I Love My 5th Gen But Hate the Temperature Display

There, I have said it. I love everything about my Yellow 2000 model VFR. It is fast, comfortable, beautiful and reliable but I hate the temperature display. The temperature display is a big as Dallas and it goes up and down will a will of its own. In every other water cooled vehicle I have ever come in contact with the goal was one steady operating temperature. This was achieved with a thermostat to control the block temperature and a radiator, with enough volume, to provide a steady flow of cooler water. With a new thermostat installed, my bike now warms up to 180 degrees and will pretty much stay there when cruising. It will creep up into the 195 range depending on the ambient temperature and how you are riding. If you sit in traffic you can watch that big digital readout climb to 224 before the fan starts to bring it down. (The fan kicks on around 214.) This drives me nuts! It is hard to enjoy the ride when I am fixated on that big ass digital readout. I pay more attention to it than my speedometer. I am pretty sure there is nothing wrong with the cooling system and that this is normal operation but why would you design a system with a 50 degree "normal" range and then throw it in the face of the rider?

 

IMO it's not really the design of the gauge but the V4 engine that causes the fluctuation in temperatures. The compact design of the V4 engine unfortunately means that it gets hot quickly and requires a good cooling system.

 

Your fan is coming on early, which is fine, but the factory spec is 220-221. These bikes run hot!! If the readout bothers you just push the button one time to kick it over to air temp and ride on brutha!!!

 

Side mounted radiators might be part of the problem too. I wonder if the new VFR with its front mounted radiator fluctuates as much as the side mounted styles. Did side mounted start with the RC 51?

 

You know what I mean though? I have a feeling it is designed to run more like a air cooled engine where the temperatures fluctuate over a wider range. It's just the one thing that keeps the bike from being perfect.

 

For a water cooled engine that is a very wide operating temperature. I have to admit that it does bother me a little.

 

Reprogram the readoot to Centigrade.

I am of the opinion that Honda should add a third readoot in degrees Kelvin for the perverts among us who fancy bigass numbers. Like 10,000 mile tires and less than but approaching mach 1 terminal velocities.

 

I did have a friend who had a SV 1000 which is similar to the Rc51 being that it's a vtwin with side radiators and the temps do not fluctuate as much. IMO it' just how with a V4 all those cylinders are cramped and exploding close to each other that causes the temperature issue. If you think about it a V4 is like 2 Vtwins crammed into the same space a vtwin normally occupies. Heat is bound to happen.

 

Perhaps its just the engine design. A friend I ride track with had an Aprillia RSV4 and it did not fluctuate nearly as much as the VFR does.The gas mileage on the Ape was horrible.

 

I have a Honda VTR1000 with side mounted radiators. The set up is very similar to the VFR except the thermostat is easier to get to. Bottom line? It pretty much acts the same.

 

Interesting, I guess it's not just the engine itself but the cooling system that affects the temperature fluctuations. I don't know what Honda's decision process was but I would think maybe they wanted the cooling system to be as light as possible hence it won't be the best cooling system in the world. But it probably was either that or have super-sized radiators that adds 30 pounds to the bike.

 

I hope someone with a new VFR can tell us about how their bike temps are. The front mounted radiator seems to be a better way to go. Saw one at a bike show, looks like it should weigh a lot less too.

 

uhh... set it to display air temp and stop with the OCD nonsense?

 

My VF750C is almost identical to the VFR's layout as far as cooling goes, except the radiator is thicker and front mounted. It holds a steady 180F as long as it's moving, but when stopped will warm to 212F where fan comes on and cools it down within a minute. In short, the V4 can be cooled just fine with a big enough front radiator. The two small radiators buried inside a fairing are just barely adequate. One other thing, the cruiser's thermostat isn't buried under the carburetors, the hoses are a bit longer and it sits beside the V where it's easy to service.

 

I might add the cruiser only has an overheat idiot light. I installed a gauge to see how it compares with the VFR.

I love the VFR, though. Now that the cooling and electrical systems have been fixed, it's the fine all-round bike I expected when I bought it.

 

How's that ultra rare Wolf underseat exhaust working out in the TX heat? Any issues? Did the bike come with it? Looks great. :thumb:

 

Yeh you don't see many of those Wolf Systems floating around. Hows the under seat temperature, no burned bums right?

 

Simple fix. Just add a switch to the ground side of the fan(s) to be able to turn them on anytime. This way you can control the temps from creeping way up there. I did it on my Interceptor and now on my Bird. When I'm going 35mph or lower or entering a town/city I flip the fan on. Never gets above 200 in 100% weather like last weekend in Birmingham.

I sometimes forget to shut it off when hitting the hwy. No problem the temp never gets lower than what it does at normal cruising speed.

 

Wolf exhaust was on the bike when I bought it. Initially there were problems. The metal pan which replaces the plastic rear fender ass'y touched the cans and got paint-scorching hot. I added some hi temp insulation to the bottom of the pan, and added a heat barrier between the exhausts and the left side where the ECU is relocated. The original installation just had the ECU glued to the plastic tail bodywork and the seat latch was removed. That made service a real PITA. I redid those while I was rewiring the charging system and installing the MOSFET R/R. I made a new battery box, since the one Wolf supplied was too small and poked holes in the battery. I posted a picture of the left rear of my VFR which shows most of the changes. In short, a Wolf underseat exhaust sounds absolutely fabulous, looks great, requires moving just about everything back of the gas tank, and will require some ingenuity on the part of the owner to civilize it. Here's a sound clip:

http://audioimprov.com/misc/VFR800sound.mp3

 

Sounds nice. When I had mine I just tossed their underseat metal pan and fabbed up a whole new one. It definitely takes some work to get it all properly sorted out.