[The CyberPoet]

HE HAS A 98KAT 600. I THINK THE PROBLEM ARISES WHEN THE BIKE OVERHEATS AND STARTS TO SMOKE..(IN HI TRAFFIC)....MAY NEED TO TAPE THE WIRES...., BUT WHAT BOGGLES ME IS THAT Y THE RIGHT BLINKER WORKS FINE?

If his bike is getting hot enough to smoke and overheats, he needs to address the overheating issue, and my best guess is that the problem then lies in the wiring insulation having gotten soft from the heat (and once soft, rubbed away readily in spots). Prime suspects in my mind would be in three locations:

1. The primary wiring bundle that runs up the right side of the frame and just off to the upper right of the top of the valve covers, including the grounding wires;

2. The black & yellow multi-pin plugs under the upper fairing directly above/right of the headlight assembly (the black one has a couple loop wires that if compromised will cause the bike to act very odd, including not starting at times);

3. The primary grounding wire going back to the battery (negative cable from the battery).

To address the overheating issue, he'll need to take some of the following steps:

(A) Switch to a larger oil cooler. For a 600, step up to a 750 cooler; for a 750 step up to an 1100 cooler. This will require some fabrication to cut the lower oil cooler mounts and either reweld them lower or weld on adaptors. I have a 750 cooler here that is slated for that, but I really don't want to start grinding/cutting on the frame until I've figured out how I'm going to recoat the exposed metals (I'm not sending the whole frame out for powdercoating just for a couple cuts).

(B) Electric fan(s) on the oil cooler, manual trigger switch;

(C) Move to a heavier, better oil. A 20w50 with a JASO-MA rating is what I would recommend given this scenario; personally, I'd use a 20w50 Castrol GPS for this situation.

(D) Temp gauge (hey, I sell these) so he knows when he needs to find the closest exit and/or park off the bike;

(E) A water reservior and small injector pump from a car windshield-washer system, plus a switch to trigger it. Dump water on the oil cooler on demand to help drop the temp (note: doing so causes tons of steam to come up past the steering stem -- just like hitting the rain at a stop light after running a long distance).

(F) A later oil pump (there were some unpublished changes in the pump design from what I've been told by Suzuki, and although they have the same part number, the oil pump from '01 moves substancially more than his '98 -- something like 8.8 gallons vs' the 98's 5.9 gallons per minute at idle).

(G) JetCoat the exhaust headers. This will keep more heat away from the oil cooler, since they don't radiate heat nearly as heavily as the stock ones. Exhaust wrap tape works well too in the short term, but can cause issues with premature heat-weakening and rust given the mild steel the OEM pipes are made of.

(H) Richer mixtures. If his bike is tuned particularly lean, changing the jetting to drive the mixtures richer (say from 14.5 down to 13.0 at idle) will run the engine cooler. Ditching any advancers will help as well.

Usually better oil is enough to do the trick. I will say I can feel the difference in heat output depending on the oil -- some oils shed heat faster at the radiator than others when I'm standing still at a light after a long highway run.

Cheers
=-= The CyberPoet

[kat_reflexes]

THANK YOU for posting. I was just about to go out for a night ride a couple hours ago, and realized my headlights were not turning on. I was also noticing that the head lights would flicker whenever i'd hit a bump in the road. I have the 2002 600 cc Katana, and noticed that the front triangular light and everything else on the bike functions properlyy. I'm having the same exact problem as the original thread. Let's hope I can fix this tomorrow with all the info posted!

[92xjunker]

Dude this thread has grand kids by now. good info though from the CP.

[gamer222la]

Just fixed a similar problem om my 2002 Kat 600F. Found a short in the connector behind "the third eye" here are a few pictures of what I found. For a temporary fix i scraped the gunk off the pins with a pocket knife. It works for now but could go out again any time.

Sorry I cant uploud the pictures If you want to see them Ill email then to you or if someone could help me post them. Thanks

[HungLow]

Can anyone tell me what the Right handle bar switch coupler loop is? i have the same problem on my 01 750, checked the bulbs they are good, checked to see if there was power to the plugs behind the bulbs, no power from ether side, yes the top light is on, and the turn signals work so i do not think is the share ground cable, i will try to check on the high low beam switch tomorrow, but im interested knowing what the Right handle bar switch coupler loop would be ,so i can check it at the same time

[SDGuero]

Can anyone tell me what the Right handle bar switch coupler loop is? i have the same problem on my 01 750, checked the bulbs they are good, checked to see if there was power to the plugs behind the bulbs, no power from ether side, yes the top light is on, and the turn signals work so i do not think is the share ground cable, i will try to check on the high low beam switch tomorrow, but im interested knowing what the Right handle bar switch coupler loop would be ,so i can check it at the same time

I have the same problem... Gonna take the fairing off tonight and see what's up.

[Shaner666]

2000 kat 750

I know this is a very old thread. But my 2000 kat 750 just lost all headlight function. Has anyone determined a common problem and fix for this issue in recent days?

[ZukiFred]

Normally this connection here.