Bad Radiator or.....

[wearetomorrow]

Radiator LEAK or BAD GROUND hey guys pin hole in my radiator on left top side ( my warranty ran out last year ) take Radiator to shop to see if they can fix it they look at it and say sure ... then they tell me to check all the grounds on the bike ...when I ask them why ? they tell me my Radiator is not leaking because of stress its because of " Radiator Electrolysis " they tell me pin holes are most common start of it , so I ask them should I ground the Radiator , They said NO what ever you do DO NOT GROUND it . you have to test your Radiator for voltage Its pretty simple remove Radiator cap make sure its full, start Bike up using a volt meteor hook ground lead to neg battery or a good ground source then using the pos lead make contact on the inside of the Radiator with out touching the sides of the fill spout . It should be no more .10 if higher starting looking for a bad ground . I talked to them about all the Failures of others some at 1500 miles and some at 20000 miles mine has 18000 miles they, assure me it's the problem ..Bin doing Radiators for 30 + years .... so sounds crazy maybe or maybe not . Food for thought search it on the web " Radiator Electrolysis " I did, wow theres a lot of Bad things that can happen to your Radiator .

[adriii]

The left corner tab leak is VERY common. It's not due to what your shop is describing. It's due to a slight design flaw where Ducati mounts one of the battery box tabs to the lower rad mount.

[Nala]

Ok... I get the idea of what they are talking about...

But you can only check if the grounds are there and good.

If you see a ground bolt it should be tight and best scenario have no paint under it. You want metal to metal contact for the best flow of electrons.

I would take this post to heart and double check my grounds next time I give Sophia a good once over.
But even if i do find one bad/iffy ground that would not be the end of the world for the bike or the radiator.

I believe that it would behoove anyone to check their bikes since this is a simple thing to do and in the end the electronics do work better when the grounds are good to go!

Final synopsis: Check your grounds to make sure they are good and keep an eye on your radiator for leaked voltage and proper Ph levels!

[twilight fan11]

An interesting theory, probably more pertinent to car radiators at a little more age/mileage than our bikes.
As Brett said - virtually ALL the 1X98 radiator failures have been at the exact same place, just below the top left mount.
Inspection suggests (I have had two failures..) that it's a physical shear loading on that top mount. This mount also happens to be the only one of the three mounting points which cannot move laterally.
It is also on the same side that the battery carrier mounts to the lower radiator. I believe the jury is still out on the exact process, but EL has had some success by giving the battery better support.
The jury is also still out as to whether the more recent radiators are any better/stronger, as they look externally the same. I can say however that my last radiator replacement has lasted much longer than either of the first two.