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for a weekend road trip, i would like to bring along some spare coolant with me just in case, can you keep it in an empty water bottle? like an evian type plastic bottle, not like a nice one you bring from home... haha if that makes sense? thank you

also some spare oil, but for that maybe ill just bring along a new unopened can with me and a funnel
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Molto Verboso
2022 Liberty 150S-"Meg"-SOLD
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Molto Verboso
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Better to carry a quart of pre-diluted coolant in the original bottle.

If you're going to do this, get a cheap stainless steel water bottle with a screw on lid. Mark it with poison labels so nobody drinks from it, ever.

You could top up the small amount you might use on a trip with distilled water. Shouldn't affect the ratio that much, and you can drink it if you need to.

YMMV.
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Cant find it in small size only big bottles. Thought a small plastic bottle would be fine...hmm...just for topping off purposes. Really don't want the extra weight
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Veni, Vidi, Posti
In garage: Yamaha Tricity 155 Urban 2019 - MV Agusta 125 RS 1956
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If you do not have any coolant and oil leaks, what is there will be enough for the distance after which you will still have to change them for periodic replacement.
Therefore I don't see the need to bring quantities to add.
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Gotta think if you fill it to the top mark, it is unlikely to use enough to get below the bottom mark, unless you are going to be gone for a very long time. I rather suspect in most reservoirs you could actually fill them somewhat higher than the 'top' mark without fear of overflowing.

And it is unlikely to do any permanent harm if it gets a little below the bottom mark.
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Why not top off with distilled water? That's easier to carry than coolant and could also work for other purposes if needed.
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I would be most concerned about safety. Antifreeze is just too toxic to have sitting around in a plastic water bottle. It looks a little too much like soda. I know it has a sweet taste, (but I don't know if you would automatically know it wasn't something to drink when it hit your tongue). You'd have to be extra sure some kid didn't get his hands on it on a hot day. Having someone accidentally take a swig of it would seem to fall into the highly unlikely but not impossible realm, and the consequences just don't seem worth the risk.
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Molto Verboso
GTV300 (wife's)
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Molto Verboso
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A guy I worked with years ago told the story that at another shop he worked at, for some reason some idiot had used an old Mountain Dew bottle to save some antifreeze.

Sure enough someone else was thirsty one hot afternoon and decided to steal a drink. Guess they realized it pretty quick but they said the guy who drank it was never the same after that. No details on the effects but poision is nothing to take chances with!
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It will shut down your kidneys. Don't ask how I know
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Red Devil SH150i (11,000)
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Red Devil SH150i (11,000)
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I use a grape juice bottle from a 6 pack. Its short enough to fit in my glove box. It's thicker than a water bottle. I remove the label and wrap it in a rag so it doesn't move around and make noise. You can use propylene glycol coolant, it's non-toxic if you think someone would drink something with the label removed.
I use an empty weed eater sized bottle and put scooter oil in it so I can top off between oil changes.
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I have been riding and maintaining liquid cooled bikes since the 1980's. A properly functioning cooling system should not require even occasional topping up. Where is it going? The coolant reservoir is simply there to give the liquid somewhere to go when the engine heats it up and causes it to expand. When the engine cools, the coolant contracts and sucks back from the reservoir. Unless you have leaking hoses or pump seal, this is effectively a closed system, it would be very unusual to lose any appreciable amount to evaporation.

If you do need to top up on the road then distilled water is ideal to make up any lost volume. The ratio of glycol coolant to water is not absolutely critical; more glycol increases the boiling point and reduces the freezing point, but it also becomes less effective as a heat transfer medium.

Putting a toxic substance into a container generally recognised for containing a drink is always a bad idea (and highly illegal where I live).
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i love that the majority of responses are "be careful! dont drink it!" haha is this the state of human awareness in 2021?.. lol
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lol...reminds me of this:
Forum member supplied image with no explanatory text
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Molto Verboso
GTV300 (wife's)
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Molto Verboso
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Hummus2 wrote:
i love that the majority of responses are "be careful! dont drink it!" haha is this the state of human awareness in 2021?.. lol
To that I might comment that if someone thinks they need to carry spare coolant for a "weekend ride" they need to have someone look at the scooter.

Wife's 2013 GTV has over 25,000 miles on it and other than the time it had a head gasket problem while still under warranty the only time I needed to "top off" the coolant was after I had changed the coolant. I have checked it several other times and it is always right where I put it.


Now if by 'weekend ride" you are talking some Iron Butt challenge where the scooter will be running near flat out on Interstates then having some extra coolant would be nice. But if only worried about some random failure while out in the desert I'd just carry an extra bottle of plain water. Reasoning that if something did cause a loss of coolant you will be doing repairs as soon as you are back home and the short ride with somewhat diluted anti-freeze would be the least of your worries!
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Veni, Vidi, Posti
LX190 Friday afternoon special, [s]Primavera[/s], S50, too many pushbikes
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@znomit avatar
LX190 Friday afternoon special, [s]Primavera[/s], S50, too many pushbikes
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UTC quote
Keep a small bottle of water on the scooter if you think you must. It won't kill you or the scooter if consumed. Otherwise tap water will get you home.
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Red Devil SH150i (11,000)
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Red Devil SH150i (11,000)
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UTC quote
If the cooling system is so perfect, then why check the level? Just ride.

P.S. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best.
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GT 200
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UTC quote
Yes, you can carry a small amount of coolant in a plastic water bottle.
A lot of people have done it. The vast majority of them did not drink the coolant.
Whether or not you need it, having it there will give you peace of mind.
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