ST1300 heat

[viking1066]

That fix will simply keep the heat in the engine and make it run even hotter
It may also cause your header pipes to rust out if you drive in any type of wet weather or wash your bike often.

yup without fail, causes the metal to delaminate and fracture, great on a race car where stuff is paid for but on a street bike / car it gets expensive

 

[lomita]

So, the solution is.....????

 

[viking1066]

this is the blog /vlog i found on the heat issue

The real cause and cure for the Honda ST1300 excess heat

Images by Don Ferrario.

www.donferrario.com

 

[lomita]

Perfect. Thanks.

 

[rdmsttrav]

I had a 2007 purchased in Portland in February 2015 I think, a pretty chilly month, the heat didn't seem bad...then came summer. It was scorching hot, so I added Baker air wings, that took care of me feeling the heat but not the actual heat problem itself. I sold it for an abs equipped bike before I got any further on the heat.
I have a 2005 that I bought in Houston in Feb 2017. on the ride back to Portland, I didn't notice heat as it was chilly. Before summer I did a synch of the starter valves on the throttle body after cleaning the 5 way tees. Then took it to Igofar for a BIG service. He checked my sync job to make sure it was okay and I haven't had the heat issue on this bike at all.
I bought a pair of used Baker air wings from the forum just in case but so far no need.
So I'm in the synch first camp, then Baker air wings as a last resort(they look goofy but sure funnel the air as needed). Good luck with whichever route you take!

 

[ST Gui]

I had an old 2 stroke blow a hole through the piston because it was running to lean and that engine was hot like this engine, so i am a little concerned.

Read your spark plugs. They'd be the way to see if you're in any danger of an overly lean condition.

 

[ddemair]

Read this. And consider using the search function in the upper right corner of this page. There are quite a few threads describing this and it has even been said that riding position (knees in tight against the bike) will make the rider feel uncomfortably warm while riding with your knees out allows cooling air to draw the heat away. I've experienced the famous ST heat only once on a very hot day after a spirited ride with a lot of downshifting and accelerating the speed back up after turns. A bead rider will raise your bottom up off the seat maybe 1/2" and allow cooling air under you.

That's interesting because my experience has been exactly the opposite. It seems that when my knees are against the tank, the heat goes around my shins, but when I open up my legs, the heat rises towards my thighs.

I guess there are different experiences depending on one's anatomy.

 

[Igofar]

Perfect. Thanks.

That fix will cause damage to your hoses and wire harness and get pretty pricey as well.
I've had several members bring me their bikes and ask me to remove the foil stuff and repair/replace the wiring harness and such due to damage after trying this fix

 

[Igofar]

Find the cause of the failure (heat) instead of throwing solutions at a problem (save the foil for baked potato's)
Standing by the white courtesy if you need assistance.

 

[lomita]

The wiring harness is getting baked?? Foiled again? Well, at least it's dry heat.

All puns aside, lack of maintenance is the prime cause of engine over heating and the ST1300 was perfect out of the box when new? That's what I want to hear.

When does the heat monster rear its ugly head? Is there a maintenance checklist in the service manual, which when adhered to, will stave off the heat gremlins?

 

[rwrolson]

Hello, I have had a st1100 for 7 years and just got a 2012 ST1300 and took it for it's firs 150km ride today. I test drove it before I bought it, but only for 50km(ish).

Now I have read that the ST1300 is hotter than the st1100, but this was crazy hot. I stopped and checked to make sure there was coolant, and there is coolant in the reservoir.

The bars stay at 3 and the fan does kick in when in city traffic. The bars never once changed from 3, which I thought was weird as the ST1100 would always move from 11 o'clock to 12 o'clock and the fan would kick in, then once you were moving it would go back to 11 o'clock. (had heat issues with the st1100, but a new thermostat fixed that). Now I have read that staying at 3 bars is good.

I cannot believe that the st1300 is this hot. It was very uncomfortable and that was riding on a day with temp of 20 celsius, which is my favorite riding temp usually. I can only imagine what this would be like in the summer.

I thought I would post local as I am in London ON, before posting on the tech section.

The bike is so nice to ride, so I really hope this is a fixable issue. If not, there is no way I can ride this bike.

Ideas? Coolant flush, check thermostat. I read something about checking the throttle body.

Baker Air Wings...nothing else works they work great!

 

[RobbieAG]

When I got my ST1300, I still had an ST1100 and was bothered by the heat. I do feel it's significantly hotter than the 1100 but not unusual for a large bike. On my bike the exposed frame gets very hot - too hot to touch after a ride. I found the best solution is not to modify the bike, but to change my riding gear in the hot weather. When the outside temps are above 80 degrees, I wear "Heat Out" undergarments like the ones in the link. Problem solved for me.

Heat Out Undergarments

 

[Igofar]

I just had a gentleman ride in from Texas yesterday with extreme heat, and a few other issues.
His bike was so hot I could not even touch the gas tank for about a half hour. As we let it cool down enough to start inspecting stuff, I took some temp gun readings and his tank was 124 degrees.
After a few hours his bike sat idling on the Lift Table with readings of 94 degrees, and this was after 30 minutes or so of idling

 

[SupraSabre]

That fix will simply keep the heat in the engine and make it run even hotter
It may also cause your header pipes to rust out if you drive in any type of wet weather or wash your bike often.

One thing and reason I removed those from my '05, was when oil accumulates on the wrappings, it can cause a fire. I've never heard of that happening, but that was enough to get me to remove it!

 

[SupraSabre]

I just had a gentleman ride in from Texas yesterday with extreme heat, and a few other issues.
His bike was so hot I could not even touch the gas tank for about a half hour. As we let it cool down enough to start inspecting stuff, I took some temp gun readings and his tank was 124 degrees.
After a few hours his bike sat idling on the Lift Table with readings of 94 degrees, and this was after 30 minutes or so of idling

Larry, what year was his bike? You should try taking readings on these bikes (before and after) and see if my assessment is correct about the '08 and later being hotter..

 

[Igofar]

Larry, what year was his bike? You should try taking readings on these bikes (before and after) and see if my assessment is correct about the '08 and later being hotter..

I do that Bob. His bike was an 2004 beautiful blue model with a corbin smuggler trunk and Honda top case.
While I agree the newer models do have more crap in the pipes, I have been able to tame a couple 2009's and 2012 models.
So your theory about that goes out the window
Hope your having a nice day though. I'm cleaning the aftermath in the garage today

 

[SupraSabre]

I do that Bob. His bike was an 2004 beautiful blue model with a corbin smuggler trunk and Honda top case.
While I agree the newer models do have more crap in the pipes, I have been able to tame a couple 2009's and 2012 models.
So your theory about that goes out the window
Hope your having a nice day though. I'm cleaning the aftermath in the garage today

I'm sure you are aware that in the earlier ('08 to about '12) cop bikes, actually had different exhaust pipes/mufflers numbers, than '02-'03 & '08 ->'12 non cop bikes had? They had less catalytic crap in them than the '08 -> '12 non cop bikes did, but more than the '02->'07 had. I figured this from the fact, they used to be cheaper than the non-cop bike's mufflers)

Education time...

And you ask, how did I know this, since now prices seem to be the same? Back after buying the 2010 (in 2013), I bought some mufflers off ebay. When I looked at the mufflers, the numbers didn't match the non cop bikes for any of the years. I then looked up the later cop bikes ('08-'12), and there were the numbers.

And the prices of the mufflers said something about them..

In the States (Retail prices - around 2013 is when I did this research):

'03 to '07 where around $600
'08 to '12 were around $950
'08 to '12 were around $750-$800

Looking up Partzilla today, I found the following:

2014 ST1300P MUFFLER, L. (COO) 18410-MCS-305 $1,016.69 $876.90
2012 ST1300P MUFFLER, L. 18410-MCS-D91 $1,016.69 $876.90 (LOL - these used to be cheaper, but not any more!)
2012 ST1300 MUFFLER, L. (COO) 18410-MCS-305 $876.90 (Note, that this is the same muffler as the 2014 ST1300P...
2005 ST1300P (& NON P) MUFFLER, L. 18410-MCS-710 $628.00 $548.56

All of these mufflers look the same, without looking at the numbers you could not tell them apart. The cost is what tells me that more catalyst was added. Why the 2012 cop mufflers are the same price now? Honda was loosing too much money replacing the cop mufflers, when they could be charging the same as the others is my only guess!

Of course, a lot of this is pure speculation on my part, but since I feel the difference in the heat and have been in the same place with two other ST1300s ('04 & '05), and the 2010 was much hotter than either (oh yeah, the other two, were both mine.. well, the '05 was now/then - 2014- my son's, but I was the last to do any real work on it!

So, I doubt if it "Goes out the window" completely!

 

[leonides]

Will be much trouble to remove the catalytic from the stock mufflers?
after that (if possible) do you have to remap the computer?
after that, does the bike run cooler?
P.B.

 

[AussieTodd]

Hello, I have had a st1100 for 7 years and just got a 2012 ST1300 and took it for it's firs 150km ride today. I test drove it before I bought it, but only for 50km(ish).

Now I have read that the ST1300 is hotter than the st1100, but this was crazy hot. I stopped and checked to make sure there was coolant, and there is coolant in the reservoir.

The bars stay at 3 and the fan does kick in when in city traffic. The bars never once changed from 3, which I thought was weird as the ST1100 would always move from 11 o'clock to 12 o'clock and the fan would kick in, then once you were moving it would go back to 11 o'clock. (had heat issues with the st1100, but a new thermostat fixed that). Now I have read that staying at 3 bars is good.

I cannot believe that the st1300 is this hot. It was very uncomfortable and that was riding on a day with temp of 20 celsius, which is my favorite riding temp usually. I can only imagine what this would be like in the summer.

I thought I would post local as I am in London ON, before posting on the tech section.

The bike is so nice to ride, so I really hope this is a fixable issue. If not, there is no way I can ride this bike.

Ideas? Coolant flush, check thermostat. I read something about checking the throttle body.

G'day from Australia.
I have an alternate theory about hot ST1300s.
Like you i was perplexed about these alleged hot ST1300. I have had mine for 7 years and it was never an issue until 12 months ago.
I could ride on a 40deg C day and barely notice any increase in temp.
But just over 12 months ago the bike becomes uncomfortably hot to ride.
This co incided with a vibration issue which i am putting down to a lean running engine.
Might be worth checking out.
A lean engine is a hot engine.

 

[Whooshka]

G'day from Australia.
I have an alternate theory about hot ST1300s.
Like you i was perplexed about these alleged hot ST1300. I have had mine for 7 years and it was never an issue until 12 months ago.
I could ride on a 40deg C day and barely notice any increase in temp.
But just over 12 months ago the bike becomes uncomfortably hot to ride.
This co incided with a vibration issue which i am putting down to a lean running engine.
Might be worth checking out.
A lean engine is a hot engine.

Start with a plug change and throttle body sync. Might smooth it out and cool it down.