Just got my fuel tank from my painter... not done, I wanted to ride. What is a normal reading for the temp gauge. I'm sure some where in the middle is ok. I believe my thermostat is stuck open. The gauge never gets much off of cold. Any help would be greatly appriciated.

 

I don't remember on my F3. I'm sure someone else will chime in.

 

cant remember specific f3 figures but most bikes/cars tend to sit in the middle of the gauge, seem to think its 82'c the stat opens at on f3 and all car/bike engines typically run in the 80-90'c region.

i don't know how long you've had it long or if its a recent issue etc but if its newish to you my first concern would be that someones removed the thermostat to drop temps as its been overheating and if that the case, why has it been overheating.

it should still get up to temp with a stat removed or stuck open, it'll just take much longer.

alternatively if the gauge isnt getting up to temp at all it could be an out of spec / failed thermo sensor on the stat housing. be warned that they're prone to shearing when you try to remove them so heat it up to hell to break up the sealant etc if you go own that route. its a 1/8 tapered NPT thread and a bit of a bugger, if it shears you'll need to drop the engine out the frame to get access with a drill.

if it were me, id confirm the fan works by grounding it out then make sure the fan fuse in the fusebox is good and leave the bike running for a bit to warm up and see if fan kicks in, if it kicks in (102-104'ish) and the gauge isnt up to much it could be the gauge or thermo sensor, its not uncommon for the sensor to fail on these. could also be a wiring issue but yeah that might help point you to the problem that way rather than disassembling to test everything. kind of up to yourself if you wanted to leave it running to get hot not knowing if the fan switch was operating or if the gauge was functioning though. it's pretty vital info to know the cooling system is up to scratch though, last thing you want is to completely cook an engine.

gauge reading comes from the thermo sensor on top of the stat housing and the fan has its own thermo switch on the left of the rad.

probs far more info than you need but hope something there helps.

 

Thanks for the replies, purchased the bike in January, got running, ran until the temp gauge was just above the middle of the gauge, the cooling fan comes on for a bit, then goes off. At first the radiator cap had a slight tear in the seal and would hiss ever so slightly at this point. The cap was replaced and the hissing has gone away. It seems to me that the thermostat needs to be replaced. Thanks for the help!