolant reservoir. How do you clean the coolant reservoir on a 1800 Goldwing without taking it off the bike?

[93aspy]

Ohhhhhhh!!!! Not good!!!

Well, when I am changing coolant, I do the following, as I have a belly pan installed on the bike and it is a lot of work to take it off to get to the overflow bottle... I first suction out all the coolant I can with my Mity Vac tool... Then I add about a quart of water and suction that out and repeat that process until what I suctioning out is clean and clear... Then I fill yj overlow bottle with coolant to the required level...

You could try this with your as well, although I would think the best method would be to pull the overflow bottle and throughly rinse it out with a good cleaning agent and then rinse again with water until clean and refill with coolant...

Les

[rbrew17]

Thanks Les but its soooo hard to get that rubber tube off that elbow joint and it took forever to get it angled right the first. Looks like i will have to get out my mighty vac or suction tube. Any idea what kind of cleaning agent to use?

[MikeB]

Try using Simple Green. Really good at cleaning out the oil.

[rbrew17]

Thanks Mike I think i will take the thing off again. Pain. I thought about dish soap but maybe i will try simple green since i got that too.

[cihilb]

Why not use alcohol. It's cheap, mixes with the oil and won't hurt the cooling system. Just keep pouring it in, mixing it around, and sucking it out until clear. Store brand is about a buck a bottle.
I wouldn't use any kind of soapy stuff. Could foam in the cooling system if you don't get it all out.

[rbrew17]

good idea ill go tomorrow to Walmart and get a few bottles anything but taking that thing off

[93aspy]

Thanks Les but its soooo hard to get that rubber tube off that elbow joint and it took forever to get it angled right the first. Looks like i will have to get out my mighty vac or suction tube. Any idea what kind of cleaning agent to use?

As previously suggested, rubbing alcohol would be a good start... I would flush the entire bottle out 2-3 times with the Mity Vac to make sure you remove as much of the oil residue as possible... After that, rinse with water and I think you'll be good to go... And don't beat yourself up too much about this, we have all done similar things and you caught it before any damage could be done... I once had a buddy that filled his 1500 with diesel fuel and after we got it running again, he reported that the bike ran much better - (diesel fuel is a great cleaner)... Good luck and be sure and report back after the job is finished with the results so others may benefit from your knowledge...

Les

[rbrew17]

Yea, it was really stupid the way it went down. I've never taken the tank off the bike before so this was the first. It was a learning experience and really difficult to get the thing down and get the siphon hose off of it. I cleaned it all up taking pains to get extremely clean. I wrestled with it for maybe an hour to get it get the elbow tube on the tank because there is just no room to put your hands to fasten it. Anyway I finally got it on and had the radiator filled and burped and was just short of having enough coolant from the gallon that I bought from Orielly. I spotted a coolant container from last year on a shelf in the garage that had some in it so I opened the lid started pouring and saw used oil that I had put in there from changing oil on my car and forgot to mark it as such which I always do. I stopped as fast as possible, but a little got in just the same.
Well i got some rubbing alcohol and dumped it in today and for good measure i put some simple green and dishwashing liquid to clean it again i rinsed it about a dozen times so i think its remnants are all out of it. I took it for a ride today and I think it will be fine now Thanks again Les

[93aspy]

Glad you got it all worked out... Think I may try and sneak out for a short ride myself today - supposed to be 60+ here today and that's decent riding weather...

Les

[rbrew17]

yea 73 in Branson so we were out all day. Love my Wing 1800!