Engine over heat

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cixona2
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Engine over heat

#1 Unread post by cixona2 »

A couple time this year in Florida
I was riding my bike in heavy traffic the bike got so hot it was spitting and spurting from the heat. The kind of bike I have is a 2008 Suzuki C-90 Boulavard like to know if anyone on this forum has had trouble with there bike like mine. Willon

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JackoftheGreen
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Re: Engine over heat

#2 Unread post by JackoftheGreen »

People with more wrench-time than myself will undoubtedly sound off on your issue soon enough, but I thought I'd throw in my two cents too.

A quick Google search returned no specific results when querying overheating problems for your bike, which means it's not a problem common or peculiar to your particular scoot. That's either good or bad news depending on how you look at it. It's good news because it means it's not an engineering or design flaw with a bike you are invested in. It's bad news because it means you'll have to track down the problem the old-fashioned way. What you have is some specific premature failure of one or more components of the cooling system.

The obvious first place to start is the level of coolant in your radiator reservoir -- refer to your owners manual or, better yet, pick up a shop manual for your specific bike for instructions on how to check this. If that checks out, the obvious second possibility is a failed thermostat, again, a shop manual will have instructions on how to check for this.

If it's neither of those, you want to start checking less obvious possibilities. If it's only overheating in heavy traffic, pay attention next time you're in stop-and-go to verify your rad fan is switching on. It could just be the fan fuse is blown or the electrical connection for your fan has vibrated loose, all too common an occurrence in big twins. Consider also if you have any aftermarket parts that are obstructing air flow to the either the radiator or the oil cooler (that smaller, lower radiator thing). Also, take into consideration anything like poorly installed aftermarket pipes, spark plugs of an incorrect heat range or just plain high mileage. Did you purchase the bike used?

Lastly, a good oil and filter change never hurts.

I hope this helps, keep us posted. Oh, and welcome to TMW!

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BRUMBEAR
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Re: Engine over heat

#3 Unread post by BRUMBEAR »

There are a lot of things you can do to get an engine to run cooler but first make sure you do as previously stated and check your fluid levels. If they are fine.
1 flush and change your coolant
2 make sure your running as thin an oil as possible for your machine and make sure it's synthetic
3 make sure your idle is correct
4 make sure your not running lean
5 use the new cooler running antifreeze products when you refill your system
6 you may want to install a small fan on your radiator for those uber hot days you can set it up with a switch on your handle bar or through a temp switch
there aint nothin like it

cixona2
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Re: Engine over heat

#4 Unread post by cixona2 »

The Suzuki 2008 C-90 is only oil cool has a small oil cooler on the front of the bike just even with the front tire

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JackoftheGreen
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Re: Engine over heat

#5 Unread post by JackoftheGreen »

Well I'll be damned, LoL. The first time I read through the specs I didn't catch the air/oil cooled, just assumed if it was oil cooled than it was full liquid cooled. My bad.

Well damn, that strikes the Boulevard off my short list for future bikes.

Dunno what to tell you then. Pick a less congested lane and ride faster. (-:

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Re: Engine over heat

#6 Unread post by BRUMBEAR »

then disregard 1 and 5 and think about adding a fan to the rear cyl area like the BUELLS have :mrgreen:
there aint nothin like it

cixona2
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Re: Engine over heat

#7 Unread post by cixona2 »

I wonder if some company makes a oil cooler for that bike with a fan on it and a sensor in the oil line that makes the fan come on when the oil gets to a certain temperature.

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Re: Engine over heat

#8 Unread post by BRUMBEAR »

you could probably make it up easy enough
http://www.fluidyne.com/oil-cooler_endu ... focfi.html
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Re: Engine over heat

#9 Unread post by GS_in_CO »

I'm puzzling over what 'spitting and spurting' refers to since it's not coolant.
Ron

Current: 1988 BMW R100GS (the 'numberplate' model)

Past: 1987 Yamaha XT350
1983 Honda CB900F
1980 Honda XL185S
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Re: Engine over heat

#10 Unread post by BRUMBEAR »

I am guessing skip mode which begs me to have you check the heads for temp sensors. I am not sure if you have that feature on your machine but some do.
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