Over Heating 5th Gen

BigJim if you ride year round and in hot summer you would know
Now go ride her some more while I am here suffering :tongue: otstir:

 

The temp gauge has been running in the 175 range, while underway, up until this week when I finally got her out in the heat of the day.

Going for breakfast in the A.M. I will remember you over pancakes.

 

Remember the thermostat starts to open at about 175 deg. F. Is fully open at about 190 deg. fan comes on at about 220 and will turn off when it gets back down to 210.

 

So, this morning I started out at 9:00am. Outside temperature was 81 degrees. Bike ran in the 165 to 175 range at 70-80 mph. As the day got hotter the bike ran in the 185 to 190 range with slow speed running hitting 210. Pulled up to the house and temp climbed to 220 and fan came on at 221. Temp started to fall with the fan on and I shut it off at 219. This is normal operation?

 

Sounds like proper cooling system operation to me!

Now, stop worrying and get some miles on that bike BigJim !

 

Worry is what I do. It runs in the family!

 

++++++++1 what he said
BigJim still feel insecure
Yes it is normal now go get us some cold IPA were ya?

 

Yep, sounds like she is running perfect!

 

Jim - My Y2K runs almost identical, although I'm probably even a little hotter with respective temps, i.e. if outside is 80+, and I'm doing 55mph+, I'm running at about 185-195. If it hits 90+, I'm running 195-205 even at highway speeds. A stop in traffic sees the temp climb quickly to the 221-222 mark, where my fan comes on. That stays on until about 212-214 (never really checked).

If I'm at 220 and can get going over 45mph for longer than a mile, she'll drop all the way back down to the usual 195 mark, give or take. But it seems I need at least a mile to get it to come down.

Conversely, if I'm in stop and go traffic and never getting air moving, while the fan does its job, I'll be sitting between 212 and 221 until I get moving.

I'm like you - I worry about the heat too. Guess its old school mentality that won't go away: heat kills an engine.

Sounds like everything is just fine.

 

There's TONS of erroneous information about cooling systems thrown all around the internet. Found this link which goes into GREAT DETAIL explaining it: Pirate4x4.Com - The largest off roading and 4x4 website in the world.

I think you guys are worrying too much about what the coolant temp is on these bikes. There's a lot more to consider.


Here's an excerpt:

Coolant temperatures do not accurately reflect actual metal temperatures in the engine. The metal can be several hundred degrees hotter than the adjacent coolant. This means, depending on the gauge sending unit location, coolant temperatures may read "normal" while the actual temp of the cylinder heads, for example, may be excessive. Therefore, the location of the gauge's sending unit or sensor must be chosen carefully - somewhere in the cylinder head is often a good choice.

Assuming the gauge sending unit is properly located, an engine typically runs most efficiently when the coolant temperature is kept around 200° F. This comes back to maintaining the proper operating temperature again. At this temperature, the combustion chamber is warm enough to completely vaporize the fuel mixture for improved combustion, and the oil’s viscosity is at the right point so that it can properly lubricate the engine and present minimal parasitic drag. An engine that is too cold is no good! Do not try to design your cooling system so that your engine runs all day at 160°F!



For most "normal" engines, 250°F is about the greatest water temp indication you should tolerate. Beyond this and the engine should be shut down or allowed to idle until it cools down. Incidentally, this is another advantage to electric fans. Because an electric fan can continue to run when the engine is not running, and because hot coolant will rise and be replaced by cooler coolant, and because the rad inlet is at the top and the engine inlet at the bottom - coolant will circulate and you can actually cool the engine even when it isn't running.

 

Perfectly normal operation and mine is the exact same way. At first I used to worry about it. Now I change the display to outside temp and stop looking at it, lol. Hell on a hot day I have noticed your temp will change depending on whether you are riding into the wind versus with it, lol. Mine has never gotten above 225 so its all good.

 

I did some interstate riding the other day and came across alot of construction and accidents not to mention several miles of stop and go traffic. The ambient temp read 95 but the coolant temp ran as high as 243 and I was nervous as hell, even when I got to go 55 or so for a few miles it still stayed in the high 220's to low 230's till I got off the super slab where it dropped into the 210's. When I got home and put down the kick stand the fan was running so I know its working but out on the highway I could no hear it over all the traffic I was sitting in but could feel the heat on my legs.

 

It seems as though the hot air just circulates when in slow traffic. It takes constant "fresh" air to cool these bikes down. They really do not like to crawl, or even follow other vehicles.

 

Hi from TROPICAL COUNTRY!! Puerto Rico temp is mostly in the high eighties, middle ninetys.. I use my VFR in traffic everyday commuting to job and comeback.
Long freeway section and 10 minutes commercial district with traff lights.
My 98 VFR start at home in 168, then raises until 197-200 in these hot days in FREEWAY, when I arrive to the city traffic, goes to 220-222, MAX i saw in a really hot day stopped at the redlight was 224, the FAN starts in220, but if you still in 0MPH the temp goes up anyway, MORE than 230 could be dangerous , but the 5th gen is a HOT GIRL, that's everybody says around the globe as far as I know

 

Hi guys, yesterday i put on the R&G frame sliders which involves replacing the overflow tank. No issues doing that. Today i took the bike for a 12 minute city street ride to the store and then back another 12 minutes. By chance I took off my seat and found the black frame to be very hot and when i touched the aluminium frame it too was very hot. Bike was at 221 when i entered the garage and outside is around 90. Fan came on just as i was turning her off. I've had the bike for a year now but i never noticed how hot these parts get so quickly. Is this normal?

 

Yep.....normal....the frame, especially the right side gets pretty damn hot after a good ride on a hot day. On the plus side, we could always find a way to cook something while driving on these :smile:

 

Thanks, just never touched these parts before and found them pretty hot after such a short ride.. Got paranoid.

 

Do the fan switch mod!!

It's super easy... involves removing the left side fairing, and hooking a switch into the fan circuit- about 5 minutes once the fairing is off.
Now when I slow down into traffic, I turn the fan on, and it holds the temp pretty much where it is. I don't like seeing temperature numbers like 220 on my gauges!

 

Yes, i think that might be the way to go. Thanks.