Coolant change advice

My bike will be 2 in September and has already had its 7500 mile service. I'm on 10,000 now. I see the coolant change is at 2 years - is this a critical time or could I wait until the 11,000 in about 6 months?

I would wait, recommended times are well inside the required time. As you have a service planned I would hold off until that is done.

I'm with crash, seeing as a service will be done in 6 months why bother.

guys. I'll wait - that suits me fine. Couldn't seem to find that advice anywhere on the net but suzuki800.com came up with the answer straight away -

I think that this as with oil or anything else is that it does have a shelf life that it is guaranteed to work at full steam, so to speak, after that it will start at some point to degrade. I would always advice that all fluids should be changed at the recommended intervals, I actually change my oil more frequently than is recommended. However I look at it like this, because you don't do your own maintenance on your bikes you have two choices, Either bring your planned service forward or wait another six months until it is due. I can't see the product in question breaking down within that 6 months to such a degree that it really warrants it.

What coolant brand does everyone use?

My bike still has the same coolant that it came with in 2007, the local motorcycle shop I use who has a very good reputation says as long as the coolant tests ok there's no need to change it. Most cars come now with coolant that only needs changing after 10 years.

Ah right. Well I have a coolant tester somewhere.

How do you test coolant?

Dunno how it works but it's a pipet with 3 coloured balls in it and depending on their position tells you the condition of the coolant.

Rattler wrote:

Dunno how it works but it's a pipet with 3 coloured balls in it and depending on their position tells you the condition of the coolant.

Ah, thanks - bit like a pregnancy test for motorcycles!

Exactly.

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OMG ! My Intruders expecting

At £4.99 that's gotta be a good thing I would have thought. I might end up saving money over a long period with, I'm going to get one of those. I would rather not do any maintenance that doesn't need doing and if that little tool can assure me my coolant isn't becoming acid or whatever it turns into over time that's great.

It measures specific gravity, basically the density of the fluid relative to the mass of the balls in the tube. I used to test my car battery acid with a similar thing many years ago.

pledge wrote:

My bike still has the same coolant that it came with in 2007, the local motorcycle shop I use who has a very good reputation says as long as the coolant tests ok there's no need to change it. Most cars come now with coolant that only needs changing after 10 years.

I'm with you Ray .... my coolant hasn't been changed since I got the bike in 2007 ( who knows maybe it wasn't changed in the 4 years prior to that either ) but it still functions OK.

I must admit I have thought to myself that I should change it though, reckon it might be the next scheduled mantenence task I undertake .

I have never changed coolant in anything and only ever topped up with water, Shame on me