r/motorcycles • u/icedoutglock___ • 4d ago
Modded R6 with missing Coolant Reservoir?
Hi All,
I have a 1999 Yamaha R6. I got it with 24k miles and post-streetfighter mod a few years ago. The previous owner apparently removed all the fairings, headlights, and handlebars for this exposed engine look.
Its my first bike (I know, fast one), and I have learned a bunch of basic repairs and maintenance procedures lately.
I have always experienced overheating since it's a sport bike and I do kind of a lot of city riding, but it got worse this summer. A month ago I replaced the coolant by flushing out the old (green) coolant > filling distilled > going for a 30 minute ride, letting it sit a few days > flushing distilled water out > and adding the new (blue) coolant which meets the spec in the manual.
Since then, three incidents which I think are heat-related have occurred
I was traveling at slow speeds and reached a temperature of 220F, and the bike shut off while I was rolling. I waiting 10 minutes and it dropped to 180 and started up fine.
I was traveling on highways and open roads with decent airflow and reached temp of 230F twice, where in the past few years it should have easily been at 195 or lower, even with the hot weather.
That same day, i notice coolant leaking from a hose. That is obviously a primary issue, but this lead me to check out where the hoses are supposed to go.
I haven't located every hose, and I'm afraid some hoses may have been moved/rerouted, but the large issue is that the coolant reservoir seems to be fully missing. I am nearly sure I never had one since I got the bike...
Right now, my issue is that I cannot find the part for teh reservoir to begin to replace it. On top of that, I may either have a leak in hose that i have to find, or the coolant is just spilling out of a dangling hose somewhere. The former issue wouldn't be too bad, but then I might need to replace hoses one by one.
Any advice on the above would be super helpful.
A mechanic told me it's ok to replace green coolant with blue as long as its 100% flushed in between, which it was. If anyone knows where to get the green OEM stuff, that still might be better idk.
Methods of detecting hose leaks and paths forward for replacing the reservoir would be ideal.
Im scoping some out on eBay now, wish me luck
2
u/Felix_949 4d ago
Rerouted? If not there, check megazip.net for the part or maybe makeshift one if all else fails?
You should be able to get the part though
Also any coolant is fine as long as its in spec and safe for aluminium engines