Cold night, cold engine.

[Dragonstaff]

Tonight I brought my son's ST 1300 back from Adelaide, and it ended a pretty cool ride. What surprised me is that as the air temp (as indicated by the sensor on the bike ) dropped, so did the engine temp, from a starting point of the normal three bars at an air temp around 19 or 20 degrees, down to one bar by the time the air temp dropped to 10 degrees. Fuel consumption also increased as this happened, from 18.5 km/l down to 16.7.

My question for the brains trust and those who regularly ride in cooler climes, is this: Is this normal, or should I be looking for something? Other than this somewhat aberrant behaviour, the rest of the ride was fine, nothing out of the ordinary. I haven't yet ridden mine in quite such cold conditions, but even at an indicated 12 or 13 degrees, mine is still on three bars of engine temp.

[ruSTynutz]

Mine will often sits on 2 bars, Dave...
I think its even hovered on one once or twice too although i try not to ride if its too freezing cold.

[Jdbiker]

Normal engine temperature has always been at 3 bars on mine regardless of ambient temperature, even at -1degrees. Could be a thermostat issue, check condition of coolant and change if required.

[Brock]

The thermostat could be stuck open, so that would cause the engine temp to be affected more by air temp due to unregulated coolant flow.

[Biggles]

The thermostat could be stuck open, so that would cause the engine temp to be affected more by air temp due to unregulated coolant flow.

Yep- that might explain it, because, like others, mine never leaves 3 bars once it gets there (which is pretty soon after launch).

[Dragonstaff]

I have it in bits for other reasons (bleeding the clutch, finding the engine number, fork seals etc.) so I will check the thermo as well.

Thanks guys.

[Dragonstaff]

Yep, stuck thermostat it was. Fully open on the bench in 12 degrees is a bit much, I think.

Anyone got a good one lying around? The locals want $156+ for one, and the yanks will take a month to get it to me.

[Langers]

See:
Re: An afternoon in the shed.
« Reply #86 on: June 21, 2024, 08:45:45 PM »

[Brock]

Not sure about the 1300, but for the 1100, the thermostat from a Honda accord fits.. Its not expensive at repco..

[Dragonstaff]

I have bought the WeBike one. At $66 all up, including Paypal's conversion fee, and here by the end of next week, it was a no brainer.

Thanks for the heads up, Langers.

[Langers]

A pleasure, although you may, like me, now get daily emails regarding the wonderful discounts on offer - a small price to pay for affordable new parts I say.

[Dragonstaff]

Not sure about the 1300, but for the 1100, the thermostat from a Honda accord fits.. Its not expensive at repco..

Different part number Brock, more is the pity.

[Dragonstaff]

Thermostat got here today, which is a little surprising. I ordered it last Saturday afternoon, so seven days from Japan to the back-blocks of SA.

It takes longer to get stuff from Sydney or Melbourne.