Replacement Rad cap with higher rating?

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Sep 30, 2020
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While replacing my rad cap on my Honda VFR1200, I noticed the aftermarket one from the Honda shop is rated for 156kpa or 22psi.
According to the parts fella, they use them regularly on Honda motorcycles with no problem.
The aftermarket was 17 bucks, whereas the OEM was 50ish and I'd have to order it in.

Basically, is there any harm in choosing a higher rated rad cap?
I'm not sure what OEM is rated at, as they discontinued it.

thanks in advance
 
Well you might pop something!

Chevy did this with the Cruze, the car was often losing coolant to evaporation and smelling the part. So they kludged it with a higher PSI cap.

Otherwise, enjoy the extra margin of boiling protection and less loss of coolant.
 
I would not go higher. As mentioned, more likely to pop something or blow a hose or whatever.

They should be able to get you the proper aftermarket rated cap. I would not pay $50 for a OEM cap either, unless I could not get the properly rated afermarket cap, although everything aftermarket is pretty suspect these days for sure.

Is there something wrong with your existing cap? How old is it.
 
I cant speak to the VFR but my Fireblade, SC24 CBR100F and CBR1100XX all had 16-20 psi (1.3 bar) caps all German spec bikes. IIRC most Honda models used this cap.
22 psi is not going to cause any issues, the difference is so minimal.
 
Is there something wrong with your existing cap? How old is it.
I strongly suspect it's leaking when the bike gets to operating temps. There's a noticeable coolant smell when the bike is hot and idling in traffic.
There's no coolant in the oil, and nothing on the ground when parking. The cap is likely stock (from 2010) as the bike only has 16k miles.

The problem is, when the bike is "buttoned up" with fairings etc, you can't see the rad/cap.
When perusing the VFR forums, this is a common cause of failure on these bikes.

Thinking back to last fall when I changed all the fluids, there was a white residue all around the coolant cap and bike fairings.
I should have replaced it back then, but the low amount of coolant drained from the bike made me think it was burning/leaking it out.
 
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