Coolant / Distilled Water / Anti-Freeze

[Artur]

Hi all, here goes some noob questions. Got a Hornet 600 recently and realized the coolant level is very low, will top it up tomorrow but just for curiosity what damage it makes to ride the bike with low level of coolant?
Now just to double check, I should put 50/50 of distilled water and anti-freeze, that's fine right?
Since living in England I never had to look for distilled water, where can I get it?

Thanks in advance for your help

[The Artist]

Low coolant = possible overheat. If it hasn't then you are probably ok.

Distilled water and anti freeze can be bought in most petrol station and Halfords type places.

I see a lot of ready mixed anti freeze labelled as "coolant" which is already mixed for you so don't mix that with water as it will be even more diluted.

[stinkwheel]

If the actual coolant level was low, your bike could overheat leading to any one of a variety of catastrophic engine failures but most likely either a heat seizure or a blown cylinder head gasket.

Chances are though, you are seeing the coolant level in the expansion bottle as low which means the radiator is still full and your bike isn't about to expire just yet. Topping it up is not a bad plan though.

Fill with coolant diluted to the appropriate level according to the instructions on the coolant bottle. They vary, you use a higher coolant:water ratio according to the lowest temperatures you expect to experience. Living in England, it is HIGHLY unlikely to go below -15C. In Northern Scotland, I usually drop that to -20C (having seen -18 on one occasion).

They recommend distilled water to avoid limescale in your engine. I've always lived in areas with soft water where this isn't an issue and so use tap water in my cooling system. A good guide as to the water quality is to look in your kettle. if there is a build-up of limescale inside the kettle, use distilled water. If the inside of your kettle is clean as a new one, tap water should be fine.

They sell distilled (or de-ionised) water in most petrol station forecourts, all motor supppliers (eg Halfords) and most supermarkets/hardware stores. People also use it to fill their steam irons (for pressing clothes) so it would be in the cleaning/household section of a supermarket/hardware store.
____________________
“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[Artur]

Hey thanks a lot for the prompt answers

[smegballs]

I know some bikes - I think of the CX500 - like a silicate free coolant. In the CX's case the silicates take out the water pump seal with predictable results.

I'm pretty sure not many bikes have this requirement, and in general I'm of the opinion that "coolant is coolant". In a tight spot plain water would do (don't try that in this weather mind ).

However, recently when out at the local car dealers for some coolant for a cbr6 the bloke refused to sell us some as "its not for bikes mate, its not worth the 'risk' ....". Quite what that was about I'm not sure!