i purchased a 2003 st1300 last summer and noticed it was hot on legs a bit so this spring i drilled with holesaw plastic shield around rad and it does run cooler so much so that if its 20 celsius or 72 fahrenheit or cooler the bike runs only at 2 bars instead of 3 ,i even put tape on holes and voila it goes back to 3 bars...as any of u guys had this happened to you? is it ok to leave as it is running cooler?
heat bars 2 or 3?
- Thread starter Mike G
- Start date
ChipSTer
Growing old, but not up!
Nope... I don't think so... 3 bars... No more, no less... regardless of what you've done to it.... I think that your thermostat was sticking before... and now that it is running 'cooler', it is only showing 2 bars... Just my opinion... But I think you'll find that the consensus will agree... Sorry 'bout that...
P.S. This is a neat one...
And Honda spake, saying, "First shalt thou startest the engine. Then shalt thou wait for the temperature gauge to get reach three. No more, no less. Three shalt be the reading thou shalt see, and the number of the reading shall be three. Four shalt thou not read, no either read thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then, thy Holy Fan of Cooling shalt engage, which, being functional, shall cause discussion about heat."
P.S. This is a neat one...
And Honda spake, saying, "First shalt thou startest the engine. Then shalt thou wait for the temperature gauge to get reach three. No more, no less. Three shalt be the reading thou shalt see, and the number of the reading shall be three. Four shalt thou not read, no either read thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then, thy Holy Fan of Cooling shalt engage, which, being functional, shall cause discussion about heat."
Yep, I agree and many others have seen the same problem (thermostat).Nope... I don't think so... 3 bars... No more, no less... regardless of what you've done to it.... I think that your thermostat was sticking before... and now that it is running 'cooler', it is only showing 2 bars... Just my opinion... But I think you'll find that the consensus will agree... Sorry 'bout that...
"
ChipSTer
Growing old, but not up!
P.S. Mine reaches 3 bars in 17 degrees F (-8 C).... So I know that 72F should still see 3 bars...
I finally replaced mine last month.
Removing the Tupperware was the hardest part. And there was a lot of gooey paint just inside the left side rad hose but there wasn't any on or around the T-SAT, it was stuck in the halfway open position.
Removing the Tupperware was the hardest part. And there was a lot of gooey paint just inside the left side rad hose
but there wasn't any on or around the T-SAT, it was stuck in the halfway open position.yessire!got a new thermostat on warranty but installed it myself cause the dealer was gonna put the new apprentice on the job and i said: dont think so!,so i got the new stat and o ring and took me about 5 hrs with all that plastic!!!the old stat was stuck open,install new long life glycol and back to 3 lines,the dealer wants the old stat to get warranty but he is also gonna get the the labour too...why is the thermostat sticking? goldwings or other liquids dont seem to have that problem ...do they?
Does the stat actuator actually stick, or is the thermal coil no longer reacting properly to temperature or taken a new "memory".
This is what I found when mine failed:
https://www.st-owners.com/forums/showthread.php?p=113691#post113691
wjbertrand
Ventura Highway
I think it actually gets stuck. When I replaced mine, I played with the old one and a heat gun. After I forced it to open even further than where it was stuck, it would then close fully after that. I did that several times, so the "memory" seemed intact. T-stats are mostly actuated by thermal expansion and contraction of a wax-type material. The only way to loose memory is probably for the wax to leak out. I didn't see any evidence of that. I believe if I had reinstalled it, it probably would have worked normally, at least for a little while. There was some crusty stuff deposited on the actuator shaft that I cleaned off. I think that might have been what was hanging it up.