Did i overheat and damage my first bike 05 fz6??

[chomorro]

I rode home from work today in heavy traffic. About 80 degrees out, since im still new and not fully comfortable, i didnt zoom through any traffic splitting lanes. I just waited in line patiently slow creeping forward with traffic.

When i got home my fan was on full blast. First time i had heard it since i bought the bike. And i checked the temp gauge and it was at the top of the meter...... But the temp warning light wasnt blinking, i dont think anyways. ONce i had noticed this the fan dropped down the meter one bar very quickly.

Is a bike like a car? Did i overheat it unknowingly? Or is this perfectly normal?

Could find any info on it in the manual

 

[marke14]

I have an 07, and my fan comes on at 212 F, indicated. If I sit through stop and go traffic my fan always comes on. How hot did the indicator say? If it was at the top, do you mean all the way past "H"?

The fan coming on is normal. The main test for "Did I f- up my bike?" is usually to wait for it to cool down, and try to start it later. If it works, you are likely OK.

 

[Jacobien]

I think your bike is fine. I have had this scenarion 1,000,000 times!

Best thing to do is to idle the bike for a short while (60 seconds or so) in the garage with the fan runnning. Even better is to take a short ride round the block in low RPMs. The bike cools down best when you free down hill in 4th or so with the engine running against compression.

Seriously, don't worry. As long as the red light did not come on, your A OK.

 

[Kaisersoze]

How many miles on your bike? Bought mine with 20k and noticed the temp running hotter than usual. Changed out coolant and it never cracks 3 bars, even in traffic (been in the 90's round here lately). Swapping coolant is ridiculously easy, just make sure you use the right stuff and flush the cooling system with distilled water a couple times b4 you put the new stuff in to wash the old stuff out.

Hope that helps!

 

[iSteve]

I think you're worried about nothing. The fan coming on when it's hot is how all water cooled engines work. If the fan doesn't come on at 212° F then you should worry.

 

[g8anos]

Normally, the temperature climbs up to 4 bars, and then the fan gets on and it cools down till 3 bars left, and then it gets off automatically. It never climbs above 4 bars, and I live in a very hot climate in a big city.

It did however happen once when I first bought the bike. I don't know what oil they used, but it seems that it was the reason why the temp-meter rose all the way to the top. I had to stop the bike for a few minutes to let it cool down a bit.

Now I use only top quality oil, and it never gets above 4 ...
I would check my oil and coolant if I were you.

 

[chomorro]

My bike has 29k miles on it. Im not worried about the fan coming on, i would like it to come on as needed and im glad it works :thumbup:.

Im worried because it hit the "H" all the way at the top of the meter. It didnt go past the H but there is no metering past the H.

I will check the oil and coolant and make sure everything is ok. The bike had just came off a 50mph 5th gear cruise which is what was puzzling me lol.

So next time let the fan run for awhile in the driveway before shutting it off? I shut it off immediately when i saw the meter.

 

[lazamus69]

So next time let the fan run for awhile in the driveway before shutting it off? I shut it off immediately when i saw the meter.

No. Its cools the fastest when its not running

 

[Explosivpotato]

No it doesn't. Go warm up your bike and then shut it off hot. Turn the ignition back on after a minute and tell me it's cooler.

Liquid cooled engines heat up before cooling off after shutting down.

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[Powerman]

No it doesn't. Go warm up your bike and then shut it off hot. Turn the ignition back on after a minute and tell me it's cooler.

Liquid cooled engines heat up before cooling off after shutting down.

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Engine can't heat up anymore since combustion has stopped. It's called heat soak and is the result of the coolant around the cylinders absorbing the heat of the now shut off engine since there is no longer circulation.

 

[Explosivpotato]

Engine can't heat up anymore since combustion has stopped. It's called heat soak and is the result of the coolant around the cylinders absorbing the heat of the now shut off engine since there is no longer circulation.

Yes, but the net result is the temperature of the entire engine goes up first, then down. That's all I was saying. Regardless, the op certainly didn't do any damage to his engine. They are designed with huge factors of safety and thw heat soak effect taken into account.

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[Powerman]

Yes, but the net result is the temperature of the entire engine goes up first, then down. That's all I was saying. Regardless, the op certainly didn't do any damage to his engine. They are designed with huge factors of safety and thw heat soak effect taken into account.

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The temp gauge measures the coolant temperature, not the engine temperature. So when you shut off the engine, since the coolant isn't circulating through the radiator anymore to cool it down, it retains all the heat it absorbs from the engine, and you see the needle go up.

 

[chomorro]

SO bottom line is this is normal??

Im going to check the coolant anyways but thanks for all the great responses :rockon:

 

[lazamus69]

No it doesn't. Go warm up your bike and then shut it off hot. Turn the ignition back on after a minute and tell me it's cooler.

Liquid cooled engines heat up before cooling off after shutting down.

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk

Hey smart guy, he asked if he should leave the fan running. The answer is no, it wont help cool the motor any quicker. It will lower the coolant temp in the rad, as for the motor.....

Read before you post

 

[novaks47]

SO bottom line is this is normal??

Im going to check the coolant anyways but thanks for all the great responses :rockon:

Haha, gotta love the technical debates! To answer your question, no, it should not have maxed out in that temperature air. On my ride home, it was in the mid-80s, and I was in city traffic. I was winding it up somewhat every time I got moving, and it hit 4 bars often, the fan would kick in, and it'd drop to 3 once moving for a while. The only time I hit 5 bars, was recently, when it was the same temps outside, I was beating the hell out of the engine, and the coolant was pretty much done for and ready to be changed. Since you've got an '05, you could change the coolant for little cost, and have some peace of mind. Probably due for fresh brake fluid too(my '06 sure needs this done)! :thumbup:

 

[Powerman]

Check your thermostat, probably time for a new one after 6 yrs. and change your coolant and flush out the cooling system. That should do it. Now I'm done.

 

[los211]

my '04 was doing the same thing after I changed the oil to rotella t6 5w40.
the fan would come on constantly at stop lights and once in a while at 75 mph. Then one day I got home from my grave shift job and noticed the temp was high even thought the ambient temp was relatively cool (60's). Mind you my commute is 4 miles freeway or 6 miles surface streets. So I changed the oil back to mobile 1 t4 10w40 and its back to normal with fans coming on less frequently. I plan to flush the cooling system in a couple of weeks as my odometer is approaching 35k just for peace of mind. i bought the bike used from a dealer back in november and dont know the service history so i have started my own service record. What i did to combat the high indicated temps was to ride less aggressive and at lower rpm's about 3/4 to 1/2 mile from home which helped the temps come down before i got home.

to add my 2 cents to the debate here. leaving the fans on only with the engine off allows the radiator fluid to cool but does nothing for the coolant, BUT with the engine being hot (thermostat open) and the radiator being cooler it is possible for some movement of fluid just do to temperature difference just not forced like the when driven by the pump. Yes there is an initial temperature spike but it is not enough to do any damage unless you have boiled over then its a higher possibility.

 

[Explosivpotato]

Hey smart guy, he asked if he should leave the fan running. The answer is no, it wont help cool the motor any quicker. It will lower the coolant temp in the rad, as for the motor.....

Read before you post

We are all in violent agreement here... The fact is that when you shut off the engine the heat balance that was maintained by the moving coolant is lost, and everything converges to a single temperature. The hottest parts, IE the combustion chamber, continue flowing heat outwards and the end result is that the temperature of the coolant and subsequently the engine casing goes UP before it goes DOWN. That is what I was responding to.

Leaving the fan running while the water pump is not turning does not help, but idling down a very hot engine with the fan running can.

Let's all just relax here.. lol. Back on topic, if the coolant has never been changed before definitely do that!!

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[abraxas]

SO bottom line is this is normal??

Im going to check the coolant anyways but thanks for all the great responses :rockon:

Perfectly normal.

When the gauge reaches the 4th bar, the fan comes on. It usually drops the temp to 3 bars in seconds.

Only once did i have this problem, was high heat and standing traffic, you must have been cooking!!!

I wouldn't worry about damage, yet. Try not do it too often though