for those that live in cold climates.. can you leave your bike empty of water over the winter

or will it cause issues?

can i just drain the water from
the bike and leave it dry or does the system need some sort of lubrication to not dry out?

i’d rather not fill with antifreeze just to store it and have to re drain it when it warms up.

this is for track/race bikes

 

Even if you store your bike indoors in a heated/ climate controlled environment, leaving the cooling system empty is not ideal because components can corrode simply due to residual water in the system and humidity in the air. Therefore, it is always advisable to drain the water and refill with antifreeze. A jug of premixed ready to use 50/50 ethylene glycol/ distilled water is like $15. It takes less than one hour to switch over each season. Just do it.

 

Fill it with anti-freeze over the winter. You don't want to assist corrosion in an empty cooling system with air, water vapor and ice crystals.
I use Engine Ice for this purpose.

 

I think leaving it dry over the winter caused a cracked oring.

 

a quick way too in spring to remove all glycol is after removing as much as you can normally, hook up a garden hose to the lowest line and remove a high one and let er rip

 

Not a great idea.

Minerals in the water will react with the various metals in the cooling system and eventually cause issues.

Distilled water is what you want to use for this method

 

distilled yes when filling up, im referring to washing out all the residual antifreeze after storage.

 

Heated garage here,I use distilled H2O and water wetter during the season on both bikes but still drain them before winter,IDK why but I do it,so far never had issue
in the Spring.

 

I do this also. Been doing it for decades, never an issue. Also have climate controlled garage.

 

Fill it with antifreeze. In addition to stopping freezing there is lubricants for pump seals. Fill it run it up to temp. Before empty run it another time in the spring. Cheap insurance vs the troubles that could happen.

 

meh... $.15 of muni water isnt going to hurt anything.

 

Actually saw an article once that distilled water will leach some of the metals. Kind of makes sense if there is nothing dissolved a small amount of AL could be dissolved.

That is technical over kill either way IMO. Reality is the small amount of time the distilled or tap water is in if anything is dissolved would be PPM range.

 

I use Engine Ice. Plenty of protection from freezing.

 

any idea if it gets slushy below -2f or would it freeze solid? i get well below that, even scared sometimes with anitfreeze in it, lol

 

never mind its propylene-glycol based, no bueno on track

 

Had a water pump fail at Summit Point and didn't know about it until I was heading through T1 on my ass.

Bellypan full of brown water and a contaminated cooling system to clean out.

It was the only time I hadn't used distilled water and I don't think I'll be taking chances any time soon.

 

Interesting narrative but if you have brown water your problems started long before tech at that event. My point was a small amount of muni water to flush a system aint gona hurt anything.
Look at any race bike that doesnt use glycol... water pumps & cooling systems maintenance req go up substansially vs plain old glycol. Pumps & seals are consumables.

Look at street guys with 10s of thousands of miles on their steeds... first sessions out on track their coolant hoses expand & explode.

Then the irony of some orgs allowing glycol based coolants.

 

I had switched from Water Wetter to Engine Ice after concerns of freezing in my garage. Probably better if I just ran WW or Maxima Kool-aid and put a cover over my bike and have an old school lightbulb under it to turn on when it gets cold. That will keep it plenty warm.

 

It was the only failure I had with a cooling system and it was the only time tap water was the variable. No issues prior, no issues since.

We can agree to disagree from here.