Cooler weather, give those radiator fans a spin by hand.

This was a new roadside troubleshooting event for me, and I guess this would really only apply to 1998-2009 VFRs. Honda and their wonderful side mount radiators. With cold weather upon us, I haven't seen coolant temps high enough to trigger the radiator fan in a while. Today was a nice 65 degree day, and following the cold spell over Xmas weekend I took the bike out for a ride. On the way back home I was on the interstate and got stuck in some bumper-bumper traffic. Coolant temperature hit 220 and kept climbing. When it hit 230, I took my left glove off and reached down to the left radiator to check for airflow getting pulled past my hand. Nothing. I made my way over to the shoulder and jumped off the bike.

A quick visual check and I saw the fan definitely wasn't spinning so I turned off the bike. I stuck my hand on the fan and tried to give it a spin. It only made a 1/4 turn before suddenly stopping. Pushing on it I could feel it hitting something, whatever it was a pebble or twig freed itself after I pushed the fan past the stuck part. I then popped the seat and opened the fuse box. Grabbing out the flat blade screwdriver from the Honda tool kit I popped out the 10A fuse for the fan. I could see clear as day it was blown. Luckily there is a spare 10A right there on the box so I swapped it in. Keyed on the bike and the fan started.

I guess I'll make a habit now of checking the radiator fan to make sure nothing has gotten stuck in there during winter riding.

 

I love happy endings