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I've drained the coolant via the drain screw on the water pump housing, and I'm about to replenish the system with fresh coolant. The owners handbook says that the cooling circuit capacity is 3.3 liters -- is that correct?

Thanks,

The handbook says 3.3 litres.
Really, I didn't manage to put all those 3.3 litres of coolant into the circuit.
No matter, you have to fill the circuit until the reservoir is full.
But, you need to unscrew the reservoir screws and keep the reservoir so it becomes higher than the rest of the circuit.
Later, you have to drain the circuit by the screw on the water pump, so that all the air bubbles go out.
Ciao

persempre907 wrote:The handbook says 3.3 litres.
Really, I didn't manage to put all those 3.3 litres of coolant into the circuit.
No matter, you have to fill the circuit until the reservoir is full.
But, you need to unscrew the reservoir screws and keep the reservoir so it becomes higher than the rest of the circuit.
Later, you have to drain the circuit by the screw on the water pump, so that all the air bubbles go out.
Ciao

Thanks, Francesco. Here's what I did:

Drained system with the drain screw on water pump.
A little over 2 L came out.
Refilled via the reservoir, slowly.
Squeezing the big hose on the left side seemed to help by burping air out.
Managed to get a little over 2 L back in (did not detach the reservoir, however).
Ran on lift til hot -- all hoses and radiator hot, temp at 175F, all connections dry.
Level did not change in reservoir, actually a bit over the high mark.

That's all I can do for now since other duties call, will come back to it.

Question: when you say "Later, you have to drain the circuit by the screw on the water pump, so that all the air bubbles go out." Please clarify: do you mean open it and drain a little of the fresh coolant out? How much should I drain? Hot or cold? Running or not? Reservoir closed or cap off? (Let me try to think of more stupid questions for you. )

Thanks again,

francesco mean to say that some air bubble can happen so remain inside the water pump.
You should loose a bit the bleeding screw on the pump aluminium body to let the air flow away

Thanks -- that's easy -- will do --

ducapaso wrote:francesco mean to say that some air bubble can happen so remain inside the water pump.
You should loose a bit the bleeding screw on the pump aluminium body to let the air flow away

OK, I loosened the drain screw a bit, then removed it (the screw) and fresh coolant started to drain, so I screwed the screw back in. Do you think I can safely assume that most of the air is out of the system? And having run it til hot, can I safely assume that fresh coolant has circulated throughout the system, especially the engine water jackets? Seems obvious, just thought I'd ask a dumb question (on a cold rainy day). Better than doing something dumb to the engine. In an unheated garage for the winter. Low temps so far have been around 18F/-8C, might go colder despite climate change http://tinyurl.com/55xl2e

Don't worry.
You have kept most of the air out.
If you still have some air in the circuit you will only see that the coolant will lower a bit into the reservoir after the engine have run.
In fact, when the coolant is replaced, it needs to run the engine to be sure having the air out.
Ciao

Thanks -- I feel better now!

It could take a couple of heat up and cool down cycles to get all the air out,don't worry just keep an eye on the coolant bottle.

Thanks. This Ducati is making a mechanic out of me, fer sure. I thought I was one already, but this is a whole 'nother world.

We'll have balmy weather again by Monday (after a deep freeze tomorrow), so I'll start 'er up again then. Would go for a ride, but the rear shock is at the suspension specialist. Long story. For another post ... .