Overheating in stop and go traffic :(

[Guest]

I took the interstate into Boston last night, approx 30 miles between 75 and 80 MPH (normal highway speed around here) when I got to the Big Dig I hit stop and go traffic. My GS only lasted about 15 minutes before it started to overheat. The oil level was right and only 500 miles old (Suzuki 10W-40). Is this normal? If so does anyone have any suggestions on how to make the old girl last a little longer in stop and go traffic?

[redliner1973]

Your spped on the freeway, then slowing down to stop and go traffic probably vaused it, as the engine was already pretty hot to begin with. You may try using a 20w-50 oil in your bike. i have found it works very well in mine for keeping the girl cooler. also, check the obvious, is the engine dirty, everything in tune and adjusted right, not too lean or valves not mal adjusted? look in to all that and see if it fairs better.

[Anonymous]

also, check the obvious, is the engine dirty, everything in tune and adjusted right, not too lean or valves not mal adjusted? look in to all that and see if it fairs better.

I have been amazed at how just keeping Larry clean will help with so many things.

[Anonymous]

On a long ride this past September, I had great performance from my 1100 but when it came to in city (NYC) the only problem was that it got harder and harder to shift in and out of gear. Once I got to my desination, and the bike cooled off, the shifting was normal again. Also, once up to speed and the engine cooled in the breeze, the shiftiing was fine. But I have never had any performance related overheating. my bike is a 1982 and I change the oil every 3000 miles.
GY

[Anonymous]

WHAT TEMPERATURE DID THE OIL TEMP GUAGE GO TO THAT CAUSED YOU TO KNOW THE BIKE WAS OVERHEATING???

[focus frenzy]

WHAT TEMPERATURE DID THE OIL TEMP GUAGE GO TO THAT CAUSED YOU TO KNOW THE BIKE WAS OVERHEATING???

the 81 GS1000gl does not have a temp gauge Scotty, I am asuming that Pillage experianced a higher than normal idle, sever detonation, at rpm's below 4,000 (clatter), and posibly engine surging. (VERY HOT)
I went through the same thing last year durring the summer due to local construction on a daily basis!
the best thing you can do is find a differant route to take.
If that is not a option, you can try easing down a few miles before you reach a known point where traffic consistantly grinds to a halt, this alows the engine temp to drop down some, giving you a little more time before the engine gets to hot.
you can also, when closing in on the congestion, pull in the clutch and hit the kill switch on the right handle bar and coast up to the grid lock and if the traffic is moving very slow, just paddle the bike along with your feet, or start the engine move up, and when it stops kill the engine.
then again, if you are handy at rigging up things, you can strap a small water tank (a fuel tank for a large scale gas radio control plane would work good) to your passenger seat, plumb a line up under the seat to a wind shield washer pump, where it splits to 2 or more lines, that go above the engine to small fine mist nozzles (you can get them at garden stores)
wire the pump to the battery and put the control switch in a location that is easy to get to.
when you turn on the pump you will get a fine mist that wont cool off the engine to fast (bad) but at a reasonable rate, and the mist will cover a relativly large area.
aiming the nozzles at the top of the engine will get the mist down around the spark plugs where the most heat is.
Another option is, depending on your current state of tune, jeting your carburators a little richer, this will also help keep temps down.

[Anonymous]

Leon I was hoping to get a description of what pillage called overheating-my asumption was that he did not have an oil temp guage and possibly he only felt the heat that comes up unto the drivers face while in stop and go conditions-- I would still like to hear the original posters exact descriptopn of the over heating situation.

[Pillage]

The Heat

Hey Guys,
The events leading me to believe the bike was overheating were...
at first it was becoming increasingly difficult to find neutral
then the dreaded pinging when moving from a dead stop
by the time I found a somewhat safe place to pull over, some smoke was coming off the engine.
I waited around 15 minutes and jumped back into the traffic for 10 more minutes of stop and go before things started moving again. Everything seems to be okay now. But it was a real pain to have to stop. If there had been a breakdown lane I would have slowly cruised down it and except for the possibility of a ticket I don't think I would have overheated.
At any rate I am going to crack open the carbs and fatten them up a bit, and although the engine isn't completely filthy it does need to be cleaned up. I'm not sure about going to 20W-50 at least not until the spring, as I think it will make it a lot harder to start as it gets colder out? The windshield washer nozzle idea sounds bizzare but it also sounds like it would work! Thanks for all the suggestions.
Take care,
Pillage

[Anonymous]

Re: The Heat

Hey Guys,
The events leading me to believe the bike was overheating were...
at first it was becoming increasingly difficult to find neutral
then the dreaded pinging when moving from a dead stop
by the time I found a somewhat safe place to pull over, some smoke was coming off the engine.
I waited around 15 minutes and jumped back into the traffic for 10 more minutes of stop and go before things started moving again. Everything seems to be okay now. But it was a real pain to have to stop. If there had been a breakdown lane I would have slowly cruised down it and except for the possibility of a ticket I don't think I would have overheated.
At any rate I am going to crack open the carbs and fatten them up a bit, and although the engine isn't completely filthy it does need to be cleaned up. I'm not sure about going to 20W-50 at least not until the spring, as I think it will make it a lot harder to start as it gets colder out? The windshield washer nozzle idea sounds bizzare but it also sounds like it would work! Thanks for all the suggestions.
Take care,
Pillage

Maybe an oil coler with a thermostat is what would solve your traffic problem--a couple of the guys have done that already.
The richer mixture should also help but read your plugs first to see if it is too lean or running rich already.

[redliner1973]

I don't believe putting an oil coler on it would help the problem, but would just bandage it. Suzi put out a good quality bike, with no cooler installed from the factory, so evidently overheating wasnt really a consideration otherwise i believe plenty of coolers would have been rigged up in the 1980's when the bikes were at the peak of riders/owners. i feel there has to be something wrong somewhere, be it carbs, ignition, carbon, whatever. fix the problem, and I believe the excess heat will go away.

[gs7]

Over Heating

I would suggest to change to 20/50 Oil as oil is a great part of your cooling in your engine and it will not make any difference in starting unless you are riding in winter snow conditions Hardly anyone uses 10/40 anymore. Use the best grade of fuel you can purchase, even adding octane boost helps with ping because gas is not as good as it was in the early years of the GS. I also set my idle upto the max the manual calls for so the oil will circulate more dissapating heat better. Also a oil cooler would help regardless of what anybody says. Keep it tuned, use good gas and quality oil that has a good VI index and high flash point. And the obvious try not to idle in traffic.

[Pillage]

leaking hottie

I'll take a look at the spark plugs before I start changing the carb settings. Unfortunately I think one of the floats stuck open slightly as it was leaking fuel yesterday from the front of the carb boot when it was on the kick stand, as soon as I put it up on the centerstand fuel started dripping out of the air box (the carbs themselfs were dry). So I pulled the carbs yesterday and cleaned them (lots of sediment in the fuel bowls). Anyway the air filter was filthy and so was the air box, I wonder what effect this had on the overheating? I'll put it all back together with an inline fuel filter and check/clean the plugs. Also the idle was on the low side so I will increase it slightly.
I searched the forum archives for oil coolers and quite a few GSers have installed one. I may take that project on but I think I need to complete a tune-up, valve check, and maybe the cam chain tension? before I install an oil cooler.

[Clone]

I was intrigued to see an electric fan mounted on the frame blowing down on the head of a reworked sport bike the other day. It was one of those square black brushless 12V jobs, about 4 inches square and zip tied to the frame. The guy had it aimed at his head from the top of the front down tubes. I don't know the power draw or the set up, I didn't really want to be examining a bike too closely in that part of town at night for too long. But that is an option for increasing cooling when stopped.

[moto_dan]

Re: leaking hottie

I searched the forum archives for oil coolers and quite a few GSers have installed one. I may take that project on but I think I need to complete a tune-up, valve check, and maybe the cam chain tension? before I install an oil cooler.

IMO you're on the right track. Go through all the maintainence items you discribed to give have a benchmark for further mods to your bike. Good luck and keep us posted as to your progress. BTW, I use Castrol 10/40 for most of the year in Texas in both of my street bikes one(GS7/1100) without an Oil cooler, and my other '83 GS750es with an Oil cooler with no noticeable ill effects. I tried 20w/50 during our 90-100 degree period, but noticed no tempature change on my '83 which has an oil temp gauge.

[Anonymous]

Re: leaking hottie

I tried 20w/50 during our 90-100 degree period, but noticed no tempature change on my '83 which has an oil temp gauge.

I wouldn't expect the heavier oil to cool more effectively (not to any significant degree). Instead, we expect the heavier oil will lubricate better than the 10W-40 when the engine/oil is very hot. The better lubrication it would offer at high temps would, by itself, serve to cut down on frictional heat a teeny bit, but the usual problem is that the engine doesn't transfer heat to the air well when ambient air temps are already hot (how well I remember driving 10 mph with the heater on full blast trying to keep my car from overheating while climbing the long, gentle hill out of Death Valley). Cooler ambient temps, or increased airflow, or an additional method of bleeding heat from the engine (oil cooler) are the keys. Anyway, I wouldn't expect your temp gauge to reflect any significant dip in temp when using the heavier oil, but that heavier oil should protect the engine better when very hot.