Had an interesting end to my trip up to London today. The bike behaved normally until right at the end of the trip. After the usual heavy London traffic - a warning light came on: the combined oil/water light. Because I was no more than yards away from the garage I put the bike on its stand and was horrified to see at least two pints of coolant hosing out at the rear of the engine block.
I could see nothing obviously wrong - called the local Triumph dealer whose only helpful remark amidst the usual "Got two day backlog mate - can't look at it until Friday" was that Triumph supply free breakdown collection through the RAC. Rang them - chap there in 20 minutes - and we found that the radiator level was normal. Then I remembered that I had not heard the cooling fan come on .... and a blown fuse was identified ....
Apart from the excellent RAC service (he had a wonderful on-board browser with every possible problem part of the Rocket photographed and identified).... where did the extra coolant come from? Is there an overflow/expansion tank/reserve somewhere?
If the fan blew the fuse, you could overheat and vent coolant from the overflow tank. Check the level in the tank. Once it cooled down and pulled coolant back into the radiator, it would show full.
The tank is under the front of the bearclaw, but the overflow hose from the tank goes all the way back to the rear of the engine and vents onto the road, or actually onto the rear tire if you are moving... :shock:
You might have lost more than just the tank level, check the radiator as well, (cold obviously). In the US they are using a 'blue' coolant. Any difference and or compatability issues with the 'green' ? I am asking as I spilled plenty when I was removing the butterflies and refused to follow Miami Daves step by steps, step by step.
Thanks TF - that is definitely where the overflow exited ... rear of engine block .... I checked the fan relay under the side panel to see if there was any sign of chafing: it's quite crowded in there with the alarm siren - aux. power cable etc but nothing showing - I shall check machine today again while out on the road - another 200 mile trip and see how I get on.