Mike Millsap Posted June 17, 2005 Share Posted June 17, 2005 My worst experience with overheating was in gridlocked "drive home" traffic on a loop near the airport in San Antonio last August. My fan started and ran for a few minutes and then the engine just quit. I had to hop off the bike and push it across three lanes of stop and go traffic with jerk drivers honking and driving way too close to me. After finally getting to the shoulder of the road (still not far enough away from moving traffic), I had to strip off my Aerostich coat and pants to cool my own temperature. I was standing there in by riding boots, boxer shorts and a T-shirt, and I didn't give a rat's ass. The bike would start again in about 30 minutes and was sufficiently cooled for me to ride on the paved shoulder and get off the loop. I immediately sought cold water and shade for myself. Not only was the traffic scary, but I got nauseous and a little disoriented from overheating my body. I've seen two riders die from heatstroke in a West Texas enduro, and I take it just as seriously as dangerous traffic. I never want to repeat that experience again and will try any good solution or tactic to avoid it. So if you know of a better fix than Water Wetter, I'll use it. My BBird overheats quickly in stop and go or stalled traffic. That kind of situation is probably always avoidable if I think ahead, but sometimes you get surprised with gridlock conditions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
demon Posted June 17, 2005 Share Posted June 17, 2005 One thing everyone usually forgets to do is to actually rev the engine up a little bit when the fan is running. When I'm in stop and go traffic, if I notice the temp gauge rising and the fan comes on, I will rev it up to 2500 to 3000 rpm to increase the water flow through the radiator. It works for me and I've never had it cut off on me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gourmet Posted June 17, 2005 Share Posted June 17, 2005 +1 I have never had the bird over heat in stop and go traffic, fan comes on and the temp gauge always stays below the red line. Seems odd to me, maybe check thermostat, fan and fluid level? Brian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rickrad Posted June 17, 2005 Share Posted June 17, 2005 I had the same exact problem!! I moved 1000 miles North and it seems to have fixed the problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Furbird Posted June 17, 2005 Share Posted June 17, 2005 Mine's never cut off either, even when the fuse for the radiator fan blew. The temp got up past the high white mark, and that's when I knew something was wrong. I was in formation at the time for a huge charity ride, so I had to break formation and speed up to almost 60 in 6th gear to get the bike cooled down quickly. I then shut it off and coasted to a stop and replaced the fuse. Mine always runs hotter than I'm comfortable with, so I'm adding a second fan along with Water Wetter once the fan comes in. This one will be on a switch, and it will stay on after I reach operating temps. That should solve your problem as well. The factory fan is just insufficient IMO for southern climate. It's gonna rain today and the high is still gonna be 93 with a heat index of around 104-106. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John01XX Posted June 17, 2005 Share Posted June 17, 2005 I have experimented with various options also and have decided to locate a second fan as well and replace the fan blade with a custom blade from Muzzy in the same stock housing. Much higher air volumn and only one fan would then be needed, and still hooked up to cut on and off per OEM spec's. I also run Engine Ice which is made and was developed here in South Florida for race track use. Now to just find a deal on a Bird Fan and get it done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Krypt Keeper Posted June 17, 2005 Share Posted June 17, 2005 I have seen 248 on mine once and just killed the motor to let the fan do its thing. If I am sitting somewhere and waiting for only a few minutes I will rev the bike up like Demon said and get the water pump moving to help stir the fluids.... The weather here in the Summer is normally 90-95 with Humidity always above 50%.. so its always heat indexed around 105 plus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
demon Posted June 17, 2005 Share Posted June 17, 2005 I've had friends that drag race and they put and auxilary fan switch on their bikes. It keeps the factory temp switch, but adds a manual switch as well for cooling the bikes down between rounds. You splice the manual switch into the wiring parallel, not in line, and it works off either the manual switch or the factory temp switch. You can switch the fan on in traffic before the temp rises past the point of no return. I've thought about doing this to mine as well, but just haven't gotten around to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Motor Psycho Posted June 17, 2005 Share Posted June 17, 2005 Has anyone here used one of Muzzy's aluminum fan blades? How did it work and was it an easy install? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Furbird Posted June 17, 2005 Share Posted June 17, 2005 Muzzy does not show a blade for the bird. Is this a "make it work" deal or is this a new product that they don't have on the site? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted June 17, 2005 Share Posted June 17, 2005 I have experimented with various options also and have decided to locate a second fan as well and replace the fan blade with a custom blade from Muzzy in the same stock housing. Much higher air volumn and only one fan would then be needed, and still hooked up to cut on and off per OEM spec's. I also run Engine Ice which is made and was developed here in South Florida for race track use. Now to just find a deal on a Bird Fan and get it done. Let me know when you find the Muzzy for the XX and the results. thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John01XX Posted June 17, 2005 Share Posted June 17, 2005 Muzzy does not make a direct Bird replacement but my mechanic said he carries most all that Muzzy offers and can retrofit one in a stock Bird housing if I can get him a new housing/motor. I am watching ebay for a cheap fan out of a Bird used but woking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted June 17, 2005 Share Posted June 17, 2005 Kewl, I have a rad with fan, cap and switch in garage. I may check into this a little more. thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
REXX Posted June 17, 2005 Share Posted June 17, 2005 An old hotrod trick for overheating would be to take an old (stuck) thermostat and punch the center out of it. I don't know if this would be prudent for the Bird, but it kept my stroked '69 Camaro at 170 degrees when it would boil over before. Just removing the thermostat would allow the coolant to flow too quickly and not give the radiator time transfer the heat. Might be worth a try and it's free (except labor). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtTorpedo Posted June 17, 2005 Share Posted June 17, 2005 Is it supposed to shutdown? The digital thermometer starts blicking at you when it hits 250 - which I have seen a few times. I thought you were supposed to shut it down yourself when that happens. I saw 260 once and was about to shut it down for fear of damaging it, but traffic started to move, so I kept going. But afterwards the battery didn't have enough juice to restart. Oh, then get this - I'm now in downtown Boston on a busy Friday afternoon with a dead battery - and some guy wants my spot - I tell him he can have it - if he gives me a jump. He says he doesn't have time for that. ??? Like you're going to find another space anytime soon? But then he still expects me to push it out of the way for him anyway! Are you f'n kidding me?! I was most colorful in telling him to get lost. I ALMOST succeded in getting it jumped from another decent person (who didn't even want the spot!) before he made it through the next light. Too bad, I really wanted to lane split past him and test the protectiveness of my titanium gloves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Furbird Posted June 17, 2005 Share Posted June 17, 2005 Anybody thought of making your own fan blade out of sheet metal? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phalanx7.62 Posted June 17, 2005 Share Posted June 17, 2005 +1 for the t-stat hole mod. I have had several cars that saw summer only use here in MI. I would pull the stat, and just drill some hole into the housing, alowing more coolant to flow through. I have a supercharged Cougar that showed HUGE results using redline water wetter. Dropped the temps dramatically. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomek Posted June 18, 2005 Share Posted June 18, 2005 I think just relocating stock fan from the middle to the right or left would improve cooling.Fan sits right against exhaust headers,where the air suppose to go ? Well it does`nt,bike overheats.There is number of bikes with single cooling fan,none of them suffers from overheating problems,but fans on those bikes are located on the right or left side of radiator, right next to the holes in the side fairing.Gixxers,r1`s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helvet Posted June 18, 2005 Share Posted June 18, 2005 Seems odd to me, maybe check thermostat, fan and fluid level? Also check radiator cap, and check the thermo-switch for the fan. Mine was overheating because the fan started too late.... Because it did start it took us ages to find the problem.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted June 18, 2005 Share Posted June 18, 2005 I'm more concern about the added stress put on the charging system from fan running so much then the showing of high temp readings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted June 19, 2005 Share Posted June 19, 2005 http://www.suzukihayabusa.org/phpbb/viewto...pic.php?t=31991 Here is a two fan setup on busa, might be of some help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SD Marc Posted June 20, 2005 Share Posted June 20, 2005 What weight oil are you running? I had been running 15-50 and the bike always heated up quickly and ran hot in traffic. I just switched to 5-40 and saw a noticeable improvement in cooling system performance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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