DIY: Radiator reservoir tank refill

in Motorcycles & Trips4 years ago

Issue: Inconvenient placement of radiator reservoir tank from factory.
Bike: Suzuki V-Strom 650 1st gen

This fix might also apply to other bikes with similar issue. In this bike's case, in order to refill the radiator's reservoir you have to lift the tank which requires full removal of the two boomerang shaped side plastic panels and at least partial dislocation of the other two bigger ones. All these after you have removed the saddle as well. After this mod you'll only have to do the latter.

Here's the overflow line of the reservoir:

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I made a cut at the point it starts pointing down:

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Then I took a piece of hard but thin plastic pipe, 6mm diameter and 4cm long:

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I put it in the piece of pipe leading to the tank:

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Then I got my diy bottle that I made years ago for all difficult refills. It's got a hole in the cap with a flexible pipe and some silicon around the hole to avoid leaks. I connected the bottle to the overflow and refilled the tank:

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Then I rejoined the two pieces of the overflow line and job was done:

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Even with the side panel on this mod gives you enough space to do the job next time:

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Hope that helped. Safe rides ;)