Overheating?

[Gkiller]

Here are the specifics:
- 06 Rocket Classic
- temperature outside was 100+ degrees
- stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic on highway late afternoon
- noticed fan was kicking on and off as it should
- red water/oil temp light came on after sitting in traffic for several minutes
- noticed that fan did NOT come on when light was on
- pulled off highway and cruised along side streets to
get air flow. After a couple of blocks, fan came back on, light went off, and never came back on again.
Questions:
1. Why did fan not run constantly if bike was running hot? On previous bikes I have had, fan would kick on and run constantly until cooled down.
2. Is it possible it was the oil temp that was high, and if so, is that why the fan did not kick on?

Was in the midst of an 800 mile ride, and bike ran flawlessly except for this minor hiccup.

 

[Power-Tripp]

If the oil gets excessively hot, it thins out greatly. This means that oil pressure at idle and low rpm drops.

This causes the oil pressure light to come on, until the temps drop, and the oil thickens a bit.

The R3 does not use an oil cooler. as a result, it is important that your cooling system work as efficiently as possible. Do not run a 50/50 mix of anti-freeze in hot climates.

We run a 20-25% mix of anti-freeze with Justice Brothers Super Cooler and anti-corrosion additives in distilled water, for the hot/humid temps in the Deep South. We also make sure the cooling system is flushed and clean each season.

I hope this helps.

 

[atomsplitter]

Your thermostatic switch to run the fan should have stayed on I would think since it's run by the coolant temp sensor. Check the manual and it states when it should be on and off for temps. If the temp light is on the fan shouldn't kick off (it would be better as a two speed switch to kick the fan into over-drive).

 

[zimtuff]

Here are the specifics:
- 06 Rocket Classic
- temperature outside was 100+ degrees
- stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic on highway late afternoon
- noticed fan was kicking on and off as it should
- red water/oil temp light came on after sitting in traffic for several minutes
- noticed that fan did NOT come on when light was on
- pulled off highway and cruised along side streets to
get air flow. After a couple of blocks, fan came back on, light went off, and never came back on again.
Questions:
1. Why did fan not run constantly if bike was running hot? On previous bikes I have had, fan would kick on and run constantly until cooled down.
2. Is it possible it was the oil temp that was high, and if so, is that why the fan did not kick on?

Was in the midst of an 800 mile ride, and bike ran flawlessly except for this minor hiccup.

Mine only did this once and it was the fan fuse had blown.
I have heard of others having intermittent problems like yours and it was a bad connection to the fan.

From memory the fan comes on at 213F and goes off at another temp(I forget what it is).
It will run continuous if the temp does not drop back to its cutoff temp,so yours does seem to be doing its job when it comes on.

 

[HeR3tic]

From memory the fan comes on at 213F and goes off at another temp(I forget what it is).

I do believe thats nearly 20 F higher than specs. Water boils at 212. Granted, while water normally boils at 212, it boils more readily under pressure.

A water wetter product, such as Red Line Water Wetter, is my addition to this discussion. I swear by it. Great stuff and nearly 15 F lowered engine temp. With Red Line Water Wetter I use a 25% anti-freeze mixture with distilled water.

Basicly a water wetter breaks the usual large boiling water bubbles into very very minute resemblance of bubbles. Therefore the water is kept in greater contact with the cylinder walls for much greater heat transferance. I believe herein is the cavitation oft spoken of and a water wetter agent minimizes cavitation.

 

[zimtuff]

I do believe thats nearly 20 F higher than specs. Water boils at 212. Granted, while water normally boils at 212, it boils more readily under pressure.

.

What school did you go to? The higher the pressure ,the higher the boiling temp.
The pressure minimises the cavitation which is why they pressurise the cooling system in the 1st place.

The opening temp of the radiator cap is 1.2 bars,or 17 psi.At that temp the coolant would boil at 219F according to this chart,possibly even higher with the right coolant additives ,so 213F may not be far off the mark.
Pressure and Boiling Points of Water

I dont claim to be 100% on the fan switch temp as my online manual has the fan opening temp left blank .

 

[motolink]

I am sure a read on this forum somewhere that the temp when the fan cuts in can be adjusted io or down using the TuneEcu cable.
This might be an option worth looking into.

 

[Txclassic]

I have an '06 classic also. High coolant temp and low oil pressure use the same red warning light. There is a little triangle in the LCD screen that points to which icon for either oil pressure or temp. This is the only way of knowing which one is the problem.

Is it possible you were having low oil pressure warning at the same time as the really hot stop-and-go traffic? If you rev the motor and the light goes out quickly, it was probably oil pressure as Power-Tripp suggested.

Fan should stay on constantly if coolant temperature was above setpoint.

Never had this problem, but I'm considering lowering the coolant temp setting in Tune-ECU to run the engine slightly cooler. Stop and go in Houston heat on a Rocket is the price we pay to have all that torque.

 

[Karl Tyrson]

Greetings. I’ve been running the same issues, but, yesterday, the oil/temp light went on running 120 k/h at the highway, morning and on a woody sector so it was pretty cold the wind, so I pulled aside, turned off the bike, waited a couple of minutes and tried again, light went off. Rode again and after a couple
Of km the light came on again, this time I waited 10 mins or so and head back home, all the way back the light wouldn’t come on despite the fact that it took half hour of peak traffic to arrive. What are your advices? Thanks In advance