What is Hot?

My new-to-me 2000 is working just fine, but I am curious about its normal operating temperature. On the highway, it purrs along quite happily in anywhere from the low 70's to the low 90's. In Summer heat, in traffic, she's spiked as high as 113 degrees (so far). At that temp, you can really feel the heat pouring off the engine and frame. It's great having the dash display the engine temperature in degrees, but how hot is too hot? Just how close to the danger zone is 113 anyway? In this respect, a bar type or needle display might be less informative about actual temp, but more indicative of how close you are to a dreaded over-heating situation.

BTW, all temperatures listed are in Celcius.

 

Oh man thought you were going to be takin gilrs here or something to do with how My VFR looks, gots me lol. As far as heat goes, don't have a clue as I know it's warm when the needle gets in the middle, Yes I have an anolog gauge then after that the fan comes on. so all is good, never, like in very rarely does the fan come on. but then I'm up here in the PNW.

 

I commute dailey in Vegas and the bike frequently hits 220 F and the fans kick in. Once the fans get on it stays at around 225.

Next fluid change I'm going with a super cool coolant. I don't see 225 F as an issue. My bike's handbook says 250 is hot.

 

I used to worry about the running temperatures of bikes but ive had hotter bikes than my '99 vfr. My old late 80s VMax used to heat up till i could fry eggs on it!!!

If the fans come on and the temperature becomes stablised then there is not much to worry about. Temps over 100 celcius is fine but if you are worried and are constantly stopping to sit in traffic then dont rag the throttle thus not increasing the temp of the engine. When my vmax got really really hot in heavy traffic it would cut out.. not sure if the vfr would do the same.. and i'm not going to try it.

 

250F coolant temp is a generally accepted kiss of death for any water coooled IC engine. At 235F (113C) I'd start thinking about a flush and thermostadt change before I pushed the limits. I think, even in hot ambient temps, you could do better.

Enjoy.

 

Try 235 deg F to 250 deg F

Sounds like your bike is running around the accepted "normal" range for a 5th gen VFR. "Normal" being really stinking hot. A couple of times my '01 has gotten past 250 deg F in 95 deg F weather and stop and go traffic. The kicker is, on hot days, once the fan kicks on it will never kick off. Here in Houston, TX in the summer (95 to 105 deg F on the freeway in the afternoon) my bike will run around 235 deg F.

I have worried myself sick about this since I got the bike. It first overheated the day I rode it off the dealer lot! The dealer (Honda of Houston) told me "they all do that" and refused to even look at the bike. 41k miles later it has yet to blow up, so I have accepted that this thing is just really really hot. One day it may sieze up underneath me, at which point I'll walk away from the bike and buy from a different manufacturer.

I have tried every type and combination of coolant and oil, nothing seems to make any difference.

My advice? Keep an eye on the gauge, pull over and let it cool when it shoots past 250 deg F, and try not to obsess about it. Most of the time I keep the temp gauge on ambient. If the bike overheats a flashing red bar will appear underneath the temperature readout.

I wonder how many other people are familiar with that flashing red bar?

Steve

 

I have a 99 and recently went on a ride with RVFR who has a 97, we was in stop and go traffic around MT. Rainier and my bike was around 220-225* and then the fan would kick on, then I looked at his temperature gauge and his wasn't even breaking a sweat, Same thing when we switched bikes on the way home...

 

Steve

My viffer 2001 has overheating problem in stop and go traffic. In the space of 20 min. my bike's temp. went from 100deg. celcius to 131deg. !! the red bar was flashing and my legs were cooking! Outside temperature was 37deg. And traffic was not moving. Very annoyed that a Honda bike was this inconvenient. Anyway, I'm planning a coolant flush and will try some different coolant than what HOnda recommends. Even just running around town, it isn't too uncommon for me to see over 100deg. temps. The fan always kicks in, but the temperature does not go down till I hit the freeway at 100kph speeds. Anyone else out-there noticed this heating problem?

 

Kinda had the same experience. The first few times I rode my '03 VFR to work, 45 miles mostly two lane, I noticed that when I stopped at a light near the end of my ride the temp went to 217F and kept climbing. This was at 6:30 in the morning with a temp closer to 37F. The shop I bought the bike from does dyno tuning and when I asked him about the temp he sadi that was pretty much normal, and that very often when they put sport bikes on the dyno the temp can reach 250F. My jaw just dropped when I heard this.

 

The fan on my '94 only comes on once the temp guage reaches about the halfway point (analog gauge). The temp never goes above that once the fan kicks on, even in the summer, even in traffic.

 

hmm.... that could be the solution to heating issues then.

Maybe the later-generations (ie. 5&6) wait till the heat is too high, and the fan probably cannot lower the temperature fast enough.

 

I have a 99 model and my brother in law has a 01 model. We often ride together and his bike regularly shows 4 - 5 degrees Celsius higher than mine. The difference may be that his has the cat in the exhaust, whereas mine does not. Mine has never gone over 105, but then again, I do not ride in city traffic.

 

At 38deg C (100 F)ambient temp

At 38deg C ambient (100 F) My 06 runs at about 100 C (212)
Around the city it goes over that and the fan kicks in at about 105 C (220)
It has got up to about 110C at trafic lights (230F)

Once the fans kick in, it stabilises around 105 C, no problems.

Recent ride withe a mate on a CBR1100xx blackbird, his bikes fans clicked in way earlier than mine at the trafic lights, so i guess the cooling on the 6th gen VFR has no problem.

 

My 06 fans kick on at 220 F and go off at 210 F . in stop and go traffic the fan is on all the time, temp runs 217-230 F. On the highway fan cycles on & off, temp runs anywhere from 190 - 220 F depending on speed and ambient temp. I am told that these temps i have I experienced are normal for Vfour engines
I did have a failure of the fan switch on my bike, temp reached 250 F. I had to stop and let bike cool down before I could continue on home. Garrett Honda repaired it at no cost since warranty covered it.

 

My highest was 120oC during a slow 15kph procession on a 40oC Day, wasn't comfortable about it at the time but the bike didn't get to the Red bar blinking stage, was paralleling another Gen 5 at the time and saw his temp also peaked at 120oC at the same time so think 113oC ok if only as a spike on a hot day moving slow.

 

If you are hitting 113C I would check your fan thermostat. Mine is an 05 and the fan kicks in at 105. I would say 113 is getting a bit hot. Otherwise your temps are the same as mine.

 

Steve,
I think running at 250 F is too hot, it will eventually shorten the life of your engine. Does your fan come on at all? My bike will never get over 232 F if the fans are working correctly. they come on @ 220 off at 209. it is easy to check the thermostatic fan switch. be sure to bleed air out of coolant system since heat transfer in air is much less efficient than in a liquid.

 

Mine got to about 118 that day.

 

Unfortunately a sad day for the OzVFR's it was. :sad: