RIII Temperature

Heidhurtin

Standard Bore
Joined
Feb 25, 2025
Messages
10
Ride
2012 Rocket III
Guys - just how hot does the RII motor run? I just dropped in a new map to try and beat overrun popping, and was watching the temp during the 12-minute tune afterwards. This started at 42 degC (the ambient around here) and reached 111 degC before I panicked and sprayed some water on the rad. This brought the temp down to 105 degC, before my tablet decided it was overheating and shut down.

2012 Roadster, Jardine pipes, otherwise stock (I think).

Edited to add the fan kicked in at 102 degC.
 
The thermo switch should have kicked the fan on around 103 degC (had to look it up actually) and the thermostat starts opening at 85 degC. If the ambient temps are that high the rad coolant (if fresh) would do with a change in mix to more water and less antifreeze (say 70/30 vice 50/50) because antifreeze isn't a coolant, water is. I can go into a very long tirade about heat exchangers and formulas for calculating efficiency (enthalpy change and mass flow rates etc.) but suffice to say idling the engine and relying on the fan alone in high heat will make it run hot without additional airflow across the rad. Put a fan IN FRONT of the rad on high and see what temps it stabilizes at, the key is airflow across the rad.
 
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