Riding around today on my 04, thought I was smelling burnt plastic at at stop light, of course look around for some old beater with smoke coming out of it. Took off and smell went away. Happened a couple of times. Got home parked bike in front of my garage got off to open garage door, got back on my bike and smelled the burnt plastic again. Temp gauge said 200 and I did not hear the fan come on. At what temp is the fan supposed to come on. Normally my bike runs around 178 when I'm moving, but I'm not sure when the fan comes on, I think it is like 198. Anyway has anyone else had this issue, think it is the electric fan? Haven't had time to see if it is free, I'm due for an oil change, will check to see then. Anyone else have any ideas?
When you have cowls off, try spinning fan by hand to check bearings. To check if it is working, jumper the wire going to the thermal switch on the left radiator, motor should turn. On '03, the fan didn't come on till well over 200, 215 or so. I installed a relay and switch to manually override thermal switch to keep it cooler. As to the smell, check all connectors and wiring immediately, especially the three prong stator connector. Look for discoloration on connector and wiring.
Finally got around to changing the oil and finding out where the smoke was coming from. Had to park the bike in the garage at night with the door shut and go out with a flashlight to see where the smoke was coming from. It was the connector for the right headlight. The wire is shorted right at the connector. Not too bad of a fix but man is it tight in there. By the way I was way off on when the fan comes on. Mine come on at 222 degrees. Thanks again
The 2002 to 2005 had a wiring harness recall that was for something in the front of the bike. Maybe this is your smoking issue? You can have any Honda dealer rum your VIN to tell you if its been done.
Just a comment... That indicated temp on the dash is from a sensor in a head and not from the switch that turns on the fan so those two things won't often coordinate. In other words, you can watch the temp and listen for the fan coming on and have the temp vary by 20 degrees or more and that would be normal (and would also depend on what the bike would be doing).
