How Hot is too Hot?

[Jontheguru]

I just went on my first extended ride with my 83 1100E. I have a full fairing up front, a header, and jetted carbs. The bike runs great, very fast for an older bike, and quite smooth. It is not running lean but my engine temperature gage was reading high. It appeared to be running at 270 consistantly which has me very worried. I know these bikes run hot but I'm not sure what is too hot. The gage reads up to 320 with no red indicating overheating. The 210 line appears to be the goal. I'm concerned that my fairing is blocking air flow but on previous short cruises, before the fairing was installed, it still appeared to be headed well over the 210 mark. The bike has 17000 miles and is in great shape, I have a hard time believing anything serious is wrong. Very worried, please respond!!!

[jimcor]

I wasn't aware that bike had an oil temp guage as original equipment. I'd bet that first line at 210 is the beginning of the normal operating temperature range anything below it is 'cold'. Someone with the same bike or an owners manual will let you know. But I would bet you're just fine as long as your fairing doesn't block air to the engine.

[KEITH KRAUSE]

Well, it's hard to say what that fairing is doing to the air flow over the engine. I suppose you could test the bike on a run, remove the fairing, then re-test immediately under identical conditions to see what the gauge says.
Next easy thing to check is your plugs are the correct heat range.
If air flow isn't the problem and the plugs are correct, I'd take a plug read to verify the jetting. Ride the bike at the same speed you did on your ride, then chop off the throttle and read a couple of plugs. Reading 1 and 2, or 3 and 4 should be good enough. All four if you want to see how they're all doing.
Your bike may need the jet needles raised and richer mixture screw adjustments to allow for the pipe. You said it was re-jetted, but this often means only the main jets were changed.
Anyway, in case you don't know, a chop test means to ride the bike as you did during the "over-heating problem", make sure it's completely warmed up/hot, then quickly pull in the clutch, close the throttle and turn off the key. Coast with the clutch lever in to a stop. Check the plugs. Take a rag and a piece of rubber hose that will fit snugly over the plug end. This will help you remove and re-install hot plugs. Be careful of cross-threading.
Let us know if the plugs insulators are burning whitish/lean.

[Einar J Skog]

Hi


I belive your engine is running to hot.

Normal oil temp is between 60-130 degree Celcius or 140-266 degree
Farenheit.

[earlfor]

My 83 1100E with a 1197 kit, running in hot florida, no oil cooler, stays around 190-200 deg F. My 85 1150E with an oilcooler, on the same day, will run about 175-180 deg.

I would check or have a shop check, the oil temperature and verify their reading is the same as your dash guage. If the oil temp really is 270 deg, its doo damn hot. Time for an oil cooler or possibly an oil pump???

Earl

[pano]

My 821100e seemed to run hot when I first bought it. I would go to 270 and actually pegged it in heavy traffic once. After that I put on an oil cooler and now it never really goes above 9 oclock.

Maybe some of the other guys can respond to this...if the timing were slightly off it could run hotter right???

Although the timing is usually set once and does not need to be touched, maybe the previous owner changed it.

[gspaul]

Hey Pano!
Could be timeing ,but much more likely to be fuel/air related.

[Jontheguru]

Quik update...

Checked the plugs, not white but certainly not rich. The main won't accept anything larger than 127.5. Went up on the needle. Now it's slot #5 from the top on a dynojet needle. Suprisingly it runs smoother than before and really packs a punch. Thanks for the obvious reminder to always check the plugs. Going on a trip in the morning ( fishing for sea run cutthroat trout near the coast ), we'll see if it makes a difference on temperature. Thanks for the help guys. Any more suggestions are still helpfull. P.S. one more point, when I had my 90 GSXR 1100 it was air/oil cooled and it sent searing heat waves up throught the fairing, the GS doesn't feel anywhere near that hot. I'm a bit more relieved when recalling that. :roll:

[jimcor]

Re: Quik update...

[quote="Jontheguru"] Going on a trip in the morning ( fishing for sea run cutthroat trout near the coast )[quote]

Oh man, have fun and catch one for me! That's my kind of trip.