Turning engine off when it's hot

[stevesnj]

Its fine to turn off the engine at high temps with the fan running, it's the same as any other inline 4 cyl. engine. It will not be damaged or overheat the engine.

 

[Guitar Man]

I always just turn mine off. As soon as you do the engine is no longer putting out any new heat and it starts to dissipate right away.

I went on a 2 day hill country ride over towards west Texas this last weekend and ran into some construction. I always pay attention to my guages but was day dreaming for a while and my temp got up to 253 F. My overheat light was on and I had to get that thing moving. I got the temp down no prob. I checked the oil after that and for several days and saw no water in it or any other problems. Just so everyone knows the temp can get pretty high without problem. Although I'm sure if I would have daydreamed a little longer it might not have been so good for me. So even if you shut down and your temp is at or just above 200 you don't have anything to worry about.

 

[Nelly]

This is interesting. We probably have all at one time or another heard an electric car radiator fan humming while car is parked. I am thinking whether the water circulates or not, cooling the fluid in the radiator helps cool the engine fluid as well since fluid transfers heat/cold even though it might not be circulating. Why doesn't the FZ6 fan run when the key if off? Interesting because some (most?) cars' radiator fans run after the ignition key is off (assuming the engine is still hot). Since Yamaha designed the fan to turn off with the ignition key, I'm okay with it? (I think I am)

Thank you for that,
CanadianFZ6 solution is really what your saying. I am with you both. If it was meant to run when off it would. Unless it was of course broken , and why are my lights on? So many questions, where is me bed.

Nelly

 

[FZ1inNH]

No where does Yamaha say to let it run. I shut it off regardless of temp and have yet to have an issue on either of my FZ6's.

 

[wolfc70]

Try running a conventional drivetrain vehicle without a radiator fan either mechanical or electric and let us know how long it will go without overheating.
Trust me, it will not be long. The cooling efficiency of the longitudinal drivetrain is a huge advantage. Not only is there no easy way to use the engine mounted mechanical fan, there's no need for it and in many cases the fan will hardly ever energize unless the AC is turned on........

I never ran a engine driven fan on my S-10 that I put a 350 in. I used a 14" electric "puller" fan. It hardly ever came on, only if sitting in traffic. Cooling capacity has little to do with engine orientation. Take my current car, a Saturn L300 with the GM 3.0l DOHC v6, the same engine used in the SAAB 9-5, in both of these vehicles the engine is sitting transverse (east-west orientation). This same engine was used in the Cadillac Catera and CTS in a longitudinal (north-south). In both applications electric fans are used.

I would not worry about shutting down a hot engine.

 

[snowmannn]

If so many forum members don't know of issues with powering the engine off while the fan is running, then there should be no such issues

Thanks a lot for your opinion - it was valuable to me!

 

[FzPilot]

Has anyone every noticed that front wheel drive cages have no cooling fan or fans that actually operate while the cage is running down the street? Yet that same engine on a conventional drivetrain has a cooling fan that operates right from the time it's started. The difference falls back on air flow to a longitudinal block because it is that efficient. Forcing air on to the side of that block will cool that block well and that little FZ6 fan will do wonders in a very short time.

That is absolutely incorrect!

FWD cagers do have radiator fans! they are electric and turn ON and OFF as needed. Why is it not driven by the engine? - just think, where are all off the pulleys on a "sideways" mounted engine?

Also conventionally positioned engine does not in any way have any advantage in cooling itself. That is nonsense. Liquid cooled engine is designed to be cooled by liquid not air. Airflow accounts for less than 1% of cooling in such engine.

Even in most Air-cooled engines it is the oil doing the majority of cooling job.

Unless the radiator is WAY over-sized for the engine, and by that i mean it would not fit under the hood, then if there's no airflow through it it will not be able to dissipate temperature from the coolant, thus overheat, there must be a fan, electric or directly coupled to the "fan" belt via clutch.


Back to shutting down of FZ6 while hot. It's fine. The temp will actually rise slightly for a very short period of time before dropping off but this is normal with any engine and will not hurt anything. Now, if it had a turbo, then it's a whole different story

Cheers!

 

[Tailgate]

The answer is C.... just turn it off..... don't worry about it...:thumbup:

CanadianFZ6: Where have you been? Everybody's been waiting for your post on the "Underwear Poll." It was created with you in mind; we know how you appreciate the non FZ6 threads.

 

[AlanB]

I have a buddy who rides an Aprilia. At the end of a ride, he runs his fan, then starts the motor briefly to circulate the coolant, shuts down and repeats until he's under 200. He also lets it warm to 116 before riding. He was shocked that I didn't have to do all that, so I went to the manual, which says nothing other than "OK to ride" even at "Lo" (though I do take it easy until some numbers show up - usually under a minute), and nothing about a cool down period. Glad to ride a Yamaha!

 

[jamesfz6]

Hi guys,

I've noticed that when I turn off the engine while it's hot (dashboard shows 100+ degrees Celsius) and the fan is working, the fan stops. But if I then turn the key back to ON without starting the engine, the fan starts working again until the temperature drops to ~95 degrees Celsius.

So I wonder what's the right thing to do when the engine is hot and the fan is spinning:
a) wait for the fan to stop /temp goes down/ before turning the engine off;
b) turn off the engine but leave the key to ON so that the fan cools the engine;
c) just turn off the engine and worry no more.

What do you think?

Thanks

I go with option C every time and have no problems. I wouldnt worry about it.

 

[jamesfz6]

I have a buddy who rides an Aprilia. At the end of a ride, he runs his fan, then starts the motor briefly to circulate the coolant, shuts down and repeats until he's under 200. He also lets it warm to 116 before riding. He was shocked that I didn't have to do all that, so I went to the manual, which says nothing other than "OK to ride" even at "Lo" (though I do take it easy until some numbers show up - usually under a minute), and nothing about a cool down period. Glad to ride a Yamaha!

I know a few people with Italian bikes that have to let it cool down. Of course we ride the better japanese bikes that dont cost a fortune and also dont have the little hicups those bikes have.




They cost a fortune to repair....thought id throw that in.

 

[Denver_FZ6]

I have a buddy who rides an Aprilia. At the end of a ride, he runs his fan, then starts the motor briefly to circulate the coolant, shuts down and repeats until he's under 200.

For real?!?!? Is this something Aprilia recommends or an OCD behavior on your friends part?

 

[wrightme43]

You know that unless the engine is spinning with in reason (its not going over 300) it doesnt matter how hot it is.

I am keeping my dog out of the direction of engine orientation.

The answer to the orginal question is just shut it off.
If you have a turbo you run it for a few minutes to bring the turbo temp down, but only for that reason.

 

[AlanB]

For real?!?!? Is this something Aprilia recommends or an OCD behavior on your friends part?

I think you might be on to something there....

 

[AlanB]

I know a few people with Italian bikes that have to let it cool down. Of course we ride the better japanese bikes that dont cost a fortune and also dont have the little hicups those bikes have.

We both just got our 4K service done. Mine $160; his $400. We went on 260 mile ride together. Around 170 miles he's pointing frantically to his fuel guage. His litre bike was getting 35 mpg on 91 fuel. I still had two ticks on my guage, getting 45 mpg on 87 fuel. :Sport: At the end of the day I told him that based on cost, he must have had WAY more fund than I did. Earned me a dirty look. :rant:

 

[wolfc70]

The Minor had a longitudinal engine layout and was rear wheel drive.

The Austin 1300 and Mini and many other cars that followed had a traverse mounted engine driving the front wheels. Probably what you were referring to.

The A-series ohv engine which powered these vehicles was tough little motor, the gearbox under the mini et al was more delicate.

I digress.

Yup, I was thinking of the Mini, thanks for the correction. The A series motors were somewhat antediluvian in design (i.e. simple to work on), but I know of many people getting 100,000 miles or more out of them, not bad for the era. I still want a "Bugeye" Sprite!

 

[SteveL]

Since Yamaha designed the fan to turn off with the ignition key, I'm okay with it? (I think I am)

I used to ride a ZX6 and that had a mechanism whereby the fan would keep running, even with the key removed, if the engine was still hot.

Since the FZ6 doesn't do this, presumably it doesn't need to? I doubt Yamaha would have missed this if it was important.

 

[Scott]

Sorry to top a slightly old post, but I have some temp concerns. Last night I rode through a park for some practice. Speed limit was 25 mph. I did about that, probably for 20 minutes straight. I noticed the bike getting rather hot on my legs, I also noticed the temp gauge was one tick higher than it normally is when I ride (without looking, I think it was 4 bars, instead of 3).

First question, I keep seeing in this post reference to actual temperature in degrees. Am I missing a thermometer on my bike? ('05) lol

Second question, at how many bars/what temp should I be concerned?

 

[brad81987]

Sorry to top a slightly old post, but I have some temp concerns. Last night I rode through a park for some practice. Speed limit was 25 mph. I did about that, probably for 20 minutes straight. I noticed the bike getting rather hot on my legs, I also noticed the temp gauge was one tick higher than it normally is when I ride (without looking, I think it was 4 bars, instead of 3).

First question, I keep seeing in this post reference to actual temperature in degrees. Am I missing a thermometer on my bike? ('05) lol

Second question, at how many bars/what temp should I be concerned?

07+ have a digital temp readout on the display, i don't know about the earlier models.

 

[DefyInertia]

scott, the answers you're looking for can be found in the manual. if you don't have a manual, you can find a free on one this site. your fan was working, correct?