Advice needed regarding engine temperature

[rowdy]

Hi all
Just got home from riding to work today and the red light by the FI, oil etc came on about half a mile from my house so I looked down to see the temperature reading 122 degrees. The weird thing is though when I started the bike from cold outside my place of work the temperature instantly read 78 degrees (air temperature struggling to rise above 0).
parked the bike outside my house and turned the ignition back on but didn't start the engine and the temperature continued to climb until it just flashed 'hi'. All levels seem fine, anyone know what might be the problem. Bike is a pointy (and no that isn't my problem lol)
Thanks in advance.

[jambo]

A number of issues are possible.

Easiest one to check is that the system's working properly:
1) Check oil and coolant level are OK (coolant at reservoir and that the radiator is full)
2) Start the bike from cold and note the temperature, take it for a very short run (mile or 2) to get some heat in it then just park it up and let it idle. Alternatively just let it idle from cold. The temperature should climb up gradually. When it gets up to 105ish the fan should kick in and bring the temperature down, if the fan doesn't kick in then the bike will start spitting coolant out of the overflow and start flashing a warning about temperature.

The thermister that is used to send the temperature to the clocks is a completely separate unit to the thermostatic switch that is mounted in the radiator and turns the fan on and off. I'd guess one of the 2 is faulty, disconnected, or the wiring to it's gone wrong.

Jambo

Edit: I've not got a temperature gauge on the Curvy, but do on the Kawasaki, so I'm not sure where the temperature sensor is (thermostatic switch is bottom right hand side of the rad as you sit on the bike though). One distinct possibility is that the wiring or the contacts for the temperature sensor is corroded, dirty or damaged giving resistance values that relate to a different teperature to the one that's there.

[rowdy]

Cheers jambo, the fan isn't coming on. Usual running temp is around 90. what is the sensor to the left of the oil filter? (as your looking head on at it)

[yorkie_chris]

That one next to oil filter is oil pressure sensor.

Temp gauge is IIRC mounted on the thermostat body. (under throttles in between the V of the cylinders)

Edit: Definite on a curvy, the pointy may be different though.

[rowdy]

Cheers YC

[rowdy]

Right , didn't get much chance to check the bike over thoroughly over the weekend so used the bike again for work today as missus needed the car. Usual mad rush in the morning with kids and animals playing up so just jumped on bike and went, without paying attention to temperature reading when I set off (also bike fell against side of house as I was shutting the gate and snapped my f****** left hand mirror off). Got on bike this afternoon to come home and turned ignition on. Temperature reading 96 degrees. This is before I have even fired her into life! Keep an eagle eye on the temp as I travel home this afternoon and the temperature is fluctuating like mad jumping up and down by 10 or 20 degrees causing the red light to keep flashing randomly off and on. I keep having problems with the speedo reading also, have had for a while, flashing random numbers between 0 and 186mph (this is not the speedo rotor in the middle of the wheel, it's still intact) and am wondering if it's just a completely shafted instrument display panel. Funnily enough though the freezing weather we have had of late has resulted in the speedo working properly again for the first few miles of my journey to work, so am also wondering if it's down to moisture in the wiring somewhere and the cold weather freezing the moisture thus erradicating the problem until the bike has warmed sufficiently to thaw it out. Still, one good piece of news, a pair of calipers I bid on on ebay but lost in the last 10 seconds was offered to me again today buy it now for the price I bid for them, best start looking for a new mirror now!

I'm gonna go with a dodgy instrument panel, or wiring loom.

First port of call is to check all the connections are clean and free of corrosion!

Next port of call would be to check all of your loom for bare wires

[rowdy]

Got home again today and felt the pipes coming off the radiator. The one on the left hand side of the bike was hot, the one on the right hand side was hot at the bottom of the pipe but felt cold near the radiator. Felt the rad and it was hot on the left side and cold over on the right side. Is this normal as I have never checked this before?

[yorkie_chris]

Yeah that's the direction of fluid flow IIRC. Bike won't run very hot in these conditions.