Coolant nightmare

Soooo let me start from the beginning.

-Coolant reservoir showed signs of leaking. Source of leak was unknown, but the coolant would drain completely empty within a few days. Ordered parts for a water pump rebuild.
-Replaced water pump impeller, seals, etc. Didn't solve anything.
-Suspected blown head gasket, dropped bike off at a dealership to have the problem looked at further.
-Shop "confirmed" blown rear head gasket. They told me they replaced the gasket as well as the water pump as well.
-Got bike back. Coolant still leaking, thermostat not hooked up, as well as a few loose bolts to the engine. After asking wtf the shop took the bike back and said they'd correct the issues. They told me they found a bad O-ring in the water pump and replaced it.
-Got bike back again. Thermostat hooked up again, bolts tight, and coolant appears to be fine. However there is still a steady but slowed leak from an unknown source.

What should I do now? I don't really want to send my bike back to the idiot dealer again, but I really don't know where to start for fixing this. There is no evidence of leaks on/by the radiator, the reservoir, or beneath the bike. Any suggestions? I'm thinking about taking my bike to a Harley dealer and seeing if a V-rod tech will work on it, since all the local dealers only work on Jap bike engines. My bike still runs fine aside from the mystery coolant leak.

A leak as in its dripping or the level in the resevoir keeps going down? If they didn't burp it properly it will go down until all the air is out of the system.

I'll look into it guys. The level keeps dropping. I would have thought if there was air in the system that the bike would have simply over-heated as well. I've ridden it hard the past few days and the cooling system has definitely engaged and cooled down the bike. But yeah, just a steady decline in the coolant level.

Where are you?

Norfolk VA. Took it to Redline Performance Motorsports in Williamsburg. Bit of a drive but again, the local Jap dealers won't touch my engine.

Bit far from me then..........as CK says, these babies need burping like, er, babies.

PS - not sure that there's ever been a bona fide, certified example of a blown head gasket reported here.

As suggested I'll top off the bike with the wheel lifted. I'm really hoping that's the issue. I can understand if the shop botched it up once, but for them to botch it up a second time doesn't make sense with all the associated legal problems they could encounter. So I'm hoping they fixed my water pump and forgot to elevate the front wheel when they topped off the coolant.

Also when my reservoir was completely empty, my radiator was still completely full of coolant.

If it reduces while the bike is parked up and not running and there is no wet patch on the floor then the trapped air theory sounds right to me. Should also be an easy / cheap fix so well worth trying first!

Good luck.

Like ppl said, the 45º angle burp and airbubles after taking the level down is " normal".

But not taking it all the liquid out...maybe and inch drop?

Have you checked the condition of the reservoir cap? Mine had the rubber seal all warped and had to replace it.

Good luck with it

I had a small leak, and the path it took mislead me, as when bike was hot the water would evaporate, i ended up tying toilet roll tissue round every hose inlet/outlet, and bingo one got wet. i bet its the burping, i would empty all coolant and refill with bike at 'the angle' and very slowly. i never used to have any flu it in my bottle, though would alway check rad, then the next year changed the coolant. good luck

The easiest way to burp it is get it good and hot then do a good high wheel stand

This method drained the reservoir after first service telling me they didn't burp at the stealer.

So me and some friends got the front wheel of the ground via my 2-ton floor jack (I was on the jack, 2 people holding the bars so it didn't fall over, and 1 person watching the front wheel making sure it didn't look like it was going to slide off). Once it was elevated, I opened the radiator and the bleed screw and started the bike. The level dropped a little in the radiator after about 10 seconds, but maybe an inch at most. I filled it up and let the bike run for a couple minutes. After that I shut it off and capped the radiator and put the bleed screw back on. Lowered the bike, refilled the coolant reservoir from almost empty to between the min and max marks. I haven't checked on it today but I'm hoping this solves my issue once and for all.

Good luck! I just went through this procedure as well, but didn't get the bike up to 45 degrees (except while riding, haha). I have topped it up once and everything seems fine. Hope you get yours sorted.

Good luck! I just went through this procedure as well, but didn't get the bike up to 45 degrees (except while riding, haha). I have topped it up once and everything seems fine. Hope you get yours sorted.

I know lifting the front end is best but I have bleed burped mine buy just filling the rad up,leave the cap off,loosen the bleed screw on the top right of the rad and starting the bike.When the fluid warms it will rise to the top of the rad outlet and then turn the bike off .Leave for a little while why the fluid level drops and bleeds.You will see air bubbles rising.Keep repeating this process until the fluid level stops dropping and no more air bubbles are present.Tighten the bleed screw and rad cap,fill the reservoir to the low level line and go for a ride to get the temp to max.When you get home and the bike has cooled down a little, carefully unscrew the rad cap and leave over night.Top up next day and keep an eye on the reservoir tank for the next few rides.I am pretty fussy about the cooling system after a warranty issue I had with sand in the cooling system which blocked the rad and resulted in a qblown head gaskets because of the pressure build up,so I repeat the burping process again the next day just to make sure It will take longer than lifting the front end,but if you are by yourself it can be a pain.Cheers

Got back home yesterday after being out of town for a while. To my delight the bike's coolant level dropped a tiny bit and stayed steady after that; burping the air out solved the problem. Thanks to everyone who pitched in, I really appreciate it. I'm having a small sensor issue with my car right now and the forum for that is beyond useless. All anyone over there is concerned with are wheels, sharing pictures of their half-naked girlfriends/wives, and ridiculous turbocharging kits that only the top 2% of owners are ever going to apply to their cars. This forum continues to be helpful in troubleshooting, DIY and product reviews. You guys are great

I finally got the problem with my car narrowed down to a faulty ABS sensor, I'm juste awaiting the part in the mail now and will swap it in once it arrives. Thanks though, like I said the forum for my car has degraded to absolute garbage. I'm looking forward to trading it in for a VW Mk7 GTI next year