Overheating

[Anonymous]

Has anyone ever thaught of putting a small fan (like 10 inches in diameter) infront of the engine mounted to the frame down tubes make it look original and connect it to a temp sensor or switch for situations when u might not be constantly driving or hot days..? If it is as strong as a cars fan it WOULD most definatly cool the engine at idle

[SqDancerLynn1]

If you ride in traffic it would be worth a try just mount it temp and try it
although you may end up with a dead battery LOW RPM's in traffic = no charging = dead battery.
Best thing is an oil cooler & frequent oil changes

[Anonymous]

where can i get one and where does it go isnt there a way to make the charging system better why are they so poor?

[Anonymous]

you know it is a good idea i could also install an oil cooler but id want a fan anyways, a cool engine is a happy engine and when my bike gets so hot that when i turn the key off and continues to run for a couple seconds on its own , thats not cool, an air cooled engine should have a fan or some sort of way to cool it when not moving thats all theres to it.....my gs400 has no oil pressure wwitch or nothing i would like to know how i could connect an oil cooler to it, but does the pump have enough power i dont know and where to connect the lines i dont know

[Jethro]

You could mount some kind of fan to 4 "D" cell batteries that are switched on the bar or something. That way it wouldn't tax your charging system.

[first timer]

i still don't understand whats up with your 400. if it is getting that hot and "deiseling" after your done riding it something more is wrong with the bike, your bike could be running very lean make it get this hot. the manufacture designed the motors to adiquitly cool down when riden and tuned properly. i have riden my 550, with my girlfirend on the back riping up some back roads turning 8500 rpm's all day in 90 degree weather and my bike may have been a little hot but it never diseled on me. basiclly what i am saying is if that doesn't overheat a motor then i don't have any idea what you are doing to your bike or how badly out of tune the bike is. lean conditions cause the motor to run hot along with things draging like clutches and brakes or even scored pistons/ burned bearings. i would look into your bike bofre pulling your hair out trying to figure out a oil cooler.


-ryan

[redliner1973]

Ryan is right......Fix the problem, NOT the symptoms.

[earlfor]

There is nothing poor about the charging system. How could it work if the engine is hardly running? Besides, you have a cooling problem, not a charging problem. I suspect your carbs are set too lean. Have you checked your plug colors on the center ceramic?

Earl

where can i get one and where does it go isnt there a way to make the charging system better why are they so poor?

[Anonymous]

well the thing is i already rebuilt it. i had it running in my garage when i was tuning it no outside wind coming in or nothing....that is probably why it got that hot....but even if i was outside what if u get stuck in traffic or somthing.....do yo u think i damaged my engine....i dont think it runs lean now it might have been while i was tuning...i should have at least done it outside or had a fan handy? but it has never over heat when i was riding it, but it gets hot even if i let it run for like 5 minutes and not drive i just think a fan is a good idea....the engine checked up ok it was in great shape oil pump and everything i had new filter and oil it was running really smooth....it could have done that from these reasons 1. not outside where it has access to moving air 2.i had airfilters off i was playiing with carbs probably running lean..

JUST THINK how happy my engine would be with a oil cooler a fan and it was properly tuned...it wouldnt ever have trouble

[WesV]

My '81 450 can sit on a summer day an idle for 20 minutes and not get hot enough to "diesel" (run with no spark). Sounds like you have more issues then cooling issues, something is making your motor run way too hot.

[Anonymous]

i might have not been specific enough, it was running for mayb 10-15 i dont remember all i know is that it was inside with no fan or nothing on a hot day running and i was revving it adjusting the carbs....i seen it start to smoke on the block it was probably wd-40 or some other stuff i used and was on there i figured i had it running enough and ill let it cool down and continue to tune it then....i went to turn it off and it ran for about 2-3 seconds then shut off.... 8O there isnt anything wrong with it internally....i just dont want that to ever happen again so i wanted to install an oil cooler or a fan or both.....i take it out in the dirt somtimes and it might not always be going enough to use the air to cool...on the street it never overheats...even wind would help..

[first timer]

if you are trying run your bike without the filter that will cook a motor too. no filters on a bike will make make it barely run at all. because it is so lean, it is not good to ever run a bike without the air filter installed, unless your carbs have been re-adjusted to allow for a richer mixture.

so you adjusted your carbs with no air filter attached? Your carbs are totally out of wack now because of it. you need to reinstall you factory air box and filter then readjust your carbs.

did you also mention you have more then one air filter, are you running pods or individual filters one per carb as a aftermarket thing? did you rejet?

the oil cooler is not the issue right now and i would get that out of your mind until you can get your bike to work properly without the use of one.

then we can talk oil cooler.

where are you from, if it is cold enough adjust the carbs now the cold temps will help keep it cool, or use a big box fan and blow on it while adjusting carbs. it should run that hot if adjusted properly
-ryan

[Anonymous]

i was trying to make it run without a fliter on this way i know when i put on the filter it would run good. ...Its running one paper air filter and i think it makes it run leaner then stock ....it always ran with it on tho..all i did was raise the needle up in the carb and played with the air screws...I live in Ontario Canada, and yeah it is cold here right now. i know why it overheated that one time... id like to know if i was using this air filter system (some pcv pipe but thats ok) and i put my exaust into one what would i have to do...it was running good with a stock setting and this filter i just raised the needle to give it more fuel just incase plus it could have been running lean...

[Anonymous]

im trying to get the pictures to work

http://img130.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img130&image=airfilter10by.png

http://img130.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img130&image=airfilter25dc.png

http://img130.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img130&image=airfilter33xb.png

There we go

[first timer]

raiseing the needle only effects the mid range rmp's adjusting the air screw only effects the idle mix, adjusting the main effects the last couple 1000 rpm's.

so bascily what you are saying is you have a overheating problem that was caused by you buggering with the carb/airbox/filters. you have modified air intake system which is letting you suck more air then fuel causeing your bike to run lean and very hot.

now that we identified the problem you need to decide what you want to do next,

A. fight the carbs figure out a tune that will let you run your modifid system

or

B. reinstall all factory air intake componets and adjust carbs to specified carb setting as set in the manuel.


if you choose B, then you won't have to worry about overheating cause the factory gave you a recipe to keep it cool

or if you choose A, then i would toss what ever crazy setup you have riged and get you self some pods ( emgo, k & n just to name a few)
install them then see about installing some bigger mains, raising your needle very high, and turning in your air mix screw (i think) to let as little air in as possable. i would recomend highly to take a look at this

http://www.motorcyclecarbs.com/support.htm

and read every artical so you know how carbs work. basiclly you want to get the carbs to run as rich as possable without fouling the plugs, the richer the mix the cooler the bike runs.


i would not worry about a pipe right now just leave it however it is, it's a twin not much you can do to it.

-ryan