3 bars after a few miles of warm up. No 2-3 dance ever even down to 30s F. 42-44 mpg average for over 100,000 miles, exactly 43.2 mpg over the last 14,845 miles.
I've never ridden below 39?F (that I know of) though it felt colder than that. High heat or low cold it's always been a steady three bars. Never any fluctuation. I usually start out at one bar two bars in less than a mile and three bars in maybe two miles. Never any fluctuation.etalors said:
Didn't say that. I said that the coolant is doing what it's supposed to do, which is absorbing heat from the engine, carrying it to the radiator to be dumped into the cooler outside air. Replacing it isn't going to make the engine run warmer.
See that you put the little floating rivet (bleed hole) at 12:00. There are cutouts in the block side of the thermostat housing that coincide with tabs on the thermostat body. I would (now) remove the hose from the thermostat cover before reinstalling the cover. This helps ensure all is lined up properly. I have learned a GREAT DEAL about this job lately.
The temperature gauge third bar lights up when the coolant at the temperature sensor hits 150 deg F. Two bars is somewhere between 136 and 150 deg F. That is a very cold temperature for a gasoline engine to be running at consistently. It explains why fuel consumption increases as the thermostat performance decreases.
Well that's interesting.
The fourth bar lights up at about 230 deg. F. That gives the third bar a range of bout 80 deg. F. Most car thermostats operate in the 195 deg. F range. I have yet to have the need to replace a motorcycle thermostat so I don't know what they are rated at but I can't see that they would have a very different temperature rating than a car engine. Do they stamp the temperature rating on the ST1300 thermostat? If so what is it?
That's a pretty reasonable guess. The thermostat is supposed to start opening between 176 and 183, so the target temperature is probably not much higher, maybe 185-190. If the coolant is flowing and there's air crossing the radiator, it isn't going to climb much higher than that. Much below that and the ECM will run the engine rich to raise the temperature. This for performance, emissions and maintaining the right clearances between the engine parts.
I've done this on my 2016 FJR1300ES. I purchased an adapter cable which converts the 4 pin Yamaha cable under the seat to an OBDII plug. The ECU in the 2016 ad 2017 FJRs is OBDII compliant. I've installed the cable and a WiFi OBDII reader under my seat. I can monitor the temp via my iPhone. I can also display the engine temp in degrees on the stock dash.
A member of this forum did a test with a thermocouple installed, recorded the results and posted them here. It took a little while but I found it for you.
Well I replaced my thermostat this winter and thought all was well. Last week my mileage started going down again, and today I got the 3 bar dance on the way home. Pulled in the garage and grabbed my infrared temperture sensor and measured 166 at the upper left corner of the radiator. Guess I'll be putting in a third thermostat as well.
Before you do another swap I would double check the fluid level in the radiator and overflow. Low coolant level could cause what you are describing.
Been there, done that. Thanks
That's as good a method as any, and it's easy for others to repeat.
