K&N only makes an air filter. Try to unscrew the band clamps where the ram air tubes connect to the airbox. Lack of air will not cause the bike to overheat, it will run terribly but will not overheat as long as the fan works. The bike is liquid cooled by the coolant. I use Water Wetter, since it doesn't freeze in Southern CA, it works great and I have had no problems. It is the same thing as Engine Ice except that you cannot add antifreeze to WW. I have to agree with cbrent and say that you aren't having an actual issue. Bikes are meant to be moving not sitting in traffic so the manufactures added a fan to combat the issue. If you are still worried put fresh coolant of your choice in with Distilled water, and put a new OEM thermo in.

By the way, I forgot that I had unplugged and removed my fan once and my bike did overheat. It shut itself off before any harm came to the bike.

 

If this helps: to reduce the temperature you can play with coolant mixture(usually it would be 50% water and 50%coolant) you can reduce the percentage of coolant. If the cooling system takes 3Ltrs of coolant mixture use only 1Ltr of coolant and add distilled water. Adding to that if you can find a spare thermo switch get some thin sand paper and carefully sand the top of the switch till you remove some material of it just don't sand too much or it'll be junk, it will switch on/off the cooling fan earlier. When cold weather starts refit the untouched thermo switch and go back to 50/50 coolant mixture.

 

Hey guys,

It's summer here in Florida again and the problem has arisen once again. I just arrived home from work and I left the bike on to time how long it takes to heat up when sitting still from "half" (analog thermometer) to just below redline. In about 3 minutes I shut it off to keep from hitting actual red, but it was surely about to go into red. I flushed the coolant system the other day and have been running Engine Ice since around the time the post before me happened, and put more in to no avail. It does run at slightly below half temperature now when moving, which I attribute to the Engine Ice. Does not slow down the "heat up" speed in traffic, however.

I wanted to get some ideas on possible remedies, as it clearly is a problem that isn't going away. Ive heard ideas involving adding a second fan to combat the heat, adding an oil cool(er?) reservoir thing, and even extending the cooling system to increase total coolant in the bike and theoretically disperse the heat better. Which of these could be the most effective/easiest to accomplish? What other ideas do yall have?

Thanks.

 

You could try adding a manual fan switch for the fan that's already there. Then you could turn it on when going slow in traffic before it gets too hot.

I have one on my 1000RR. If all Honda fans are wired basically the same way, the +12V hot is already going to the fan relay as soon as you turn the key on. The computer sends a ground signal to the fan relay when it gets hot enough to turn the fan on. That closes the contact on the relay and turns the fan on.

To add a manual fan switch you would find where the ground wire connection is at on the relay and add a second ground wire there with a switch between the ground source and the relay. As long as the key is in the ON position you should be able to turn the fan on with that switch.

The nice thing about doing it this way is that the fan will still turn on automatically if you don't turn the switch on. Also, if you forget to turn the switch off when you're done riding it won't drain the battery because the fan will turn off when you turn the key off.

I have a "how-to" article with pics for doing this on a 1000RR somewhere else on the forum but the theory is the same.

 

When I lived in SWFL - I used a fan switch on my '54. They tend to get up in temperature too. A fan switch is very easy to do. All jump my license plate light + wire to a switch, and then the switch I spliced the wire from the switch to he + wire on the fan.

Your fan still comes on as it's intended, but you can turn it on earlier if you want as well.

 

Before you decide to manually switch the cooling fan, check the thermostat as one member suggested most of the times that's something you miss easy; If you go for manual switch do check how often does the fan starts and stops; the time it takes cycle and how rectifier/regulator "reacts" to it. The "overheating" problem is very common on these bikes. Looks like the cooling fan is only to prevent coolant "boiling". While idling once the fan starts it will cycle start and work for about 1 minute and stop for about 35 seconds continuously until you ride it or battery drains because there's not enough current to recharge battery with fan on or during it's on it's +/-35 seconds short break(Note this is my bike behavior). With manual switch either you ride 90% of the time between +/-4000 to 5000 rpm's or you'll have to take a coffee brake on your way and hope battery regenerates itself if in good shape.