please help w/ overheat

[fun-times-always]

first post here, a friend on mustangforums recommended this site to me concerning a problem with my 2004 R1. the bike has 5000 miles on it, mostly stock save for exhaust, intake, and other small stuff. the story is mostly i brought the bike to a self car wash to hose it down. it has ran just fine the entire time i have owned it, but after washing it, it was overheating on the way home bad. i stoped a couple of times just to get it 15 miles. the light comes on, on the dash. is there something i may have hit with that sprayer or pulled a wire off or something of that sort? i am pretty new to the bike world. any help i would appreciate much. thank you much. my intent is maybe its a quick fix insted of paying a dealer lots of money for.

[Cutty72]

Check make sure all your coolant lines are still connected where they should be, and that there is coolant in the system.
Then check to see if the thermostat wires are all connected.

and FYI, high pressure water and bikes aren't the best combo in the world.

[fun-times-always]

i will, thanks for your help on that, and wont make that mistake again

[Mr Lefty]

yeah shit just get a bottle of Meguires quick detail and spray and wipe after every ride and you'll be good. no need to ever wash the bike with water imo unless you get caught in some nasty rain or some how get nailed with mud...


on the main issue... yeah check to see that you didn't somehow dislodge a hose... also check that your fan is working... you may have unplugged the fan if there's a quick disconnect you hit with the high pressure water.

how long ago was this? does the bike overheat when it's idle'n or only at speed? does your fan come on... how is your coolant level?

when you washed did you try to avoid the motor with the pressure washer? or did you intentionally wash the motor? be honest... that pressure is a lot for hoses and wires...

good luck bro.

[fun-times-always]

i didnt put any DIRECT pressure on the engine, the sprayer was a fair distance from the engine. the fan works, and it works well. Its louder now than i have ever noticed before, and it will not overheat at idle, i can let it idle for a long time, nothing, but at any speed at rpm greater than say, 3k it will start and i smell a burning smell. i hope this info helps a little bit too. thanks again

[Mr Lefty]

Originally Posted by fun-times-always

i didnt put any DIRECT pressure on the engine, the sprayer was a fair distance from the engine. the fan works, and it works well. Its louder now than i have ever noticed before, and it will not overheat at idle, i can let it idle for a long time, nothing, but at any speed at rpm greater than say, 3k it will start and i smell a burning smell. i hope this info helps a little bit too. thanks again

How long ago was this?

[LOZ]

Originally Posted by fun-times-always

i smell a burning smell.

but what kind of burning smell? burnt rubber, burnt coolant, burnt oil? be more specific.

this is very good info. it means that there is a leak. you shouldnt be smelling anything else besides exhaust fumes... so if you smell burnt up coolant then there must be a crack on one of the hoses. sometimes the crack is so small that it wont leak unless the coolant inside is under a lot of pressure, in other words, really hot. and that is why it only overheats when you go passed 3Krpm.

also check the radiator itself, it could be cracked as well. I had a similar situation when I bought my truck. all the hoses were fine, but the radiator has a small crack at the bottom on the right side, that was almost impossible to spot....

you might want to take off your radiator and check it manually. then plug it and run water through it to see if you can spot it coming out anywhere...

spotting a leak on a bike shouldnt be too hard. just take off the plastics, have somebody hold the throttle over 3Krpm and wait till you start smelling the burn, then carefully look at all the hoses. use something to move the hoses around, so you dont burn yourself.

hope this helps.

-Loz

[neebelung]

Originally Posted by Cutty72

and FYI, high pressure water and bikes aren't the best combo in the world.

werd.

And if you must take a hose to your bike, get those plugs for your exhaust (they sell them at Cycle Gear and most dealerships).

[No Worries]

Originally Posted by fun-times-always

... it has ran just fine the entire time i have owned it, but after washing it, it was overheating on the way home bad. i stoped a couple of times just to get it 15 miles. the light comes on, on the dash...

Is it really overheating, or has water shorted the temp switch? I remember that some Kawasaki's would run terrible in the rain. Water was getting into the sparkplug tunnels and shorting out the spark. They fixed it by keeping the water out of there. Maybe find your temp sensor and clean the contact wire.

If your R1 was mine, I would want to know what's the real temp of the engine. Either check the temp of the oil, or borrow or buy one of those digital laser guns that can tell you the temp. I think they're only around $50 now. That would be a fun tool.

[Gas Man]

I'm kinda with NW on this.

I think its purely electrical. Either the temp display is in-accurately reading or maybe the fan switch is fubar. Does the fan come on at all?