Overheating problem

right, Dave has looked at my bike, its just been for a full service and no one can tell me why my bike is grossly overheating to the point that its burning my legs! Its fine on motorways but city, slow or stop/start riding is sending her temperature above 105 on a regular basis. Fan is kicking in, coolant levels are fine, originally thought it may be a bit of a design flaw with a black frame containing the engine heat but nope, Yamaha service centre have never heard of this! Any ideas anyone? Yamaha have said I can take it back when I have more time to run some more diagnostics but thats gonna cost me.

 

Is that unusual for an R1 when in traffic/town?
Its normal for my CB1000 to regularly hit over 105 degrees in traffic.. Usual 75-80 normal usage..

 

I told you this morning what it could well be, read your messages!

As Sporty says temps creeping up in traffic isn't unusual and due to the design of a faired bike the heat from the block has to exit rearwards, which is past your legs. Providing the temp drops fast enough once the fan comes on it's unlikely a serious issue.
As for solving it, it's easy to check the impeller / thermostat while replacing the coolant with water wetter which will lower the temperatures too.

 

Think Micky's frame gets quite hot as well.

 

Also, another thought. Have they replaced the coolant in the service? It's part of a 'full' service along with all other fluids. So you should notice a difference in running temperatures since.

If not I'd be asking why it wasn't changed.

 

My BMW frame gets very hot in traffic too, totally normal and you'd only have a problem if you're wearing jeans. As Dave mentions, long as the fan is kicking in as normal and the temps drop again it all sounds fine to me. Another alternative is to fit a lower temp fan switch, to bring the fan on earlier.

 

Can someone else do the obvious reply - "If you sat on me I'd overheat and burn the tops of your legs".

I would, but I'm trying to clean up my image.

 

Give up!

 

My old ZX9R did this, so I checked my thermostat and it didn't work, so I changed the thermostat to one with a lower rating that opened at a lower temperature. (62 degrees instead of 84 degrees). Never had any more problems..

 

Used to have something similar on my Gixer but fan would kick in at 102 and bring the temp back down it is not unusual for bikes to get hot when stuck in traffic or waiting at the lights. I assume it is town riding that is giving you that kind of temperature build up? Never had any problems on my triumph only thing I have noticed is going through the blackwall tunnel she gets a little hot but as soon as I've cleared the tunnel all is well again.

 

And if you read the start of my thread, you will see that it has been for a service and all those things checked and none made a difference. Yeesh :-S

 

Right, this sounds like a plan. Ive never had a problem with my 600s doing this so Im assuming this has something to do with a bigger engine? How do you go about changing the thermostat for one that kicks in at a lower temp? Is this just something I can do myself or do I need to get my mechanic to do it? Ta muchly

 

Nooo-sh.

A full service WON'T include an impeller / thermostat check unless you ask them. Also services vary greatly from garage to garage, hence me asking if they had done a full drain. Some places don't even adjust chain tension, if it's not in the book - don't expect it to be done. Check your reciept!

It's impossible to remote diagnose a problem without all the info in the first place, your coolant was far to low the first time I saw your bike which I topped up to see you over, but told you it would need replacing. If the service didn't include that, then it would be the first thing to check.

Flushing the system will also identify if there's a blockage anywhere, another problem that randomly changing parts won't fix.

Changing the thermostat because it doesn't work and because it's the wrong rating are 2 entirely different things, 99% of ZX9's have 84° thermo's and work just fine, i'd suggest it was that it didn't function that was your problem not that it was to high rated.

Bike are designed to maintain an optimum temperature (about 75°) while moving, once you aren't the temperature will rise rapidly, you fan engages so we know that is at least functioning correctly although the rate is dropped at wasn't great. But without knowing if the fluid was replaced there could well only be water in your radiator (from the previous owner) which is less efficient as dissapating heat, causing the fast temperature rise when stationary.

A bigger engine develops more heat, yes. But that's not to say there is a component fault.
Changing the fluid is a far more simple job that the thermostat (although neither are particularly difficult if you're handy with a tool set), doesn't require you to unplug any wires and is expected user maintainance.

 

Daaaaaaaave, I did ask them to look at the overheating problem hence the reason they said they had not come across this and told me to bring her back because I had to take her for the weekend. And they did change the fluid. They did all the stuff you mentioned but nothing, nada.

 

You didn't say that though, you said it had a service.

Since the service, despite the temps going up in traffic do they drop fast once you start moving? Does the bike run any cooler?
A lower rated thermostat will open sooner so the temp rise will be slightly slower, but once the coolant heat up it'll still run hot in slow moving traffic.
Replacing it with a more effective coolant will help more, but as I say it's really hard to remote diagnose something like this.
If the cooling system is working exactly as it should be then the engine is generating more heat than expected, which means friction. Or there's another element at play.

The fairing design combined with thin trousers could account for some of it.
If it's hotter than you'd like and Yamaha have checked everything and not just swapped coolant then I'd switch to a more aggressive cooling agent. Possibly with a thermostat change, it won't eliminate the problem only the symptom.

 

Have you had a look at your radiator as well. Could need a a good clean externally and internally???

 

Apparently they did that,

 

I ve just been checking some R1 forums and googled R1 Overheating .....

There is no problem... Bike goes slow/traffic, engine gets HOT, temp 105+ Fan kicks in = NORMAL.

My Honda does this, as do most 1000 and bigish machines....

 

if its rapidly cooling when fan kicks in its unlikely to be a major problem. Most bigger bikes heat up quickly in traffic,as long as temp drops once moving the system is working.if there was a problem the temp wouldn't come back down.My KTM gets hot well quickly in traffic,much quicker then my blade did,but its normal.

 

Thats a crap design then! It stays hot for a v long time and it is burning the crap out of my legs, I have a red burn mark on the inside of one of my thighs. Thats rubbish :-( I used to sometimes run around town in shorts on my 600s, no way I could do that on the R1 because Im getting the burn even with kevlars.