I just can't figure it out ya'll.
06 Busa, 3500 Miles, mods are in sig. No fairing screens or headers -yet.
I've searched and read hundreds of post indicating the same general overheating problem. No one seems to post a confirmation of fix.
No other bike I've owned ran hot like this. I've been riding for 10 years and have owned 4 bikes. Hottest temp my Gixxer ever saw was 127 and that was crawling in traffic in the middle of summer in DC.
My beloved Busa has ran hot now 3 times. In all three cases the needle was a hair away from red, fan was on all three times, however I never made the light come on and no boil over.
The first was right after I bought her - about 10 miles on her, sitting at a red light for a few minutes back in April (not too hot outside).
The second was at Rolling Thunder - about 2500 miles. We were trying to get out of the city and got stuck in downtown traffic. Again, the fans came on, needle shadowed red, bike felt very hot.
The last time was on Wed morning. About 75 degrees outside. I have about 3500 miles on her. The fan came on and off to keep the temp just below the middle. Then it started to rise, I could see the needle jump up in spurts. When traffic moved and I could get some air flow, she cooled down, but at the next traffic light, she'd jump right up there again. It really sucked. The fan ran constantly trying to fight the heat, but it appeared not to be cooling at all.
On the way home - much hotter outside, a little lighter traffic, but not much. She did run a little hot, but the fan seemed to be able to keep the needle close to the middle. Nowhere near the overheating problems as I had on the way to work.
I came home and have read every overheating post the search engine came up with. It took a couple of days.
This morning I went out to burp the bike again. I took the rad cap off and it was full. I leaned the bike over in both directions, and held till the fluid was about to come out of the neck of the rad. No bubbles. I put the cap back on, and squeezed the lines quite a few times. I looked again, and the fluid was stilled topped off. Then with the cap off, I started the bike and performed the same leaning procedure, and still no bubble, no change in fluid level.
After all that, I put the rad cap back on, took note of the overflow bottle level, and let the bike warm up until the fan was kicking on and off to keep the temp regulated.
While cold, the overflow bottle level was between the L and H mark. While hot, the level was just above the high mark.
I talked to the dealer and got the standard reply of Busa's run naturally hot. I say bull crap. After reading so many posts from .org members living in Arizona and Florida not having overheating issues, I can only assume something is wrong.
I can use the Muzzy Fan and Engine Ice, but as someone previously posted - that is only a band-aid masking another problem.
I did read a post on another board about someone talking about the water pump impeller shaft being broken or otherwise not fitting right causing a periodic gap in drive, but I haven't seen anyone mention it here on .org
- but in my case - 3 overheating episodes in 3500 miles doesn't really make sense for that problem.
Has anyone found out exactly why some bikes have this issue and others don't?
I have a Yoshi full system sitting in the garage, however I don't want to install yet for fear the headers will escalate the overheating issue.
1993 Yahmaha Virago 750 - No overheating issues
1997 Suzuki Katan 600 - No overheating issues
2003 Suzuki GSXR 600 - No overheating issues
2006 Suzuki Hayabusa - Periodic overheating issues
All bikes were commuter bikes with an average of 5 - 6K miles a year on Northern Virginia HOV lanes and local traffic intensive roads.
Please, if you've had this problem and solved it, post up and let me know.
Thanks for any and all feedback.
