Get hold of one of those infra-red thermometer (the point-and-read gizmos) and check the motor REALLY is hot.Originally Posted by The Lone Rider
Loud and Uncouth
Get hold of one of those infra-red thermometer (the point-and-read gizmos) and check the motor REALLY is hot.
Winding up drongos, foil hat wearers and over sensitive KBers for over 14,000 posts...........
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Bleed the cooling system, check the plugs to see if it's lean.
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Kiwibiker Senior Member
If you mean one of these =
I know someone who does it - except the fucking things cost about $400 a day to rent from memory.
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Ta
Nope, an infra red temp gauge. Not a heat sensor.If you mean one of these =
I know someone who does it - except the fucking things cost about $400 a day to rent from memory.
If it smells hot, reads hot, and sounds hot...it's hot. Take the thermostat out and leave it out till you get another one, but don't ride the bike round cooking man.
Kiwibiker Senior Member
Well doesnt read hot - the temp gauge isn't going on although I realize that's more of a "Turn off the bike now!!" gauge.
I thought thermostat controls the triggering of the radiator? The radiator does go on, it's just on when I would have thought not needed!
Find out more at www.unluckyones.co.nz
Suffers from peterpan syndrome
For peace of mind, just pop the plugs out...if they are super clean (white/grey) or looking like they are scorched...its running way to lean.
a lean motor can burn valves and much more $$$$
A carb left sitting can foul up and block air and fuel jets, floats can stick and much more...just cos it "used" to be good...dosn't mean it still is just cos you havn't touched it.
...check the plugs mate, its either the air fuel mix or the cooling system (Is the new radiator cover blocking the air flow to much?..try removing then riding)
Hope all is well, keep up the great work mate
Last edited by willytheekid; 19th July 2012 at 09:50. Reason: me speeeling suks a
When Life thows me a curve
...I lean into it!
Ta
Thermostat works solely on pressure. Water heats up, expands, and needs to push past the thermostat into the cooler lower pressure radiator, it keeps the engine temperature within acceptable levels thus, and nothing expands or contracts to quick causing terminal damage.
If there's anything slowing that process down too much you're fucked. Running without a thermostat is also not the go for any extended time frames either, or in super cool conditions.
Forum whore
The Thermostat is internal to the cooling system - when cold it is closed and prevents the coolant circulating through the system. As the trapped coolant heats the thermostat begins to open and the coolant flows through the radiator. This is part of the warm-up cycle of the bike. The thermstat can become jammed in any position, if jammed shut the bike will overheat quickly, if jammed open the bike will take longer to warm-up and run rough until it has gotten up to temperature. If jammed in a partially open position then you'll get an effect somewhere in the middle.
The next part of the cooling cycle is the radiator fan. If there is insufficient airflow through the radiator then the temp will rise, once it hits a certain temp then a seperate electrical thermo-switch (usually screwed to the side of the radiator with 1 or 2 wires going to it) will close causing the fan to turn on. Once the temperature drops below the thresh-hold then the switch turns off, in turn shutting off the fan. Thermo-switches can go intermitent in funny ways, but if your fan is running even if you think it shouldn't be - then I doubt this is the source of your problem.
I'd follow others advice and pull the plugs to check for lean running, next I'd remove the radiator cover to rule out reduced airflow being the problem, if still hot I'd be suspecting the thermostat, if the thermostat is good then I'd be starting to worry about the water pump or some sort of blockage in the the cooling system.
.... back in green and feeling great ....
Forum whore
Not unless you've seen some special thermostat that I haven't heard of.
Thermostats work solely on temperature, you can test them by putting them in a pot of water on the stove and heating them. If you want to be completely accurate then look up your Haynes manual and there should be a temperature spec for them - stick a thermomter in the pot and see if its in spec.
Any liquid-cooled car engine has a small device called the thermostat that sits between the engine and the radiator. The thermostat in most cars is about 2 inches (5 cm) in diameter. Its job is to block the flow of coolant to the radiator until the engine has warmed up. When the engine is cold, no coolant flows through the engine. Once the engine reaches its operating temperature (generally about 200 degrees F, 95 degrees C), the thermostat opens. By letting the engine warm up as quickly as possible, the thermostat reduces engine wear, deposits and emissions.
If you ever have the chance to test one, a thermostat is an amazing thing to watch because what they do seems impossible. You can put one in a pot of boiling water on the stove. As it heats up, its valve opens about an inch, apparently by magic! If you'd like to try this yourself, go to a car parts store and buy one for a couple of bucks.
The secret of the thermostat lies in the small cylinder located on the engine-side of the device. This cylinder is filled with a wax that begins to melt at perhaps 180 degrees F (different thermostats open at different temperatures, but 180 F/82 C is a common temperature). A rod connected to the valve presses into this wax. When the wax melts, it expands significantly and pushes the rod out of the cylinder, opening the valve. If you have read How Thermometers Work and done the experiment with the bottle and the straw, you have seen the same process in action. The wax happens to expand a good bit more because it is changing from a solid to a liquid in addition to expanding from the heat.
.... back in green and feeling great ....
111000101000100010011110
You're thinking of the radiator cap. The three thermostat types I'm aware of (wax, bi-metallic, and electronic) all use temperature feedback to open. The first two you can easily check by throwing them in a jug of boiling water, I'm betting on this bike it will be a bi-metallic type. Either way, if it's the thermostat or pump failing, the radiator will be significantly cooler than the engine.
"A shark on whiskey is mighty risky, but a shark on beer is a beer engineer" - Tad Ghostal
Forum whore
Oh yeah also remember that the radiator is a closed presurised system. Water under pressure doesn't boil at 100 deg C it's higher than that.
.... back in green and feeling great ....
Ta
My bad, I did mean temperature, but was think about the whe system and had pressure in my head. Had to type that sentence twice because I used pressure again. Dumb fuck!
Forum whore
Looking again at your pics - that new radiator guard would be blocking a lot of airflow. It could definately account for both the hot running and the fact that your fan is running when you don't think it should be.
.... back in green and feeling great ....
Kiwibiker Senior Member
I pulled the two rear plugs (front ones need more time than I have to get at)
Left rear was little grubby, right rear was grey and little grubby around rim
Look nothing like the lean plugs in picture.
Plugs DID used to look more like the rich plugs though.
Gave grey plug a scrub.. will run bike a bit and check it later.
Find out more at www.unluckyones.co.nz
Forum whore
in that case pull the radiator guard off. 4 bolts right and if nothing else you'll eliminate another easy to check for cause.
.... back in green and feeling great ....
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