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Radiator hose melting on front header pipe

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Mick

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Apologies is this has been explored before but during a holiday touring Spain my radiator hose melted on the front header pipe. I managed to effect a repair with gaffer tape and cable ties that held out until I got home, about 1,000 miles in all. From YouTube it seems that I am not alone, though dealers in Spain and my dealer in the UK has never heard of this issue.

Is there experience of this here, and what guards or changes have been effected to avoid recurrence?

Photos attached.
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#8 ·
starting with the 23' model they added a clamp that attaches to the radiator to correct the issue but don't qualify it as a warranty fix, it's an upgrade. They have to change out the radiator to the new radiator that just has a stud added for the clamp to attach to. When my second hose started to burn, and I was taking it back for the 3rd hose, my dealership brought up the change and attempted to get it pushed thru under warranty to be denied. I spoke to the rep who denied it and reminded him that if the 3rd hose failed, they would be handing me a new bike and I had a year still left for it to happen. He called a couple days later to tell me they were approving the new radiator and clamp. I haven't had any issue since it was changed out, been about 10,000 miles and I had gone thru 2 hoses within 6000 miles.
 
Discussion starter · #9 ·
ornrry1 said:
starting with the 23' model they added a clamp that attaches to the radiator to correct the issue but don't qualify it as a warranty fix, it's an upgrade. They have to change out the radiator to the new radiator that just has a stud added for the clamp to attach to. When my second hose started to burn, and I was taking it back for the 3rd hose, my dealership brought up the change and attempted to get it pushed thru under warranty to be denied. I spoke to the rep who denied it and reminded him that if the 3rd hose failed, they would be handing me a new bike and I had a year still left for it to happen. He called a couple days later to tell me they were approving the new radiator and clamp. I haven't had any issue since it was changed out, been about 10,000 miles and I had gone thru 2 hoses within 6000 miles.
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Thanks very much for the info. I'll take a look at the new model when I'm next at the dealer.
 
#11 ·
I haven't heard about any recall for the issue though do believe they should. Corporate knows of the issue otherwise they wouldn't have made the design change on the 23' model. I went through 2 hoses inside of a year and around 10K miles. When taking back for the 3rd hose under warranty the dealership mentioned the change on the 23' and attempted to get corporate to make the change on mine. They refused and said that was an upgrade not a fix for a problem. I had a year left on the warranty so I called and told them that this was the 3rd hose being put on the bike, when it failed again shortly, they would be replacing the entire bike under Lemon law. They called the dealer an hour later and authorized them to change. All they did was add bracket to hold the hose back, but the design added a bolt to the radiator for the bracket, so the radiator also has to be changed out. Pretty sure that's why they don't want to just upgrade the design for the 21' & 22' models.
 
#12 ·
BrightHammer2202 said:
Has anyone heard from Harley-Davidson corporate or contacted the NHTSA about this? This looks like a recall should have been sent out about it. I'm having this happen to my 22 Special, and its very quickly become a serious safety hazard. Just wanted to see if anyone had heard anything more about this.
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I called HD customer service and they told me they wouldn’t cover the radiator pipe replacement or the pipe itself. I have no idea how others are getting these things fixed. My dealer said all they are required to do is to loosen the hose clamps and move the pipe slightly. I asked them for a quote on replacing it and I was told it’s $400.
 
#13 ·
Has your hose made contact with the pipe or started to burn? If it hasn't, I doubt they would replace anything and just try to move it back because there is no damage. In my case I had two hoses make contact and burn within a year and reminded HQ that a 3rd contact and burn would be a Lemon law replacement of the whole bike. Assuming they decided it was cheaper to replace the hose and upgrade to the new design radiator than replaces the whole bike.
 
#14 ·
After reading numerous incidents of riders experiencing an unwanted radiator hose burn-out I decided to take some preventative action and add a Wunderlich Heat Shield 90285002. I ride a '23 S. It was a simple installation that required the removal of a single screw and sliding the heat shield into place. It was worth the $55 to have the peace of mind that I have taken action to prevent the hose burn-out. Here are pictures of before and after.

As equipped from the factory. Vent cover removed..
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Radiator shield in place with vent cover installed.
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