How Hot is Hot?

[Roger P.]

I'm getting 260F on my GS1100E on a regular basis. Running 15W40. I was worried about it, now I think it is probably fine. Usually it takes about 1/2hr of running to get it up to temperature, or less at 70mph or more.

[Nessism]

Of course everyone has an opinion and that includes me...

Almost all air cooled bikes more modern than our beloved GS's have oil coolers (not sure about Harley's). The reason is very easy to understand, high oil temperatures are bad for the oil and subsequently the engine. Anything over 230F is pushing it. Adding an oil cooler is the obvious answer here but I'm unsure about the ability of the low pressure oil pump to get oil through the cooler. Does anyone know of a mod to increase flow rate out of the oil pump to accommodate a cooler, and is such a mod even needed? I've heard something about different gears from a 750 pump but I don't know anything else.

[posplayr]

These work for the GS1100/1150

http://secure.mycart.net/catalogs/catalog.asp?prodid=325631&showprevnext=1

[srsupertrap]

Oil Pump Capability & Oil Temperature

Installing an Oil Cooler does reduce the oil temperature even when using the stock GS oil pump gears. I installed a VDO Oil temp gauge & Oil cooler over twenty years plus years ago and I have personal experience with 82 & 83 GS1100E original owners who installed Derale's or Lockharts. The 83 ran hotter than the 82 model and once those owners installed their oil coolers they saw a meaningful reduction in oil temperature. The vast majority of GS models were not equipped with oil temperature gauges so without that gauge you cannot measure the oil temperature before & after the oil cooler installation.

Vance & Hince offered a high flow oil pump gears which were available for the larger GS's such as the 750, 1000 & 1100. The V&H revised gears replaced the stock oil pump gears behind the Clutch Hub and ran the oil pump faster. This raises the question in my mind whether these were designed solely for the drag strip use because if you ran these gears in your street GS you might wind up with a worn out Oil Pump after 30-40K.

[cmart45]

running hot

I would check to see if your spark advance springs and counter weights are working properly. Remove the right cover (sitting on bike.) Behind signal generator plate. The counter weights should spring back and fourth easily.
Condensation from hot and cold produces rust which can lock up the parts. If you have a good power band,it should be ok! But I would check it out to have a piece of mind.

Good luck!

[RWhitehouse]

Where would you install an oil temp gauge on these bikes? I had one lying around, an old style capillary tube one with the big probe that I tried to install in one of the oil cooler lines, but the probe was too big to get into the small fittings, and I eventually gave up. I tried to put it in place of the oil drain plug as well, but it was too long to fit there also.

Maybe a newer digital gauge would have a smaller sensor? I'm kinda paranoid about how hot this thing gets when idling in traffic. It never starts to run crappy, but it feels like I'm sitting on a furnace.

[psyguy]

Where would you install an oil temp gauge on these bikes?

have a look in the "for sale" thread, thers some photos of how its hooked up in one of the recent threads

[tkent02]

----- yet in 1983 there was no synthetic oil and these GS engines ran fine on conventional at temps well up to 270F...without oil coolers.

Even if you stick with synthetic oil and no oil cooler...today's oil far excedes 1980's oil and you're engine will most likely be fine!

~Adam

Au Contrare, mo fo, Mobil 1 was available in the late seventies, Amsoil long before that.
I tried both in my '77 550 when it was almost new, in 1978 or 1979.

[mret430]

82 750 at 320 degrees too!

so glad I found this thread. So mine with 42k miles running in typical south florida heat in the summer, seems to end up at the 320 degree mark also. is it regional temps, running lean, an inaccurate gauge? I am running 10/40 conventional so first I am switching to synthentic. There's some schools of thought acrosss this thread and while I want to be safe, I also don't want to waste money on repairs. Today i ran for 3 hours at or near the 320 mark; would i have shut down or stalled as a result? I didn't but I want to do the right repairs with everyone's help!

Any other thoughts?

Thanks folks!

[Clone]

so glad I found this thread. So mine with 42k miles running in typical south florida heat in the summer, seems to end up at the 320 degree mark also. is it regional temps, running lean, an inaccurate gauge? I am running 10/40 conventional so first I am switching to synthentic. There's some schools of thought acrosss this thread and while I want to be safe, I also don't want to waste money on repairs. Today i ran for 3 hours at or near the 320 mark; would i have shut down or stalled as a result? I didn't but I want to do the right repairs with everyone's help!

Any other thoughts?

Thanks folks!

320F = 160C that is pretty darn HOT, if that wasn't sitting in stop and go traffic I would really start looking into that. Does the Oil Cooler have flow? What color are the plugs?
Definetly put in a thicker oil, 20W50 dino or 15W40 synthetic.
The oil light doesn't come one?