Coolant Temperature

Hi Everyone, I'm new here so please be kind to a born again biker
I passed my bike test many years ago. In those days all it consisted of was a quick ride around the block looking for the examiner to jump out from between parked cars. When he raised his hand that was the signal to perform an emergency stop. Three questions from the highway code and that was that. Everybody I knew at that time passed first time. It was all so different to today's test.
I rode a scooter for about a year and then "Progressed" to a car. That was my only transport up until the early part of this year when I decided to return to two wheels.
I bought a 125 just to commute to work and back. That was fine but after only eight weeks I found a 125 a little boring and slow. I guess the novelty factor had worn off rather quickly.
What started off as a means of getting from A to B has now developed into something else.
I have now got a SV 650s 07reg. I have had it for ten weeks now and am loving every minute I am riding it.
Not knowing a great deal about the mechanics of bikes leads me to a question. I was out yesterday with a friend on the bike taking a trip along the Norfolk coast. A hot sunny day for once and all was going good. We stopped a few times along the way and generally had a great day. The last stop before returning home was only about 10 minutes.
On the last leg of the journey I noticed the coolant temperature indicator kept increasing. It usually reads between 88 - 98 but bit by bit this time it was showing 115+ and rising!
I stopped to check the coolant level. It was fine. There were no leaks and the radiator was not clogged up with flies, bugs etc. We decided to let it cool down and hope for the best on the way back.
Fifteen minutes later we set of again. All was well once more and we travelled the forty miles home without any further problem. I hope that it was an air lock in the system by the temperature sensor that caused a faulty reading and not something more sinister.
I am keeping my fingers crossed all is well, unless anybody else knows different.

What sort of speed were you doing when it got to 115? Unless it was heavy town traffic, I'd expect the speed to have kept the temperature down.

So assuming you were doing 30mph+, depending on where the temperature sensor is on the SV (I forget) 2 things spring to mind - 1, the obvious faulty sensor/etc, 2 perhaps the water pump? If the coolant isn't moving around, and the temperature sensor is in the engine block, then the radiator won't be able to cool the coolant that's in the engine, as it needs it to move around.

If it's not repeatable I'd just keep an eye on it in case it does it again (to get more information on the issue) - oh, and stop before it gets to 115, twins run lower temperatures than IL4s and I'd stop if my (IL4) reached 115!

I can understand your worry. Does the fan come on ok at about 100 - 105 deg C? 115 is rather too high, even for riding in town - the fan should be more than enough to keep the temp below 105. i think the temp sensor is on a differant circuit to the fan switch though, so you could investigate this

Welcome to the org...

Hi Guys, thanks for the replies.
It took about 30 mins from being parked to get the temperature up to 115. It seemed to be going up 0.1 each time at regular intervals. We were in traffic some of the time so at first I thought it could be the heat of the day combined with the slow progress. As it passed 100 luckily the traffic eased and we were on an open road. I thought a quick blast to force air into the radiator would be a good idea.
This made no difference to the progress of the gauge. It just continued in 0.1 increases. The strange thing is that after cooling down I rode the thirty miles home and everything was fine. I have since ridden the bike and all still is well.
I will certainly keep a careful eye on it and also investigate your welcome suggestions.
Many thanks for your help. Will keep you informed.

Temperature reading does not go up by .1 but the trip does. Were you looking at the wrong numbers perchance?

Originally Posted by Rocket

Temperature reading does not go up by .1 but the trip does. Were you looking at the wrong numbers perchance?

Oh no,could I have really done that! I don't believe it!
I am doubting my own sanity now, what sort of a ******am I
I will check it out.......could it be that simple
Not the best of starts to a forum
(Update to follow)

PS. If this is the case I may need a little longer to think up a plausable excuse for being such a *******

You wont be the first, there was a thread on here a while ago with well into double figure who admitted making this mistake, including me...

Don't worry about it. I did it myself once and pulled off the M6 to let it cool down, lol. Soon realised the mistake.

Hi Guys, I have been off-line thanks to BT upgrading the line. Back now and holding my hand up!!
Not sure how I did it but I was obviously watching the trip counter and not the temperature gauge!!
At least I can be happy that the bike is OK even if the owner is a little suspect!!!