Losing coolant when hot
 

Hi,

Last week while I was stuck in traffic I realised that the bike was getting really hot between my legs. I checked the temp and it seemed ok. It was getting even hotter, I looked again at the temp and it said cold ???? I started wondering what was happening. A guy ina car beside me yeld at me telling me I was losing coolant. I immediatly turned the engine off, looked, I was loosing a hell lot of coolant from the overflow.

I finally had a chance to look at it yesterday and realized 2 things :
1st: when the engine is hot, the fan doesn't turn on
2nd: when I turn the throttle, the temp indicator jerks from cold to hot....like it doesn't know what the temp is.

I am sure that the temp gauge and the cooling fan are related. Since the gauge is not working properly, is it possible that the fan doesn't get the signal to turn on? I still wonder....even if the engine wasn't cooling down, why was I losing all that coolant ?

Do you guys have an idea ?

Thanks

Sounds like your fan isn't coming on. Check all connections and fuses. Make sure the fan is free to spin. Pebbles have sometimes been caught between the blade and the housing. Also check that the radiator(s) are completely filled. Top off with distilled water. If everything checks out and you still have problems then it's most likely your thermostat or water pump. Someone here had a water pump failure not too long ago, though it was the first one I'd heard of in 8 years of being on Superhawk forums/email lists.

Honda V65's have a similar fan issue and I've found it most common for people to hook up an aftermarket fan switch for traffic to keep it cool just remember to switch it on.