ST1100 - She's Giving Up Smoking Like A Cigar But Now She's Hot!

[Uncle Phil]

I have a 'temperature' gun and don't see much difference between the bikes - shooting the inlet and outlet of the radiator.
Obviously if they all sit at idle the gauge will point to about a quarter from the right and the fan will kick in.
The issue with this one is that it does not want to cool back down when run with plenty of air flowing through the radiator - with the lower cowling in place.
The engine 'supposedly' has 23,000 miles on it so I would be surprised if the water pump is bad - but then I've been surprised before.

 

[St-Gerard]

Tried both OEM and Aftermarket - not much difference in either case.

Wonder if the last owner of the new engine used one of those leak stop chemicals and now plugged the rad some

 

[St-Gerard]

From working in a Chev and Ford dealership one thing I learned is new or low mileage doesn't mean it's Good.

 

[tnbill]

With all the parts bikes surely you have another radiator to try.

 

[St-Gerard]

Phil does it lower the temp reading at idle when the fan comes on? Should be able to see a differant temp between the upper and lower rad hoses, if its pumping coolant.

 

[Uncle Phil]

Phil does it lower the temp reading at idle when the fan comes on? Should be able to see a differant temp between the upper and lower rad hoses, if its pumping coolant.

Yes

 

[Josh_ST]

From working in a Chev and Ford dealership one thing I learned is new or low mileage doesn't mean it's Good.

As Eric O from SMA says, N.E.W.=Never Ever Worked

 

[Josh_ST]

I have a 'temperature' gun...

I wonder if you can rent or borrow a thermal imaging camera from a local source? I've seen some availability for home energy audits to look for air leaks.

EDIT: Home Depot! But might be too fancy for the holler!

FLIR COMMERCIAL SYSTEMS Thermal Camera Rental FLIR-i7 - The Home Depot

Rent a Thermal Camera Rental from one of our over 1,200 THD rental locations. Call your local store for same day pickup availability.

www.homedepot.com

 

[ST1100Y]

Yes

So as it only shows at highway speeds where more fuel is burned, we're back to a suspected obstruction...

 

[Cogmeister]

Is the thermostat opening at a different coolant temperature than specified?
Hence staying closed as you're speeding down the highway and allowing the coolant temp to rise
Back in my early mechanicing days I remember proudly getting a thermostat out of my car and seeing 88 stamped on the bottom,
implying that there were other values available
(I have never seen a Pan thermostat, but just reading the thread and wondering )

 

[St-Gerard]

The engine you took out of the bike , was smoking but ran at the correct temps right? Which makes me aggree with St1100y there's a restriction in the system (RAG or plug to keep dirt out), or a defective water pump ,have seen miss match of parts.

 

[Uncle Phil]

As Paul Harvey often said - THE REST OF THE STORY.
Since you have to pull all the body work off (upper & lower fairings, cowling, etc.) I decided I would replace all that was replaceable.

1. New radiator Cap
2. New temp sensor (though the one in there was not very old)
3. New upper and lower radiator hoses
4. Different radiator that I had thoroughly flushed with lots of water pressure and air pressure
5. Fresh dose of Evans Waterless Coolant to be sure previous batch was not contaminated
6. No need to replace the thermostat for the third time (the only replaceable thing not replaced in this maintenance cycle)

This time I reinstalled all the bodywork before I took her out for a test ride.
After 210+ miles of twisties, straights, city traffic, etc. with numerous heat up/cool down cycles, she seems to be back to normal.
What fixed it?
At this point it does not really matter to me - what matters it is fixed!
When I get a round tuit I'll flush the old radiator and take a look at the hoses I removed to see if I find anything.
I'd much rather be riding than wrenching!

 

[St-Gerard]

Happy rides, this thread reminds me of the one Transmission that won, to this day have never figured out why a Km172 model transmission in a Hyndai drove perfectly fine in Neutral , which of course is wrong. Finally replace the trans with a complete used Transmission , too long of a story about it for this post. Happy for you getting it fixed. Cheers Gerard

 

[sirbike]

Great new and sounds like the hassle is already a distant faded memory.

 

[ST1100Y]

4. Different radiator that I had thoroughly flushed with lots of water pressure and air pressure

I'd investigate the old rad for the foreign object causing the whole headache...

 

[PhotoDoctor]

 

[Josh_ST]

Maybe @Uncle Phil got confused and put maple syrup in the old rad instead of Evans?

 

[Firstpeke]

To quote a well known and popular contributor to this here forum....

"I may talk slow, but I don't think slow"... (Uncle Phil)

 

[Uncle Phil]

Well, I just flushed out the old radiator - and water flowed through it as good as the one I installed in its place.
I also examined the hoses I replaced and they look fine on the inside.
So the mystery still remains unless it was the radiator cap or polluted Evans Coolant ...

 

[bdalameda]

Well, I just flushed out the old radiator - and water flowed through it as good as the one I installed in its place.
I also examined the hoses I replaced and they look fine on the inside.
So the mystery still remains unless it was the radiator cap or polluted Evans Coolant ...

Even if water flows through the radiator connections it still may have plugged circuits in the radiator that won't allow water to pass through and cool. I suspect that radiator was not completely clear and had reduced cooling capacity.