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Hello all,
Just taking an informal poll- who drains the coolant out of their motors when the karts are in the garage over the winter? I have mine out there right now, and maybe I’ve been playing with fire, maybe not, but I have yet to drain the coolant as I still plan to run on “nice” weekends. Should I drain them out between sessions? Any other cold weather storage tips?
OK, so after I cracked open a been it occurred to me, antifreeze will work *duh*, but what ratio would you recommend?
OK, so after I cracked open a been it occurred to me, antifreeze will work *duh*, but what ratio would you recommend?
Cracked open a been huh? :loony:
Not sure which is your home track Scott, but check with them first. Glycol based antifreeze attacks asphalt and is a bit of a hazard at the track. It may or may not be allowed.
If they don’t care, mix a 50 – 50 ratio of aluminum safe anti freeze and add to your machine. Since freezing 2 Rotax’s, we just drain the fluid, it only takes a few minutes. We also use a water conditioner (RC 20, Water Wetter etc…) which has little if no anti freeze capability, but is friendly with your seals and may allow your kart to run a little cooler allowing you to lean the carb, if you care about that. Use distilled water either way.
Make sure you tag an obvious spot to remind you to add water or you’ll be sorry.
Pretty risky leaving water in it out in the garage. May not be worth the small effort.
Have fun out there.
Rick
Being very new my opinion on this probably doesn’t matter much. But I’ll share it anyways.
I got my kart at the benefit for Bob early last February I think it was. Being that I started when we were experiencing some nice days mixed into sometimes weeks below freezing my situation was very similar to what you’re talking about now.
It takes about 5 minutes to drain your water. It takes about 2 minutes to fill. Water Wetter is very cheap, as is distilled water. Engines are very expensive. Refill before any nice days that you get out on the track and drain it when you get home. Its cheap insurance. If you have to end up replacing an engine due to plain old laziness you’ll be very pissed at yourself.
Besides, that extra time it takes to drain at the end of the day allows for one (or two) more beens. :loony:
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