After an intimitade session, you must take her out for a dance (radiator fan not starting)

Discussion in 'Mechanics Garage' started by vfrbananas, Sep 1, 2015.

  1. vfrbananas

    vfrbananas New Member

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    Edit: The title should say "intimate session".

    Hi all,

    using instructions from these forums, I just changed the thermostat in my VFR 800 - 2002. To my pleasant surprise she just started normally afterwards and hasn't caught fire yet or blown up.
    Thanks all, you are awesome!

    So just before midnight. last night, I took her out for a test drive.
    The temperature problem seemed like it was gone, but after driving through a forest near my home (Outside temp 13°C) I had to stop at a red light and the temperature rose to 110°C before I started driving again. After a few moments I realized that he radiator fan was not starting.

    I went back home, put her in the garage and googled some more. After a few head-scratches, unplugging the fan wire and connecting it directly to the radiator to verify that the electric circuitry was OK, I found comments that said she needed to be inclined steeply to get rid of an air bubble in the left radiator that kept the temperature trigger out of the coolant.

    So back out we went, we reached a nearby hypermarket parking lot just as the temperature was climbing past 95°C. And then we danced, I took a few steep left and right turns, a few 8s, and as the temperature reached 105°C I heard the fan start up. I smiled.

    I though that was it, but as we went back on the road and drove around I noticed that she seemed to have a problem with getting rid of the heat.
    After the fan started, the temperature used to drop steeply, about 1°C every 2-4 seconds, now it goes down much slower.

    I don't think there is a way to insert the thermostat in a wrong way, so I suspect there may be more air in the radiators and/or rubber hoses.

    Can someone propose a method to get rid of any remaining air in the cooling system?
     
    Last edited: Sep 1, 2015
  2. jethro911

    jethro911 Member

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    Burping the system after a service is important as you already know. I typically run the bike at idle with the radiator cap off for a good fifteen minutes after it reaches 200F to allow the coolant to circulate and burp out the air that gets trapped. The occasional increase in idle to 2k while it's burping will force out the air pockets and you will see and hear them as they "burp" out of the radiator. Then I set the level in the overflow tank and take her out for a run without fairings installed. After this it usually needs a slight top up of the reserve tank. This seems to work well for me and I hope it does for you as well.
     
  3. whiteknuckles

    whiteknuckles New Member

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    I just replaced my stat and thought I burped her enough, but my first ride had temps peaking at 115C. So I refilled the system and rode her again with a lot of hard stops and left right lean. Temps are now never higher than 104C (220F) with hard riding.
     
  4. vfrbananas

    vfrbananas New Member

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    Maybe this should be in another thread but does anyone know where I can get the little rubber encased nuts that are used to hold the nuts in place inside the fairings?
     
  5. 34468 Randy

    34468 Randy Secret Insider

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    They are called well nuts. You can pay copious quantities of coin at your local dealership, or determine the proper size and get them at your local hardware store. Also available at Bolt Fasteners as are the fairing clips for about 1/5 ghe price.
     
  6. vfrbananas

    vfrbananas New Member

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    Thanks for this info. They also seem to be available on eBay.

    What are the specs I should be looking for?
     
  7. 34468 Randy

    34468 Randy Secret Insider

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    You will have to find an exploded view of a parts diagram for your bike. The size will be on that parts list that is with that exploded view. With that, you can go look at your hardware store of choice. A little time looking on Google will be worth your effort. You will come across lots of stuff and sites to bookmark for future purchases.
     
  8. whiteknuckles

    whiteknuckles New Member

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  9. vfrbananas

    vfrbananas New Member

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    While driving to work this morning I realized that my problem with heat isn't gone.

    The thermostat works though, I can see it on the thermometer when the temperature climbs over 80°C, the thermostat opens and the temp falls back down before it climbs back up. While stopped at a red light it went to 118°C before I drove off.

    I had noticed before that when the radiator fan kicks in, the air that is blown out through the radiator isn't even slightly warm, it is as almost cold as the outside temp.

    The fan does "something" though, the temperature falls, but very, very slowly.

    Things that I can think of, that might be causing this, is a damaged water pump or some object inside the cooling system that is partially blocking the flow.

    Any other ideas/thought?
     
  10. whiteknuckles

    whiteknuckles New Member

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    If it's a stock fan, it pulls air into the radiator, so the air ENTERING the radiator is outside air, so if it's cool outside, the air will be cool too. If someone swapped the fan from say a VTR1000, then the air flow is from the engine out, and the air would be warm. Regardless, from what I've read on the interweb and from my experience, our VFRs like to warm up when not moving and 118C at a standstill is not unusual. If the bike cools when underway, you're good. You did use a 50/50 water/coolant ratio correct?
     
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