Coolant Temp-Hot or Not? (Thread split from "Water pump/front cover" thread)

Nice!
Riding in 110 degrees will tell us fer sure everything is ok.

AApple":230tkohn said:

But...and there's ALWAYS a but with anything I do....there IS a downside. There is WAAAAAAY more hot air coming past the fan shroud/fairing lowers/top shelter on me...I could definitely tell when the thermostat opened!

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I know your pain! When I first installed the radiator deflectors on my '82 I had the same thing happen....HOT AIR EVERYWHERE!

However, I have the distinct advantage of being able to take my Vetter lowers off and send that heat out sideways! :clapping: :mrgreen:

If nothing else, I have found that the Vetter faring provides a real nice in between......not a standard anymore, but not far from it and not quite fully dressed yet a good aerodynamic faring and windshield!

mcgovern61":1x3f8051 said:

However, I have the distinct advantage of being able to take my Vetter lowers off and send that heat out sideways! :clapping: :mrgreen:

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My legs are right there, "out the side"...I use hiway pegs all the time, so the inner part of me legs is getting broiled... :heat: :swoon:
I'll figure something out. I have a pretty large gap between the fairing and the shelter on the left side, for some reason...lots of air coming thru there. I'll stuff a rag or something down in there for the ride home, and see if that helps. Can't hurt, right? :mrgreen:
I wuz looking at the temp sender, to see how much trouble it would be to replace....it's gunna be a PITA. No way to do it without removing the radiator, and taking the engine mount/shroud loose....dadgummit! :rant: I really believe that the sender I used is making my gauge read whacky, and I would like to put my original one back in, but....daaaaaaaang....I don't wanna tear the front back apart again. Maybe this winter... :yes:

Well...it's been a couple of weeks, and I'm satisfied that my engine is NOT running too hot...it is just a gauge/sender mis-match. Temps here this week have been from 104*, to 107*. :heat: The highest the gauge has gotten has been 3/4...which is still waay higher than it ever was before, but....it has been staying at just higher than 1/2 mark most of the time, while riding 75-80 mph in these temps. Last summer, in the same ambient temps, the hottest the gauge showed was just above 1/2....never any higher. So...I'm just gunna ride, and not worry aboot the gauge anymore. As long as it gets to a certain place, and doesn't keep rising, I'm gud. If it kept getting higher/hotter, I would be more concerned, but it ain't...
Not loosing any coolant, got no oil in the coolant, and....I ain't leaking no erl from the weeping hole in the front cover no mo. I'mma happy camper. :clapping:

OH...and my plastic welding job on the "Shovel" is holding up very nicely! I think I am going to try to add a piece across the top, to see if that will force more air thru the rad, instead of going right over the top. I gotta move my air horn anyway, since the bracket for it is just about to break loose from the frame, so that will allow me to run a piece across there, and have a full "box", instead of just a three-sided scoop. Worth a shot, anyway. :yes:

Sounds good.

:music: .... :rocks: ... :moped:

Otay ya'll...time for a little update on this particular issue. I had some time today, so I thought I would get out there and find out onced and fer all what temps I was actually running, compared to what the temp gauge was showing. And here are there results....
Here's my temp probe I used, and it is pretty dang accurate. I put it into the fins of the rad, at the top:

This is the temp within a few seconds of start-up. Ambient temps here today in the lo 70's:

Here's the temp when the bike is warmed enough to ride, according to the owner's manualI combined two pics of the gauge and the meter on these, to make it easier to view both)

Fan kicked on here:

This is where the gauge normally runs while I'm riding, if the ambient temp is above 98 or so:

And finally, this is about the highest I have seen the gauge go this summer(in traffic), and it scared me. To get this pic, I had to put a towel in front of the radiator, so the temp would climb:


Sooooo...it would seem that my 'Wing is NOT overheating. I am firmly convinced now that the temp sender unit I used is just off. Now, I can ride in peace, and not worry about the temp anymore. :yahoo:

Seems to be running fine.

What I did to check my gauge was disconnect the fan then watch the coolant recovery for when the coolant started to boil into it.
At that point the gauge read 1/2 inside the red zone so I knew for a reference just below that is as hot as I should ever let it get.
Probably not the best or safest way to check it but worked.