please help w/ overheat

[fun-times-always]

good deal, tom morning i will check it out in daylight. thanks for everyones help on this

[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).

[Particle Man]

Originally Posted by LOZ

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

good advice all around. It's an '04 with only 5k on it? How long did it (notice I didn't say "Did it sit" - with such low mileage the thing must have sat for a while)? Original hoses? Hoses crack over time, especially if the bike sits. The sudden temp change from running temp to cold from the wash may have been too much for the hoses to take.

[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?

[was92v]

This is a little off the wall, but you may want to check you radiator fins to make sure that the Hi Pressure spray didn't fold the outside edges down, blocking airflow. If they are, a small wooden dowel can be used to open them up. Probably not the problem, but easy to look for and easy to fix (gently).

[fun-times-always]

UPDATE
took all the plastic off and checked it out. well i found the problem. The hose on the left top side that runs to a solid pipe which leads to the block, where the hose and the pipe meet is kinked and the hose will not fit secure over it. there is no way to replace that pipe either, or at least a simple fix. i figure i will try to make it a circular as possible and run some epoxy on it, as the gap is a hairline. not sure what else may work, an extra clamp and jb weld perhaps

[Mr Lefty]

so wait... your saying the metal pipe is kinked? I'd double check that that's your problem... cause unless you're using some new car wash I've never seen the pressure isn't enough to bend a pipe

is the pipe on your radiator?

can you provide pics?

[fun-times-always]

no the pipe isnt off the radiator, there is a rubber hose between this pipe and the radiator. i can get pics tom off cell phone to show, but its a solid pipe that runs next to kickstand, as thats the best i can describe it offhand, its a small kink on the bottom, i have no idea how it got there, the only explaination i can offer is perhaps i got a little spray happy and it budged the hose just off that kink and left a fine crack which was probably covered up. i really hope my fixit idea works, cause im not pulling that engine out. i put some money into that bike, but what a PITA, makes me wanna trade or sell for more car stuff sometimes

[Mr Lefty]

so it's the motorside... damn for the life of me I can't find a pic of the 04 R1 with out it's fairings showing the left side.


we have a few R1 owners... they may be able to help you figure out if something is wrong... I know I've seen several things when work'n on motors that look like they're bent or tweaked only to find they're made that way...


the only reason I say this is cause unless it's just a complete coincidence... I don't think the water pressure would cause that...