overheating

[flyabusa]

i was in old orchard beach on sat. and in heavy traffic. Sitting there checking out the women and i looked down at my temp gauge and it was getting hot. before i could get turned around and out of there the red light came on and the needle was pinned. got turned out of traffic and started moving and the temp came down and was normal then. I am mechanicly enclined and know what can happen to an engine but does not smoke or knock or anything and ran fine on the way home. The fan was running at the time also. Has anyone else had this happen and what are the long term effects of this. Only got 8100 miles on it and bought it in may.

 

[ks-waterbug]

If this was a one time deal........You should be ok! Food for thought, next time your in heavy traffic shut your bike off (suggested in the owners manual). Also might look at putting an aftermarket fan on the bike and/or try running some Engine Ice.........
One other member hooked up two electric fans on a switch not sure how this was done. Just my .02

 

[techbum]

I don't let mine sit and idle very long so I haven't had an over-heating problem. If I'm in heavy traffic....lane-splitting is the thing to do......pisses people off sometimes but my baby is more important than their attitudes. And if you're checking out the honey's......well.......just turn the thing off........besides.....gives them a chance to check you out too........hehehehehe

 

[dezzy7]

Engine Ice helps relieve some of the problem. You can add an additional fan to the other side of the radiator- there is room but you have to build a bracket for it. If you go this route I recommend you put it on a seperate switch that way you can run it whenever YOU feel the need. You can also wrap the headers which should reduce some of the heat under the cowl. Ok I've got a lot of theis done headers wrapped, additional fan-but it wont see intall till the winter, and Engine ice. I just flushed my colling system and filled it with engine ice. To check it out i let it sit in the garage running after pulling in on a hot day for about 10-15 minutes just to see how it was working ---NADA, nothing, the temp guage stayed just below the midway mark. So i was well pleased with the Engine Ice.. I had used it before with ok results, but then i didn't flush and completely drain the system (like the instructions say). So that was my bust, but i'm well pleased at the moment.

Dave the owner/Engine Ice checks in here every once in a while so you can ping him and ask about it

 

[Iced]

Yeah, I have meant to post this as well. I have a completely stock '03 and I seem to have a problem with it getting too hot if I'm letting it idle around. It's hit the red light 3 times already and I'm scared as to what might have happened for the long term. The temperature comes right down when I move but still.... I'll have to look at some upgrades like you guys have suggested above. It's hot here at times (32C/90F) but not nearly as hot as some of our southern friends which makes me wonder about mine. I think I will have to get it checked this week at the shop. Something doesn't seem right.

 

[babuski]

Iced.....definitely get that checked....in hot humid chicago weather, I rarely get above the midpoint when idling in traffic in hot weather...fan should kick on and help before you get the bike moving.(I have a stock 03 with 2700 miles on it). V

Vancouver weather is just not that hot (I love the city and visit often). Could be a sensor problem or you just have a sensitive busa or something....but that should not happen.

 

[Charlesbusa]

This is a common problem when your in heavy traffic/stop and go. Just a big engine covered in plastic and if it does get some air moving through it'll get to hot. Be very careful about shutting it off and turning it on to save on engine heat. Your alternator DOES NOT charge the battery at idle. I was stuck in race traffic in Daytona and was turning it off and on, 45 mins later it wouldn't start because the battery had been discharged. Kinda sucks, if you rev it to charge the battery you overheat quicker and if you idle it to keep it cool the battery discharges(especially if your high beams are on).

 

[SierraFlyer]

The header wrap is a great solution. I wrapped my stainless Akra downtubes from the head down to where the pipes turn under the bike to the rear. It blocks almost all the the heat from baking the radiator and oil cooler. All summer long the temps have stayed at the middle mark on the gauge. I run the stock fan and the original coolant. So except for the wrap it is basically stock. I have run it in all conditions up to 103 degrees and in stopped traffic where I rev'ed the engine to get the temp gauge to go above the mid mark. The stock headers are just too close to the radiators and cook them. The wrap stops it completely.

If you want to test the effect, just hold your finger 1 inch from the header (if you can) to see how the exhaust bakes the radiators. It slow traffic there is not enough airflow to cool that radiated heat. After you install the wrap you can touch the tape while the engine is hot and not get burned.

Header tape = 2 thumbs up!

 

[MET]

Number one, i totally agree turn of the bike if sitting in traffic for a long period of time. Also does not sound like the fan is going on at the right time. In your garage let the bike heat up until the fan goes on and see where on the gauge the fan kicks in.

 

[EAKbusa]

Mine overheated this weekend in Gatlinburg, freaked me out for a minute. We had just arrived after a relatively long hot ride though so it was already pretty hot (but only registering mid-way on the gage). Anyway, traffic was slower than crap and within 10 minutes the red light came on and I had to shut her off. What was weird was that when I tried to restart it, it acted like the battery was dead and kind of scared me. I wondered if it was a saftey thing to keep the bike from running at the overheated condition. I let it sit for a while and it started and off we went. Did not happen again.

Later that night we rode in the same traffic for half an hour (of course from a "cold start") and it never got that hot nor did the light come on again. I have had bikes that are more prone to overheating than others so I just chalk it up to personality of the Busa and the conditions. I am not that worried about it unless you guys say I should be.

Interesting note comment about it not charging at idle and the fact that mine acted like the battery was dead after I shut it off (of course after idling for many minutes). Seems unlikely to me that a fully charged battery could go "dead" in such a short time, although i did have my high beams on (always in the daytime for safety). I'll keep an eye on it if it ever happens again and will keep better track of what happened leading up to it.

 

[Johnnycheese]

Ok I have no fan on mine also have an Innercooler ontop of the radiator with a turbo behingd it and I don't overheat.
I DO NOT Sit in traffic I use distilled water at 80% and antifreeze at 20%.

Oh and no thermastat.

Bottom line is it is not a car it is not made for sitting it is made for riding

 

[Iced]

EAKbusa, I had the same problem when I shut it down and let it coast down a hill in rush hour traffic I got caught in. I thought the battery died as well. I usually ride with my high beams on so I also remember to turn them back to lowbeam when I have to idle around.

 

[monsterspeedfreak]

Iced.......dude ....we live in the same town, ride in the same weather.......and mine has never, ever been even close to overheating..........get that baby checked dude........before I steal it from yer garage and take it in for ya........yer startin to freak me out.......don't want ya to lose that motor.

 

[HayabusaSensei]

I agree with Ninja Eater
it is very important to have the bike warms up in the grage before riding, untill you hear the fans running usually if it is a fully stock bike, that happens with the temp hits the middle line on the temp gauge, just above that.
now a suzuki factory trained mechanic (who esembeled my bike) told me this.

one other thing as a highly recommended thing, if you are idle try not to .. how do we say that.. don't juice up you engine while idle, meaning like just before taking off, we usually do the Vrooom Vrooom action that will have some attention around you right ?
well this is a very bad thing to do if the bike is idle, once you are rolling you can do that .. that is another guru advise

I hope they help ..

 

[dezzy7]

Those who are skilled in combat do not become angered,
those who are skilled at winning do not become afraid.
Thus the wise win before the fight, while the ignorant fight to win

Hey I like that mind if i use that sometime???

 

[Iced]

since u put it that way, MSF.... ok, tomorrow morning i'll start it up and let it sit there and see what happens during the cool morning... I'll phone the shop in the meantime and get it checked out

 

[singaporebiker23]

The header wrap is a great solution. I wrapped my stainless Akra downtubes from the head down to where the pipes turn under the bike to the rear. It blocks almost all the the heat from baking the radiator and oil cooler. All summer long the temps have stayed at the middle mark on the gauge. I run the stock fan and the original coolant. So except for the wrap it is basically stock. I have run it in all conditions up to 103 degrees and in stopped traffic where I rev'ed the engine to get the temp gauge to go above the mid mark. The stock headers are just too close to the radiators and cook them. The wrap stops it completely.

If you want to test the effect, just hold your finger 1 inch from the header (if you can) to see how the exhaust bakes the radiators. It slow traffic there is not enough airflow to cool that radiated heat. After you install the wrap you can touch the tape while the engine is hot and not get burned.

Header tape = 2 thumbs up!

hi there where can i get the header tape??? any place to recommand.

 

[SierraFlyer]

I used the left over material my neighbor had sitting in his garage. He got it at Summit Racing in Reno. But any speed shop has it. Rule-of-thumb, any auto store that sells performance parts (including headers) will also have heat tape. Some are self adhesive, I used the non-adhesive type and clamped it with stainless wire. It looks like a light brown fiberglass cloth tape about 2 inches wide and about 1/8" thick - kind of like a seat belt webbing only thicker. You will have alot left over since the rolls are usually big enough to wrap two V-8 headers. Maybe you can split the cost with someone else and share a roll?

BE WARNED - the first time you fire up the engine the tape will burn off an oily coating and will smoke a lot. It looks like your bike is on fire but it is not. It is normal. It may continue to smoke some for a week or so before all of the coating is gone. Then it will not smoke or smell again.

 

[Big O]

I had mine get to the red for the first time ever the other day, sitting through three lights in traffic before I noticed it, because it never gets too hot. It was 106 in the shade though, and it cooled down quick when I finally did start to move.

 

[Revlis]

Get's hot in Tampa, I have yet to have an over heating problem. The fan kicks on just as the guage reaches the middle line and will drop it back to just below. I usually shut it down and duck walk it if it is real slow stop and go, or I will just white line it and be on my way.
But I really recommend just shutting her down, do not sit in traffic idle for too long.