Normal operating temperature on 97 VFR??

Hi!!
I wonder if my operating temperature is correct. When driving, the needle only gets barely past the "C" mark on the indicator. When driving in the city or idling, it gets a little higher. According to the manual it's normal as long as the needle is beetween "C" and "H", but I still think that's a little low.. I usually drive at outside air temperatures beetween 50 F and 80 F.. Northern-Norway doesn't get much warmer than that

 

Mine normally runs in the lower 1/3 scale. If stuck in traffic it will climb to mid range and fan kicks in around 5/8.
I've never been concerned it's running cool (just above "C") as it has good throttle response and idles well, as in no choke required.

 

Mine is always looking a bit cooler than I'd think when it's 50 or less, never really gets off the "C" then once in stop and go traffic it'll come up a bit. more in the summer she'll read a 1/4" or so above the "C" below the 1/2 mark for sure, till you get in stop and go, then the needle moves up above the half way point then shortly you'll hear the fan come on which actuality is a good thing to hear, as it's never really warm enough up here to get it to come on much, so to me it's a good to know that everything is working when it needs to be. but yes mine hardly gets off the "C" this time of the year.

 

sometimes thermostats can stick in the open position, making warmup slow.

You could try blocking off about 1/3 of radiator with cardboard or tape up 1/2 of oil cooler....

bike does seem to run best when temp is up a bit, about half way is good.

 

well unless one was to have an actual temp gauge that read in degrees of sorts hard to really say what hot and cold is. Would like to believe to some degree that Honda made the analog gauge on the 4th gen some what accurate, trick is now to know what the temp is when the needle points where it is.

 

Another 97 owner here, and my temp needle moves just like everyone else's here does.

Seems like your bike is fine since it's a pretty common thing among the replies

 

Mine is same as above. When I bought the bike it seemed low so I changed the t-stat. No change. (The old one tested good in a pan of water, also.)

 

I have a CBR1000RR instrument panel with a digital temp gauge on my 4gen. According to it, the 4gen runs the same temps as both my previous VTEC's which is 190-205f at highway speeds in 75f and above air temps. In cooler weather (down to the 40's), it runs 185ish.


The 4gens' analog gauge is calibrated very low IMO. That's why you don't see "my bike runs hot" threads from their owners like you do in the 5/6gen forums. I''ve seen the same thing happen with the superhawk which remain unchanged over the years but eventually did get digital gauges.

 

it's easy to just keep taping over the oil cooler until water temp reaches middle of the gauge or very slightly below.....we seem to agree that fan comes on at about 3/4 to 5/8 of scale.
if i need to ride VFR here in winter(30-45degrees F.) i alwys use partial radiator block to get any noticable temperature.

 

I concur, my '96 is the same way.

 

Thank you! Seems like I have nothing to worry about then
Only 5 more months of snow left!!

 

Interesting you where able to get that to fit & hook up, you wouldn't happen to have photos of that woulds ya?

I'm a big fan of analog gauges like S&W, Auto Meter etc, wish Honda would have had the forethought to have included numbers on these gauges, it would have made a nice finishing touch.

 

Hi Guys; I am always interested in hearing what operating temperatures everyones bike runs at; I agree with RVFR and I believe the first thing that all you guys need to do is measure your engine temp with an actual guage,so you really know where you are at. A reference point on a guage does not tell you the corresponding temp that the engine is running. Even though VFR'S run traditionally hot, I dont think its good practice to conceed to hot running engines. I dont think these bikes should run much over 210f,if they do I think you are looking at premature engine failure of some type.

 

yeah guys my 96vfr750 is the same way well i would much rather bee seeing that needle by the cool c then pegged by the terrible H