Was warming up my ST1100 yesterday and went inside to grab my jacket, when I came back out there was coolant running out on the ground and a huge cloud of steam coming from the bike.
I shut it down straight away and waited till it cooled down to check what had happened. And when I checked the overflow reservoir it was still full and the fluid was cold, weird I thought, so when I finally got to the radiator cap and thermostat I found that the overflow tube from the radiator cap to the overflow reservoir was blocked solid with gunk. After I pulled the air cleaner and carbs off I discovered that the hose from the thermostat to the r/h side of the engine was blown, and when I say blown I mean blown (see Pic). Would the fact that the overflow tube was blocked have caused the hose to blow i.e. the pressure couldn't escape back down to the overflow?
After checking everything out I also noticed that because of the steam it seems that the carby coupler rubbers have hardened like rock, so I guess I'll be replacing those as well.
What I wanted to know is there anything else I should check that may have been affected by this incident?
The bike is a 2001 ST1100 with 87K's on the clock. Any help or information would be appreciated.