overheating, ...i know right?

Ok, now a little background on the bike. 02 vfr vtec. All stock except for cosmetics.
Bike lowsided about 10 months ago, i made a littke jbweld patch on radiator leak. Put an extra washer on fan mound cause it got tweaked and was rubbing. Ran perfectly fine sense. I did a radiator flush to engine ice about 3k miles ago. No issues. Until today. She wasnt running strange or anything, ride to wirkvwas fine, rode home just fine.
Navigated nown my LONG driveway that is flooded from rain today. Im sure i splashed the engine a bit. No biggie, bikes run in ran anyways right? I usually creep in first, clutch disengaged down driveway. Bike is typically around 220 by time i reach my garage. Open garage pull in and BAM! All of a sudden my temps at 237 and shes spewing coolant out of the drain hose! WTF? Fans on , btw. Shut her off and it sounds like shes boiling to death! Still blowing cooland and now tons of steam from the hose.

I havent got a clue what is going on... and im more of a fix it myself kind of guy. Besides you telk a bike shop you have a v tec v4 bike and they sorta blink stupidly and say " huh? "

Snorkle and pair valve mod done, no theres no way i got water in the airbox. I was going almost 3 mph through the puddles...

 

Ambient temp is about 80 but its humid as all hell.

 

Stuck or bad thermostat or maybe even bad radiator cap are all that come to mind off the top of my head. I'm sure those with more experience with overheating issues will chime in soon.

 

I was thinking thermo, ill test the cap too. How can i test the thermostat? I suckvat anything electrical so ill need detailed instructions lol. Thanks!

 

coolant leaked out of hole!

 

After my crash aboutva year ago yes... but hasnt been an issue sense. And today itvwas boiling out through the overflow hose.

 

Well you're in luck as the Thermostat is not electrical, but is a pain to get to according to some who had to deal with it. If you do not have the Honda Shop Manual, let me know and when I get off work tonight (after hours shift tonight) I can send you a link to it. It has the thermostat testing procedure.

 

No service manual, ill look up how to test that. Thanks

 

you all ready tested the thermo-just replace it and the cap too.

 

How is the thermo bad? The fan was running, bike just didnt cool.

 

If you go thru all the trouble of getting to the thermostat then you better put in a new one!!! At that point you don't care if the old one test good or bad. Also, check/tighten all the other hose clamp connections while you are in there.

 

We are talking about the mechanical thermostat under the throttle bodies that allows coolant to start flowing once up to temp. Not the electric thermo switch on the left radiator for the fan.

 

So just uncap it and run her up. To temp and watch for flow right? If no flow, the mech thermo is bad...
? ? ?

 

Mr. Sleep pretty much said it, getting to the thermostat is a decent task and probably means replacement if you're going there to check the old one. That being said, I sent you a PM with a link to the HSM. The "electrical" item you are thinking of is the switch that triggers the fan, and there is a whole other testing procedure for that. You might want to double check that and the radiator cap first, and if those prove good, then look into the thermostat.

Cheers

 

I think my T stat is stuck open but im too lazy to change it right now. It takes a while to warm up and on the freeway during cool mornings to work the temps are @ 165deg cruising at 80mph....it will rise to about 172 if i drop speed to like 65 though. Im summer hot traffic it will sit between 200-219 moving slowly like 30mph. The temps vary so much im thinking that stat is done.

 

You can put a thermostat in water. Bring up the temp and actually watch it open to test it. But if I'm going that deep, it's getting changed.

 

From what i've learned over the years, first and easiest thing to try with overheating is to replace the rad cap. Springs can weaken, rubber seals crack and won't hold pressure. Refill coolant under rad cap, not overflow bottle.