97 Thunderbird 900 Just Purchased

Hi Rob Not my forte I'm afraid but there are plenty of 900 owners on here. If you get no joy in this section you could always ask in the Technical section

 

As above you will get more answers in there.
I know it doesn't always show but do you have cross contaminated oil , ie mayonnaise on dipstick, or oil in the water, take the cap off to look. Is the rad full and does the cap fit tightly . If the rad is full and looks oil free I would just top the overflow bottle up and try running the engine first gently, I wouldn't start stripping until I knew what the cause was. My t509 just needed a new cap to stop her burping coolant out and the level in tank is always lower than the low mark.
I'm sure you will get more info in tech thread, I am far from an expert.

 

I have 98Thundbird Sport with 47k on it, and is going well.
If you don't know the history, my advice would be to do some testing, especially if it hasn't been used for a while, at least you will then have a baseline.

I'm in the US, but I'm assuming you can get an oil/coolant head gasket chemical test kit over there? That might be worth doing, and then of course, a compression test.

I've had the carbs re-built, I had flat spots, it turned out to be a split in the diaphragm, and worn slides, sort of expected as this age.

 

My carbs were pretty gunged when i bought my T Bird last year. Liquid carb cleaner in with the fuel worked wonders.

 

Rope
Lots of people just don't fill the overflow bottle and i hope you are sorted there without the extra work. Can you fire the bike up you would tell better and is the Rad full
Joe.