Yep, did that, and thanks to our German You Tube friend Garagien, I know that it's meant to extend to 3cm past the shoulder, and it does. I put an O ring on the small diameter and tried that, no change, so, the thermostat is now out of the system, I ran it up to temperature in the garage, to the point where the fan was coming on for a moment, but I've not bled it through the head bleed bolt yet. One thing is if you switch the engine off it loses temperature quite quickly. Rev it a little with the rad cap off and you can clearly see the water movement, this indicates to me the pump is doing it's job. It should bleed easier with the thermostat out of the system, so it's a case of bleed bleed and bleed again!. No real sign of bubbles in the rad when you rev it, only tiny ones as it bleeds, and it doesn't seem to be pushing water out now, the level remains constant and the overflow tank is filling then replenishing, no sign of oilyness in the water either, and no trace of water in the oil. If it stops raining at some point I'll get out and see what's happening with the thermostat removed.
Thanks for the input folks, if it's a head gasket then it will be consigned to a corner of the garage and I'll use my faithful Morini or Guzzi, I'm starting to get a bit cheesed off, just seems to be one thing after another, I've never ridden the thing more than 20 miles in one go since it went on the road, and the total mileage is 87, as is often the case, the reality doesn't seem to be living up to the dream!. Looks good sitting on the ramp though!!!
Alan.
