Date: 28-03-24  Time: 08:48 am

Author Topic: Overheating / New Radiator  (Read 4525 times)

Adam2201

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Re: Overheating / New Radiator
« Reply #25 on: 07 February 2018, 09:32:11 pm »
Finally had chance to have a look at it tonight.  Before I did anything else I pulled the water temperature warning light sensor off and was greeted with this picture (which will hopefully attach). Green with corrosion.  Don't know why I didn't look at this when I first had the problem (I had the tank off anyway to check the levels in the rad), but I just trusted the red light. 


I've looked at my maintenance records and I took the sensor off in June to check the fan was working, so maybe it didn't quite go back on properly and it allowed water to get in - it didn't look like that in June, let's put it that way!


I've cleaned the connector (and the sensor end) and WD40'd it and it looks like new.  Pushed it back on until it clicked and put a blob of grease around to try and keep it sealed.  There's no play in it, it seems like a good connection, and the wires look fine on both this and the fan sensor.


It would be daft not to check everything else you've all suggested  (and flush the rad and change the coolant, which my records say was last done July 15, so it's overdue), but I'm hoping the wire will be the solution- it was biblical rain on Saturday and with the speed/wind on the motorway it was horizontal, so it wouldn't surprise me if water got in that way.  Will try riding to work tomorrow and see what happens.

The only sign I had of overheating at the time was the steam coming from the engine, but as it was p*ssing rain it's not surprising really.  I'm not the brightest spark!  I did see a drop of coolant, but that was likely from taking the rad cap off to check the level. 


So I imagine this will either go one of two ways now. I'll either test everything and it will all be OK so I'll never post about it again. Or alternatively I'll be posting from the back of an RAC lorry in a few weeks' time when I've forgotten all about it!


At some stage I will do the mod someone posted on here and fit a proper analogue temperature gauge to the bike.  I've had overheating problems with a couple of old cars in the past and it does bother me not having a gauge on the bike (even though the Fazers seem to run cool and I've never had a problem with it before).  If I'd seen swinging readings on the gauge, rather than just a red light I would probably have done a bit more testing.

[/size]Thanks for all the suggestions, and hopefully this will be the last update.





Disorderlypunk

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Re: Overheating / New Radiator
« Reply #26 on: 07 February 2018, 10:05:29 pm »
if this turns out to be the fault (and as the only sign of ever heating was the dreaded red light)
this is a perfect example of how hard it can be to diagnose a problem only over the internet/phone/email etc


but like you say its best to do some of those jobs and check them over - at least you have a service book
all i got with my fazer was a cuppa and some questions on how to lower his trike
(just found out he might not have even sent the registration paperwork lol)


Adam2201

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Re: Overheating / New Radiator
« Reply #27 on: 07 February 2018, 10:44:35 pm »
Agreed! I hadnt checked anything when I first posted to be fair, it's been a busy week and just haven't had chance until now. It's easy to think the worst, I wanted to try and make sure I was on the right track before I started and work through methodically. The things I've learned from here in the past have been great, as when something goes wrong you remember someone else having the same problem.


I got a fair bit of old history with mine, but i try to keep a note of everything I do on a spreadsheet as it helps when you do have a problem like this. I knew I'd had that connector off but couldnt have told you when. Same with changing the coolant.