[justcharlie]

The coolant cap looks mighty hard to get to.

Jack

It isn't bad. Just use a funnel with a flexible tube.

 

[justcharlie]

Thanks guys. I found it. I just didn't know exactly what I was looking for.

When the bike is on side stand, the level is at "MIN". When the bike is level, it is a bit above "MIN", but not in the middle between "MIN" and "MAX". Should it be right in the middle?

Should be read with the bike level while the engine is cold. Anywhere between MIN and MAX is OK, but if I am adding some I'd put it up to the MAX mark to have a little more in reserve.

 

[justcharlie]

I agree with Panzerman, probably OK to add a few ounces of distilled water to top it up without problems but don't mix antifreeze types. After the first few rides, my new '15 R12R was a little low in the expansion tank; must have had a little air in the system someplace because there were no signs of leaks. I bought a bottle of BMW antifreeze, to avoid the problem of mixing types. Maybe a few bucks extra, but why risk it? Anyway, the bottle has instructions about the mixing ratio with water for different ambient temperatures. You don't want to go too high or too low. Not freezing is only one purpose of antifreeze, if the ratio is way off it doesn't cool the engine as well as the proper mixture.

 

[justcharlie]

By the way, do you check the water tank level when the engine is hot or cold? The manual is silent, but it suggests the engine should be hot (warns about hot engine burns).

I've always checked when cold, maybe just habit from the days before cooling systems had expansion reservoir tanks.