New radiator required?

[Ninjamedic]

Hi, new to forum so a bit of background.

Always ridden sports bikes, FZ1, GSXR750, Ninja-600, ZX7r etc...you get the idea. Always bought new and never had to worry about problems and with all the fairings and inaccessibility problems with these bikes I just used to drop them off at the dealerships for maintenance.

But, decided to change tack, have moved to rural Wales, no big roads here, it's all country lanes and twisties so the sports bikes had to go. I've replaced with a Drz400sm which was going cheap on eBay, rode it 200 miles home and it didn't miss a beat, have had it out and about on these local tiny roads and it's a hoot, genuinely hilarious and corners like nothing I've ridden before.

Given the single cylinder engine and easily removable panels (or lack of!) I've decided to brave it and do my own maintenance.

Changed the air filter and did the 3x3 mod on Saturday, ordered the JD jetting kit too but that hasn't arrived yet. Decided to change the oil the following day, the guide on here was spot on and maybe it's psychological but with fresh oil and a freer breathing engine it seems to ride better/smoother and has a lovely deep induction sound now.

So what's the problem? Noticed a few spots of something on the garage floor under the bike when it had been stored overnight and also a few drops on the header pipe, did the taste test and it wasn't oil or fuel thankfully, I wasn't familiar with the taste so examined the front of the engine and what could possibly be dripping on the exhaust and floor.

Turns out it's coolant. There appears to be a small leak (a few cc/ml) being lost overnight. At the moment I'm topping up the coolant each ride (using a syringe it only seems to be down by 2-5ml each time), now if this was a car I'd chuck some rad-weld in there and 'cure' the problem but as this is my cherished toy I'd like to do things properly. Firstly does rad-weld work in bikes?...and secondly new rads don't seem that expensive but is replacing one of the radiators something I should ask a shop to do?

The bike is a 2005 model and the leaky rad appears to be the right one (as you are sat on the bike).

Sorry for the long winded first post but I've been recommended this forum for all things single cylinder related and hope you can help.

[William1]

High end radiator shop can fix it. You'd have to drain the coolant and get the radiator to them. 1/10 the cost of a new radiator

In the USA, one of the best places is Mylers Radiator.

[74jimbo]

Drain it, clean the area and properly prep it, and toss jb weld on it

 

A radiator shop can braze that hole for like $10

 

 

[Craigo]

As above said...Repair should be no problem on a small hole in an accessible area...JB weld should work

[lakeportmike]

another jb weld vote...I've fixed several radiators over the years using it with no problems.

[Ninjamedic]

Cheers for all that, some good options to consider.

There is a shop near me that repairs motorcycle rads (amongst other things) and I'd never heard of JB weld before so will check that out too.

Again, many thanks. 

[74jimbo]

if you can get it professionally done, I would rather go that route.... but... JB weld is a metal epoxy basically, and DIY if all else fails

[Ninjamedic]

Cheers guys, just this morning spoken to a local shop who said they do bikes, got to take it to them, they'll strip and clean the rad before locating the leak and repairing/welding....sounds like the better long term bet.

Edited June 27, 2017 by Ninjamedic

[EmpireofDerp]

"never heard of JB weld before"

?