Coolants?

Realised this morning that I need to top up my coolant.
Any faves on here?
I’ve got an MT07 and reading manual suggests 50/50 with water (I would imagine distilled)

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I’d just top up with water. How low is it?

there’s three types of coolant and you want to top-up with what you’ve already got, or completely re-fill with something also-compatible with your engine. The actual coolant is ethylene-glycol, but the corrosion-inhibitors that are also in the mix can do funny things when mixed. Sometimes they just inhibit each other, other times they damage components or even accelerate corrosion.

It’s often said that you just colour-match (if you’ve got orange, just buy some orange) and while this used
to be somewhat true, the coolant itself is clear and dyed and there is no regulation as to what colour it needs to be dyed. Generics (halfords’ own, for example) generally follow something of a standard, but OE stuff is often uniquely coloured to encourage re-buying from a dealership rather than a car parts place.

You probably want either OAT (Organic Acid Technology) or HOAT (Hybrid OAT), which is an arguably-better version of OAT. This is often orange as a generic, and it’s generally good for aluminium engines
with aluminium (and not brass) radiators.

Older engines want silicates as inhibitors (either called “Silicate” or, now that we have OAT, IAT for Inorganic Acid Technology), which don’t corrode brass/copper, but may well do Bad Things to other components of a system designed for OAT/HOAT.

Have a look at what the Yamaha OE bottle claims to be.

What he ^^^ said

The 250 has never required a top up of coolant and its rare that anything would but it does happen, just be sure you’re looking at the right ‘cold’ level on the expansion tank. A couple of points:

  1. If it needs topping up that may be an indication there is a problem elsewhere within the cooling system such as a leak or over heating. Fully inspect and check the cooling system paying meticulous care in the inspection of the radiator fins, rubber hoses and connections. A small weeping leak could be a critical failure waiting to happen and if left over time will only get worse.

  2. Coolant doesn’t last forever and if you don’t know when it was last replaced then for what it costs consider a complete drain, flush and refill.

If topping up just add water, preferably distilled. If complete replacement mix to a ratio of 50:50 antifreeze:distilled water, assuming that is you are using concentrate and not ready mixed.

have a good check to see why its low

Good tips guys!
I actually need a service so have contacted Yamaha and will try and get booked in ASAP.
I’m also going to double check the levels later, as I did a quick inspection this morning.

Checked the thermostat on way in this morning and bike was at around 85-90. Not sure if that’s normal or not tbh.

Sounds like a good excuse for a coolant change then :slight_smile:

So…checked it again last night, and coolant level is actually ok.
The low mark on the reservoir was caused by dirt! My bike obviously needs a bloody good clean!!!

Lol, no way.

At my old work place I had an underground car park, so been spoilt with bike always being reasonably clean.
Now it’s on the street it much dirtier!
However it’s booked for its service regardless as it’s due…