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AP76ita

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 5, 2021
Messages
84
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VMax Year
1991
Hi all,
Coolest forum on our Vmax this one, happy to join in.
I have a '91 european, own since 1997
Had tons of fun with her, wheelies, driving sideways and burning accelerations.

Then for family issues stopped it for more than 10 years. This summer made standard maintenance and put it on the road again, engine still great but water temp reaches limit in 30-40 min so I fear a head gasket failure, maybe due to rust inside water circuit.
 

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Rust? Not sure where you think that came from since the engine is aluminium alloy. What does the water in the header tank look like?

Was anti-freeze added? It's not unusual to not add it in hot climates but anti-freeze also helps against corrosion.

Do the simple things first.
Flush the cooling system and don't miss out on the cylinder drain screw,.

It would not surprise me if, the bike standing as long as yours has, has an accumulation of sludge.

Also test the thermostat is opening.

And hello BTW.
 
Rust? Not sure where you think that came from since the engine is aluminium alloy. What does the water in the header tank look like?

Was anti-freeze added? It's not unusual to not add it in hot climates but anti-freeze also helps against corrosion.

Do the simple things first.
Flush the cooling system and don't miss out on the cylinder drain screw,.

It would not surprise me if, the bike standing as long as yours has, has an accumulation of sludge.

Also test the thermostat is opening.

And hello BTW.
Hello to you and thanks for msg.
My mechanic thinks about rust as when cooling water was drained out it was rusty looking. All cooling line was checked, radiator pressure/acid cleaned, pump works, thernostat opens (also been removed BTW). If I drive close to idle, 10% throttle and under 2krpm temperature tends to stay. Well in hot days at a certain point it starts exceeding half and then runs up to red zone, fan starts but cannot cool it, I only have to turn engine off.
But, as soon as I rev it up to 8-9k then suddenly temperature starts going up and quickly reaches red.
I'm undecided if letting mechanic open and work. Yet so would be good money, and I would still have a very old and bad maintained (my fault!) bike. So I'm more thinking about selling it to someone who wants it cheap and to be fixed, and getting a fresher one, as I have now very little time to enjoy bike and no time for back/forth from mechanic.
But I'd miss her so much if I decide to so so!
 
Also these bikes have plastic valve near the oil filter.

To drain the system, the valve needs to be in one position. After refilling and under normal conditions, it need to be reset to original position.

TBH I'm not sure the purpose of the valve but check it is in the correct position.

It's a bit unusual for a headgasket to go due to no use, there is a chemical available that changes colour when exposed to combustion gases, would be a relatively easy and cheap test.
 
Take off the radiator guard and feel the radiator for areas that are cooler than others as the motor heats up.
This would indicate a partial or full blockage in parts of the radiator core.
 
Also these bikes have plastic valve near the oil filter.

To drain the system, the valve needs to be in one position. After refilling and under normal conditions, it need to be reset to original position.

TBH I'm not sure the purpose of the valve but check it is in the correct position.

It's a bit unusual for a headgasket to go due to no use, there is a chemical available that changes colour when exposed to combustion gases, would be a relatively easy and cheap test.
System drained many times, but I'll try and find the fluid and do this test now!
 
Thanks everybody for advices!
I reply to all
We've done draining many times
I pulled my beast out of the sarcophagus in April and mechanic started maintenance (no engine opening, it started well first try, just oil, filters, sparks, fluids etc...)
It ran lovely and powerful as in old times, but after 30-40 min of driving with water temp in std position (mid) suddenly temp starts running high to red.
This happens earlier if engine revved.
I either am not convinced about what mechanics says about head gasket rusted and loosing seal, I don't even see him sure but more like let's remove the heads (!) and see how things are!

We did opening radiator cap everything flows as it should. Radiator temp spots are regular.

We've seen Radiator cap to let water pass throguh and go in the recover tank. This happens if you rev high AND while idle but after temperature ran red.
So this seems like cylinder looses some compression inside cooling circuit.
We also tried replacing the std 0,9bar cap with a new 1.3bar
Same thing happen, just take slightly higher temperature and slightly higher revving.

What do you think? 🤯
 

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