First let me say thanks to Elwray for the text support on the change when I was getting stuck. Now, let me say what a trainwreck that is to change. I don't know if I want to strangle a Honda engineer or two or if I have way more respect for their ingenuity. Anyway, all went well. The old thermostat wasn't stuck open or corroded when I took it out but it the copper/brass colored cylinter inside of the big spring has some very shiney scratches where clearly it was binding somehow. I did a drain, flush with distilled water/prestone cooling system cleaner, drain, refill and rinse with pure distilled water, drain and refill with proper coolant mixture. Once it was all back together and after a short MPG test (only 40 miles on a full fresh tank) I increased my fuel economy from 23 MPG to 30. Now I'll run this tank fully down and get a better reading. IN those 40 miles I had a bit of in town, about 20 miles of interstate and a couple of WOT interstate entry runs along with one country road run to about 110mph... So far I'm very happy with the results and more happy that I had no leaks in the system after it was assembled. I hope to never have to do that again. Let me add the satisfaction of doing a job successfully yourself and saving about $300 dollars in the process. Chip
JUST to remind you what kind of "progress" Honda has made over the years: on gen 1 and 2 bikes the thermostat can be changed in less than 10 minutes after removing and replacing 3 or 4 small bolts......
Must have hired some GM Engineers at Honda R&D, when I worked at Chevy if a starter failed (or most other engine problems) on a Corvette ZR1 we had to ship the engine back to GM for repair. The starter was in the engine under the plenum with a lot of other troublesome goodies.
