I've only had this bike (2002) for about a week. The cooling fan rarely comes on at a traffic light @218 degrees. However the bike cruises at about 202 to 207 degrees. This is about 20 degrees hotter than my Ninja. Yesterday was not a very hot day and my temps stayed rather high. Is this normal for this bike?

 

Lots of threads and theories on this but that does seem high. I have chased this demon for years as I live in NYC and don't get lots of cooling air.

I installed a big zx-7 oil cooler but it only helped a bit. Wound up going to the Chinese oversized rads with a 200* switch.

You sould flush your coolant with radiator flush at least. Get some gunk out of it. Run 50 50 coolant and DISTILLED water. Remove and clean your rads. Straighten the fins for efficiency.

Check your thermostat for proper functioning. Make sure you have proper coolant level.

You can also buy fan switches that come on earlier but be aware that doing so without cleaning the system may just cause your fan to run too much and over tax you electric system.

Better to make the system more efficient to solve the issue.

No matter what the bike is a hot runner, but not THAT hot.

 

+1 smokinjoe73
In an earlier post, you said that your '02 only had 6,100 miles on it. The coolant may never have been changed. It would be prudent to pull the fairing and follow joe's suggestions. Changing the coolant is dealt with in the factory service manual.

 

'04 15k miles, hit 217 multiple times in a day. That may be related to the fact I live in FL.

 

2003 got, it with 7,000 miles last year. Around town in traffic it does run hot fan does not come on until 220F shuts off around 215F or so even when ambient temps are cool. Get out on the road and she will run between 180 and 190. Still has original coolant though I will change it in the spring. I think it is the nature of the beast.

 

The fan should come on before 220 unless I am mistaken, stocker should not go past either 200 or 212. Even in summer I don't see 220s. Especially since I swapped the switch. That is for sure too high.

I have ridden in 120*F and barely hit those numbers. Clean everything.

 

The fan on my '01 comes on at about 104 Celsius or about 220 Fahrenheit.

 

mine runs the same as the above post and i have flushed the system 2 services ago and changed the radiator cap.

please keep in mind that the fan switch is on the right rad and the digital display comes from the thermostat housing.

i use an infrared thermometer a few weeks back to check my thermostat operation and its working fine i did this by idling the bike and testing the temps from radiator to radiator and they evened up when the thermostat opened and temps were ok when the fan kicked in.

 

I run an electric pump with no thermo.

Average temp 81C and fan still kicks in about 105C but that doesn't happen very often.

These bikes like to be on the move for the best cooling.

Change your coolant and see what happens.

I do mine every 12 months to be on the safe side.

 

I have an '05. Fan comes on religously at 105° and off at 100° C. I run Motul Motocool in it.

 

The first thing I did upon purchasing the bike was an oil and oil filter, brake fluid and coolant change with new Honda radiator cap.

 

Oh yeah the rad cap does matter. That's one thing people overlook. Without it working perfectly the system wont be pressurized correctly so the coolant is able to boil and thus not flow or cool properly.

 

I guess what we are all trying to say is that these bikes run hot when your not moving.

I notice it with mine.

Go slow and they run hot, get moving and they cool down rapidly.

The temp,sensor is not in an ideal position and the gauge would be more accurate if the sensor was in a position closer to the radiators.

Very soon I am going to relocate my coolant bottle and do away with the thermo housing.

It will be interesting to see what the temp gauge says then.