Radiator removal

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bluesdog

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I need to remove the radiator on my Gen II feej, so I can have a rad shop repair a pinhole, caused by a rock or something thrown by a truck :angry:

The FSM says I must first remove the throttle bodies, which is a PITA, and I'd rather not have to do that.

Has anyone removed the radiator on one of these? I think the Gen II and Gen I are sufficiently similar w/respect to the radiators.. I hope

Help, please!

 
The only reason the FSM might call for removing the TBs is because there are two small pipes connecting to the TBs for the choke. This can be disconnected without removing the TBs.

Whilst I've never had to pull the radiator, I have had to replace the Starter Motor so got to strip a fair bit of the bike, I DO NOT believe that you need to remove anything like the TBs.

 
Yeah, definitely DON'T have to pull the TBs to get the radiator out, but since you do have to pull the lower plastic, you may as well pull the upper plastic, too.

Yeah, I know, another semi-major PITA, but there's a lot of stuff you need to get to that is going to be hampered a bunch by the nose plastic. And getting the rad out is much easier with the battery and battery bracket out of the way, too, which requires the nose be gone.

Face it...you got a long haul ahead of you to get that hunk of brass out of your Feej.

 
Hi and thanks for the replies and moral support ;)

I managed to pull the darn thing without too much hassle. The FSM procedure is absurdly complicated, and mostly uneccessary.

I had to remove the side fairing panels, of course, and the black inner panels, ( A & B?), in order to get access to the rad cap on the left, and to see where the right upper rad mount was on the right. I had to remove both horns, 'cause they are bolted to the rad frame. I disconnected all the hoses, after draining the cooling system. Then I removed the two upper hex screws holding the plastic 'shield' in place, and lowered it to free it from the retaining tabs on the bottom. Then I removed the upper right and left rad mounting bolts. I had to shift some wire bundles, and remove a couple of zip ties to access the upper mount bolts with a 10mm on an extension. On the right there's a weird plastic retainer holding a bunch of wire harnesses, and I had to release one plastic push button & swivel the retainer out of the way to get to the mount bolt head.

Then I removed the centrally located, single lower rad mount bolt, and wriggled the thing down and forward, so I could access the fan mounts on the back of the rad frame. Once the fans were unbolted, the rad was free, and it's now in the cage ready for a visit to the rad clinic.

Hopefully it'll be fixed & reinstalled before the weekend is over!

I planned to cruise to Greenwood this weekend, and maybe I'll still be able to do the run. On the bright side, this whole thing could have happened way out in the boonies, instead of just a few miles from home :dribble:

Metal rad guard is on order...

 
Sittin' in Timmys in Osoyoos, waiting for the radiator guy to call. He said he can have it repaired by early afternoon, so if all goes well we'll be on the road by tomorrow!

I may do an early oil change this weekend, just in case the engine was stressed out a bit from the on-again/off-again cooling episode.

Thankfully, Yamaha engines are damn near bullet proof.

I wonder how long before my rad guard arrives?

13601-SIL-YAM-FJR-1300-07-11-STICKER.jpg


 
This weekend, I replaced the radiator on my gen II. A few points: I did not remove the throttle bodies. I did remove the front wheel, as well as the two side lower cowls/front lower cowl as a unit. I did not disconnect the fans from the radiator until AFTER the radiator was off. I clipped away (and later replaced) some tie-downs that were securing various portions of the electric harness that were otherwise in the way of eventually getting to the hex screw that secures the radiator on the upper right-hand side. I used a large flat-head screwdriver to carefully push apart a couple sections of the harness that were otherwise blocking access to that screw. To assist in attaching the new radiator, after getting the radiator back up into its approximately correct position from a mounting standpoint, I reattached the lower retaining bolt, which helped to better align the holes in the radiator's upper mounting brackets than would otherwise been the case. END

 
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