Whats your temp??

Ok so I just got the ole girl back together and my temp while riding at about a constant 7k is about 3/4 guage, when I come to a stop or let off the throttle while the fan is on it will drop to about 1/2 guage.
My questions are...
Could this high temp be partially caused by not having the front cowl on, just switched her over to synthetic oil, or too much/too little antifreeze, or maybe improper timing?
Or is that hot at all for these bikes?
What are yalls temps??

Thanks!

 

Even when it's really hot out and the bike is moving I am not at the 3/4 mark.
I only get that high when the bike is idling and not moving.

 

Weird.. My bike runs 1/2 at idle and increases to 3/4 while riding, just trying to figure out if I have any problems after the valve replacement before anything bad happens! The bike has not gotten into the red and it was 90 degrees yesterday so maybe I will be ok.

 

You burp the coolant system properly?

If you accidentally add too much coolant don't worry....the bike will just spit it out the overflow tube ;-)

 

+1

I would flush the coolant system (if you haven't already) and replace with Honda HP Coolant.

 

Sounds to me like there is a blockage somewhere, low coolant level, or the pump isn't doing its job. Also, if your bike is running too lean then it will run hotter than it should.

I had a Mazda 626 that had the opposite problem. It would get hot at idle and cool off as I picked up speed. Turns out the radiator was clogged to all hell. Someone used well water or potable water to fill it and the calcium deposited on the coolest place in the system, which was the radiator.

 

What is the proper burping procedure? I always just fill her up run her 5 min the fill her up again, run her 10 min the top her off then check it after the next couple rides.

After installing the cowling today it ran a TON cooler while moving but hotter while sitting still, more like slowbirds now... Is there anything special about that honda coolant? any better than leading brand at auto parts store?

Also do yall flush the coolant system with anything special?

 

According to the service manual, you fill it and the overflow tank, start it with the cap off, top it off while running before it gets hot (give it a couple revs), cap it, get it to operating temperature, go riding. Once done with your ride, check the overflow tank level and adjust for full hot. Nothing special about Honda coolant except that it has NO SILICATES. Of course most coolants don't have silicates anymore. They tend to eat up the water pump mechanical seals. The orange stuff is what I use and have not had any problems with it on any of my bikes. Make sure and use distilled or deionized water.

 

Want it to run cooler yet? Then don't use anti-freeze. Glycol will hold the heat in. Use just distilled water and some rust inhibitor. The only thing glycol does is keep the water from freezing and it will raise the boiling point. But if it doesn't get over 212 at sea level then there's no problem. You can also add a switch, to ground, to manually turn the fans on. Just tap into the ground side of the fan plug with one wire to switch and the other wire off the switch to ground. I have my 750 that way. When I get to a heavy traffic situation in hot weather I just flip the fans on BEFORE it gets hot. Stays cool and so do I.

 

Antifreeze also has lubrication additives to prevent wear of the water pump. Using just a rust inhibitor will not be enough. Water Wetter is a good product that is both a lubricant and a surfactant. For temperature, 212 is in fact the boiling point, but since our systems are pressurized to a nominal 12.8 psi then you may go up to 245°F before the cap relieves pressure to the overflow tank.

 

The manual switch for the fan was one of the first things I did to the bike when I first got it, it does help out a lot. Right now I am running a 50/50 ratio of antifreeze and distilled water, I might try the water wetter and see where my temp sits after. Also on these bikes can you remove the thermostat during warm weather? I own a C4 vette and they have been know to have temp issues, during the hot seasons I have heard of people removing the thermostat to give the coolant more flow and reduce the temp.

 

I wouldn't. Not good to run with no thermostat at all. It won't warm up quickly enough and you might get overcooling, which isn't good either. You know, there is a chance your temperature sender is off, indicating hotter than actual. You might want to test it. There might not be any actual cooling problem at all.

 

Two 'must haves' for Honda First Generation engines - IMHO -

 

Why are those better than say Motul 10w40 Semi-Synth Oil and a good brand of Aluminum Safe coolant?

 

Well...I'm not sure if they are 'better' per se but Honda spent a good deal of R&D on these products and they are designed specifically for our engines. I'm not sure the benefit of straying from the source.

 

I have no definite proof that one is better than another but you'd think a popular brand Semi-Synth motorcycle oil would be better than a Manufacturer branded Dino Oil.

Who really knows unless someone does a Oil analysis.

EDIT: Actually, looking through some posts on BITOG, it seems the general consensus with the GN4 Honda oil to be something along these lines:

 

IMHO - GN4 is a top notch motor oil that has a proven history. It is specifically designed by Honda for these engines.

I'm not sure why an owner would want to stray too far from the men and women wearing the Honda lab coats in regards to this.

 

That would be fine. Most rust inhibitor that I know of has wp lubricant in it. Yea forgot about the pressurization upping the temps before boiling. Leave the thermostat in as Hawkrider says. DO NOT use WW with glycol. The extra heat that is extracted with WW will be held by the glycol. In other words you can run hotter with WW and anti-freeze. I had that happen to me and that's what the company told me when I talked to them. Guess what they were right! Took out the antifreeze and things got cooler.

 

Hi.

Check the diaphragm valve in the fuel tap. If its punctured, no1 cyl will run hot and increas the overall engne temp particularily at speed.
Dawdling round town will bring the temp back to normal levels.
Pull off the vacuum pipe from no 1 cyl and suck. if you can suck air through it, it's punctured.

Temporary fix can be done with a puncture repair kit.

Cheers Cyclone

 

Hi guys,

I found this thread to be a bit confusing from the perspective of looking at how to keep your engine cool.
So we don't want to use any glycol or antifreeze in our coolant and stick with some reliable coolant and engine oil that isn't necessarily the Honda brand ones? (Any brands to recommend? since I know nothing about coolants and engine oils)
Is it recommended to use DI water as coolant? That seems a bit sketch to me.
Please correct me if I'm confused which I think I am, haha.

By the way, that manual fan switch seems like an easy mod for better engine temperature control. =)