This only my third day on it and I was doing some running around town for about an hour and a half. The engine seemed to be running hot. The temperature gauge at on point was at about 3/4 and started running spotty at low rpms. Any input would be appreciated. This is my first sport bike so I am clueless. Thank You!

 

Hi pfsnsd... when I first got my 90 FL I noticed the same thing... but spending some time reading up on some of the other threads on here I came to the conclussion that these things just run hot. My fan kicks in just before it hits the upper vertical line hot side of the guage. I have never had it actually reach that hot line... even on a 45°C day in the middle of traffic at a stop light. The thermofan seems to do a good job in keeping it from over heating. My only thought is that it might be better if the thermofan kicked in much earlier. Some people have wired up a manual switch to flick it on when they want instead of letting it be thermostatically controlled.

My FL also runs a bit rough when it heats right up, on the plus side it's quieter... no CC rattles!

FWIW, I also flushed and changed out the coolant thinking it might be old and not up the job but that didn't make any difference. I think it's just the nature of our beasts to run hot.

 

My seamed to run a bit cooler after a good engine flush, around town slow riding would alway bring the fan on, never noticed the spotty running.

Have you gone over the bike, cheking things out, and change the oil yet?

 

First, check wether your coolling fan on the radiator is properly working or not. Just idle the motor for 20 mins or so. If fan doesn't work properly, the temp gauge will jump to the right end. You may have problem on the fan itself or thermo-sensor. But if the fan works, just like MarkR pinted out, you may need to flush the cooling system. Good luck!

 

Thank You very much for the input. That was very helpful!

 

Thank You for the response. I haven't changed the oil, he guy I bought it from said he just did. What do you suggest I check?

 

Thank You for your input. Is the fan loud enough that I would hear it at idle, because i got to tell you I don't believe I have heard it. Is it located right in front of the radiator?

 

You should be able to hear it, it's behind the radiator.

 

I haven't noticed a problem with overheating on my bike but I just got it and I don't think the temp gauge works correctly. I was thinking about adding a computer fan to the radiator that I could just turn on manually when in trafic. I don't like the idea of diabling the stock thermostatic fan switch with a manual one because if you forgot about it you could overheat.

I plan on changing out the coolant too, just because who knows how long it's been in there. I've noticed that Water Wetter really helped bring the temps down on my car so I plan on adding some of that too.

Anyone know if a bike specific antifreeze should be used? I'd think that alluminum safe car antifreeze would be fine, but this is my first liquid cooled bike so I don't know.

 

You should use the ethylene-based antifreeze that is blue or green. Don't use the new long life propylene based antifreeze, they will not cool as efficient and more importantly, the will clog the radiator and the small passages in the engine block where flow is most important. The antifreeze NOT to use in our bikes is normally red and should never be mixed with the older type.