hey guys, my bike has been running really hot lately. it starts just fine and gets up to running temperature fine as well. cruising around it stays at around 185+. when it's stopped at a light though, it quickly goes up to 220+ in less than a minute. when it gets up to around 220 with the bike standing still, the RPMs drop from ~1,500 to 0 in a few seconds, the engine dies, and the red light on the gauge lights up and stays on. i can turn it back on immediately though. the fans used to turn on when this happens, but hasnt lately and i cant recall the last time the fans did come on. im changing the coolant pretty soon, i have to wait until finals are over though. could anything else be wrong with it?

 

your bike isn't overheating. your bike doesn't overheat until you hit 251F. check your owners manual.

Your fan switch is shorting out your bike. Once your fan senses a temperature of 205F or so in your radiator (or about 225F indicated on your cluster since the temp probe is behind the thermostat), it grounds the switch and activates the fan. This grounding caused by the fan switch is shorting out your bike. Grab your fan switch wire, and trace it back thru the harness looking for a short or fried relay. trace it back to the ECU if you have to...

your oil pressure annunciation that follows after engine failureis from your oil pressure dropping to 0psi after the engine stops crankin'.

 

doesn't sound like overheating. When i first bought my bike I thought the same exact thing, but after snooping around I found out the f4i's are known to get hot. I use Engine Ice Coolant and it works really well.

 

1+

or maybe your just low on coolant period? have you checked it?

 

FLYOU,
thanks for the diagnosis. is there any way you could elaborate a little bit more on how to fix the issue? like what tools i would need, and stuff like that? would i have to just replace the fan switch or find the short in the wire?

94cbr600kid,
i havent checked the coolant yet. the coolant needs to be changed anyways, i've have the bike for about 9 months and im pretty sure that the previous owner never changed it. and im putting in Engine Ice as well. hopefully its just the fan switch so its an easy fix.

 

i hear you on finals man lol curse you education systemlol[>:]

 

+1 on the finals, and man,, when you buy a bike check all the fluids! you might not even have any coolant in there, im sure you do, but like you said you havent checked

 

yea always check the fluids..How about the oil was that even checked?haha...just playing..yea its good to change coolant once in awhile..when you do..report here.let us know how low it really was or if there was even stuff in it..??

 

check your fan fuse first. if that's not blown, than proceed with step two:

manually ground your fan switch

On the left side of your radiator towards the bottom, you'll see a round componet with a wire connected to it. Your fan switch looks like this (screws into the radiator):



You don't have to take the fairings off to access it.

1) Disconnect the plug from the fan switch
2) Ground the wire that you disconnected to the frame or the clutch lever.
3) Turn the ignition on, but do not start the bike

Doing this will turn your fan on. If the fan doesn't come on, then you have a short.

I don't believe your fan switch is faulty since it appears to be grounding, but your wiring could be...

don't listen to that other 'low on coolant' stuff because that just doesn't make any sense to me...

 

Hey Flyou.... you didn't post up any photos of where these are located? I am dissapointed in you. lol, jk