Overheating

[old son]

My bike seems to be getting hot when in traffic. I have not noticed it before so maybe its in my head. I have replaced the thermostat and flushed it through. New antifreeze but it seems just the same. When I am crusing it is fine. Can anybody think of a reason why the engine gets hot when riding slowly or stationary.
Bike has done 55k miles and seems to run fine.

[steeeve66]

what do you mean by 'getting hot'? - since any machine which, essentially, sets fire to petrol in a metal container will get 'hot' surely? does it get too hot? ie does the red light come on? can you hear the fan kick in? if you're stationary you can usually feel it even if you cant hear it as the heat is pushed on to the front of your legs.

[AdieR]

As a guide my FZ6 runs 70-ish degrees at cruising speed, rising to 90-100 in traffic / at standstill until the fan kicks in (I can hear my fan quite clearly).

Bear in mind that at a standstill there's no airflow through the radiator as there is at speed, hence why its hotter in traffic. As long as you haven't got any warning lights etc coming on, I'd say you're bike is probably ok.

[old son]

I have a multigauge fitted and when crusing the bike runs around 68-74 degress moving quickly up to 101 - 103 when sat stationary in trafic for not too long. The fan does come on and I am now checking to ensure the tempreture drops quickly when the fan kicks in. As I said, maybe it's something I've not noticed before.
I thought I would ask in case there was something obvious that might cause overheating. The radiator seems to be OK because the engine cools down when the air flow increases, albiet it takes several miles when the engine temp creeps to 98 - 100 degrees.
Sounds like I just need to keep an eye on it for now.

[karlo]

Recently fitted a multigauge to mine and it seems to run about the same.

[tomlinscote]

I'd tend to agree with Adie, if the light's not coming on I wouldn't worry too much it may just be a case of now you can see how the temp varies, due to the increased info from the multigauge. I had a honda before the gen 1 which had a temp gauge, and the vike did the same. My car does too, runs cool when moving through the air but temp rises when still as no airflow.
I have ridden the gen 1 very slowly through very hot non UK weather and though the fan came on the bike was fine
P

[old son]

Cheers guys, I will keep an eye on it.

[MEM62]

I don't think you have anything to worry about.  All bikes are the same as they rely on an air flow over the radiator to cool them.  If you want a bike that runs hot then try any of the fuel-injected Hondas of the late 90's early 2000's.  As soon as my Blackbrid was moving at less than 40mph you could feel the rush of hot air from the engine and the temerature guage would climb quickly.  All sweet again one you got moving.  My '98 VFR800 is exactly the same. 
As long as the fan keeps cuttinng in you'll be OK. 

[jackojet]

Lack of fairing knees next to cooker! You get a hot rush from that engine sat in traffic , I notice it more wearing jeans to pop to the shops on.
The fan kicking in and no red light means all okay.

My gixxer thou gets to 110 degrees sat in traffic. Warning gauge kicks and recommended to stop engine to cool at 120 degrees

[old son]

I checked th eride to work this morning. If anything weather was a little cooler than usual. Normally I get onto the As before the gauge shows 40 degrees. This morning the gauge was at 51 degrees when I got to the same point. The engine is definately running a little hotter than it has in the past. The only things I can think of are:

Less flow through the radiator
Water pump less efficient
Blockage somewhere else

There was nothing obvious when I fitted a new thermostat and chaged the antifreeze last week due to the overheating issue.

Not sure I still have a warning light now I've got a multigause fitted???

[Falcon 269]

The new thermostat may be operating differently to the old one, mate.  That could be holding back the coolant flow to get the engine up to temp sooner.

From everything you've written, you don't have a problem with the motor.  With your head, maybe ...

Ride more, worry less.

[paul1606]

I used to be a bit concerned about the temp creeping up slightly from the norm, until i went to Italy in may and it was constantly in the 90,s +  creeping up to 108 in the mont blanc tunnel (nice toasty legs) not so concerned now.
like most people have put over here mine varies in airflow between 69-75 rapidly rising to 95-100+ when stationary, the joys of a multigauge eh ITS IN YOUR FACE if you didnt have one you,d be non the wiser  :lol  That said i wouldnt be without mine

[jackojet]

In the good old 2 stroke days an eye on temp gauge an a constant finger  over clutch essential  :eek :eek

[yamahasan]

I live in Madrid and let me tell you that these days, when we get very close to 40ºC, my Gen1 generates enough heat as to warm a Mongolian village. Ive had the FZS 600 for 9 years and it doesnt get even closer to that, so at first I was a little concerned but everything´s fine (although I dont have any hair left in my legs  :b  )

[yamahasan]

Also I came to think that it gets hotter with the full Akra system than when running with the standard one (not that I change it every other day, but have to when having to go through the biannual technical inspection)

[richfzs]

(although I dont have any hair left in my legs  :b  )

Oi, your personal hygiene habits should be kept to yourself

[yamahasan]

you´re right. I´ll open another thread for that  8)