Ever had your bike overheat?

[Flip]

Was in butt-ass slow traffic the other day going no faster than 5mph for a half an hour in 90 degree weather. Lots of clutching, coasting, stopping, crawling and all around pain in the neckedness.

While not paying attention i suddenly found my bike was not running, i can only guess i stalled it and didnt really notice. When i tried to start the thing it would have none of it and i had to roll it over to the side of the road. Having never had this happen to me before i didnt really know what the problem was, but i guessed that i had overheated it. I waited a half an hour in the shade and luckily she started right back up.

I thought i had one less maintenance thing to worry about without having liquid cooling, but it turns out i'll have to be more wary while riding the Kat.

[mx916]

One time while stuck in a similar situation, my bike started idling a little erratic. It would bounce from 1000 to 1500 or so. I noticed a liite smoke coming up from the front of the fairings by the head stock.
I then weaved a bit of traffic until it cleared up, and bike was fine again. I don't know if I actually was overheating or if some tar or grime on my pipes finally got hot enough to melt causing the smoke. It has not happened again in over 2 years and multiple similar traffic jams. Now, if traffic is that bad, I either find a new route or pull off and let the bike cool. Cyberpoet has alot of insight on this, and alot of knowledge on oils etc.

[midqetsex]

I've read that shutting your engine off at long lights or long pauses in traffic is a good idea.

[SweetLou]

Proabably evaporated all the fuel outa your bowls. Next time that happens, pur the fuel selctor on prime to get some gas in there.

[The CyberPoet]

The problem occurs when the oil in the head gets super-heated. As long as the bike is moving forward at about 9 mph and higher, the oil cooler is doing it's job. When you get stuck, the engine is still adding heat, but the cooler isn't taking it away; this isn't much of an issue unless your engine is already really hot from riding a long distance at speed (such as coming up on the back of a traffic jam on the interstate and then having to idle your way down a couple miles of back-up). The ways of dealing with it are:

1. Get off the road (or the next exit) and find another road that will let you putt along at 45 in top gear; this will get the oil cooled back down quite quickly; if needed, you might be able to use the emergency lane (or lane split in California and the UK), but know that the emergency lanes on most interstates is where all the screws, nails and other tire-ruining debris ends up.

2. Get out of traffic and shut the bike down. Wait 15 -20 minutes for it to cool and then continue.

3. Get out of traffic and then shoot water onto the cooler (to increase the rate of thermal exchange). A bunch of steam will come up right past your gauges but your oil will cool.

Riding to one side of existing traffic (so you're not forcing your bike to take the exhaust heat of the car or truck in front of you, and so more fresh air can get to the cooler) can help a bit.

KNOW THIS:
if you overheat your bike enough that it complains, you've made the oil go past it's vaporization point in the heads. Change your oil & filter as soon as possible; it's probably toasted in terms of protection now.
not all oils have the same critical temp limit -- the range is usually from about 380 degrees for cheap car oils to about 450 for the best motorcycle oils, with 410 - 420 being about average for decent JASO-MA rated motorcycle oils.
Just as not oils have the same thermal limits, different oil formulations carry heat off better than others. Sometimes you can feel that difference as more heat coming up past the headstock if you pay attention just before/after an oil change.
Ceramic coating or jet-coating your exhaust header helps, because the coating acts as a thermal barrier, reducing how much heat will drift upwards to the oil cooler when you're standing still.
Larger oil coolers from the next larger Kat engine size can be installed to increase the cooling rate, but will require some cutting and welding of the frame to handle it (the lower mounting tabs on the 750 are lower than on the 600; the 1100 cooler is even lower).
The more oil you have in the pan (the closer to absolutely full), the more oil is there to disipate the heat through and the longer you should be able to go without overheating even under dire circumstances.
Do not rev your engine while stuck in traffic jams -- it just adds more heat without benefit.
If you run into traffic jams in hot weather frequently, remove any ignition advancers installed (such as the one SpecialK sells, the V&H 5 degree advancer) as they make the engine run much hotter in 1st thru 3rd.
If you install the oil temp gauge I sell (see Oil Temperature Gauge and Sender for Oil-Air, oil and air cooled motorcycles (All-weather open-cockpit weatherproof rain-proof)), you'll know exactly what the status is at all times instead of playing guessing games.

Cheers
=-= The CyberPoet

[The CyberPoet]

I use to have a Huffy when I was a kid. If I let it sit in the sun too long, I couldn't even sit on it.

=-= The CyberPoet

[WildKat]

Ive sat in many a stop n go traffic, 90+ degree day, and the Kat performed flawlessly... now thats not to say that I dont worry about it from time to time..and if its really bad traffic..go ahead and shut it off... save your gas and your oil..and yourself alot of possible frustration.

[Mojoe]

I've read that shutting your engine off at long lights or long pauses in traffic is a good idea.

that is relevent to whether you have an oil/air cooling sytem, or a fan/radiator/prestone system. if you have a fan and prestone, the bike will run cooler when running, and heat up more when you shut it off because the engine heat will raise the temp of the prestone as it stops circulating. it is the same thing with a car that is heating in traffic. the ideal way to cool it down is to get it moving to have more air-flow thru the rad. just shutting it off stop all airflow and it will get hotter. the temp will rise first....then start to fall.

[SweetLou]

It is illegal to split lanes here, but Corey and I have used the Shoulder (Emergency Lane) before to get to the next exit so we didn't over heat.

[Crackshot]

I've always maintained (somewhat Illegaly, I might add) that since I'm sitting out in the heat in my gear, I get to use the emergency lane to bypass the traffic. Such is the advantage of motorcycles. I keep it at less than thirty mind you, but I'm worrying about my sorry @ss overheating than the bike.

[kahluamud]

I usually pull over on the side of the road and camp out with all the other riders in the same situation. Good way to make friends.

[The CyberPoet]

After reading this thread I'm now paranoid that I might be overheating my bike. Any clear tell-tale signs or do I have to rely on the idiot light to come on?

Other than installing an all-weather 400 degree oil temp gauge (I sell 'em as a solution here: 400 degree F / 200 degree C temp gauge & sender for Katana GSX600F & GSX750F), or actually having the bike act up (meaning it's way past just borderline 'overheating'), the answer is no. Sometimes you might notice that the idle is climbing, but that's not always the case and there is no other definitive answer until the bike starts acting up without a sensor & info system (sender & gauge).

PS - for KR members, I'll do the sender tap and surround drilling if desired at no extra charge (or you get a nice 6 page set of instructions complete with pics with the gauge kit).

Cheers
=-= The CyberPoet

[slayergsxf1]

Yeah I know its an old post but I'm bored at work.
same thing happened to me twice,about a 50+ mile ride at a poker run then the traffic jam. Funny thing though it was only about 75 deg. out and noticed some smoke coming from inside my fairings. the bike wasnt running weird or anything and my engine is clean so no grime burn off. Then it happened up at Americade and the temp was in the upper 80s,and that was after a 100 plus mile ride.I guess its the way of the best g##damn bike ever made!!!!!!!!!!

[WildKat]

Sicne this thread came about, my Kat overrheated for the first time back in october while riding in a local halloween parade.. and I mean seriously over heated !! was about 60-70 degrees that day, nice out and not humid but all that stop and go traffic caused the bike to get so hot that the idle went up dramatically and she started to smoke..

I shut it down and pushed it several blocks back to the hangout and it took a good hour or so to cool down atleast.. changed the oil when I got home and thankfully no permanant damage !!

[md86]

WHITE smoke ? I thought white smoke meant water . Sure it wan't a little bluish maybe ?