ditchbanger2002
New member
Well i replaced a heat exchanger on my viper. Topped of coolant and bled the system of air, checked it, re-filled to proper level. Rode it the next day and made sure it was still at proper level, it was so i didnt really worry about it. I was curious after i put on 78 miles one saturday and found it to be down about a 1/4 inch from the safe line. Figured it was just more air so i filled it and rode it. I came back to the garage after 50 more miles and it was still down. Does it take that long for the system to bounce around and get the air out of it? Im almost 100% sure its not burning it, i checked the plug's and they looked and smell normal.The exhaust doesnt smell sweet, pipes and plugs dont feel sticky I looked in the head and the pistons look good from what i can see......so. WHERE IS IT GOING??!! 
If you have any ideas id love to hear them, thanks!
p.s. i read a thread about the seal on the water pump, from what i could see the drain hole down there felt and looked dry.
If you have any ideas id love to hear them, thanks!p.s. i read a thread about the seal on the water pump, from what i could see the drain hole down there felt and looked dry.
Place a cold piece of tin under the sled & start it up, at engine temp throttle it a few times & shut it off…now smell the tin…if brave enough taste it…if it smell sweet or even tastes sweet then you have a head gasket leak, one of your plugs will look white as well…go over all your connections where you replaced the H.E. and maybe you will see the leak when the sled is cold as the aluminium shrinks more than the hose, you will see a powder residue where it’s leaking…and yes it does take a few trips to cycle all the air out…or you puke the stuff out when you overfill it, cause the fluid expands faster then the H. exchangers warm up & expand…more common when you just fire it up and get on it - hard…cheers
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hmmmmm, try blues idea first as it would be the direction I would look to, post back your results. It has no external leaks on the floor overnight huh? what exchanger did you replace, front,rear,runningboard?
ditchbanger2002
New member
I havent had time to do that yet. I'll make time to do it tonight with a small chance of snow (finger's crossed) for the end of this week and weekend. I had to replace the throttle side running board H E. I had the local shop do that so i trust its been done rite. I have checked it on both ends just to make sure though. I'll remove the pipes so i can get down there and wipe around the engine and belly pan tonite. With it having 4600 miles on it do you think it would be a bad idea to just change the head gaskets? Or get a gasket kit and do all of them? Or if im gonna do that just freshen up the top end?? Thanks for your 2 cents guys! i'll let you know what i find out tomarrow.
horkn
New member
If you are going to bother to replace all the gaskets, you mkight as well re ring it.
I don't think you will need to go that far though.
I don't think you will need to go that far though.
Overflow
None of my vipers could ever hold as much coolant as they were supposed to. When they heat up they blow it out the overflow. Have you noticed your right footwell being green or maybe slippery? Just allow the coolant to stay a little below the line. There's still plenty of coolant in the sled as long as you can see an inch or two in the coolant bottle. Draw a line with a marker if you want at the lower level and monitor that. I'd almost guarantee you'll find it will stay consistently right at that lower level.
Madmatt
None of my vipers could ever hold as much coolant as they were supposed to. When they heat up they blow it out the overflow. Have you noticed your right footwell being green or maybe slippery? Just allow the coolant to stay a little below the line. There's still plenty of coolant in the sled as long as you can see an inch or two in the coolant bottle. Draw a line with a marker if you want at the lower level and monitor that. I'd almost guarantee you'll find it will stay consistently right at that lower level.
Madmatt