Engine Running Temps???

[Nihilist]

Sorry, double post.

[Nihilist]

Originally Posted by jstein38

I understand perfectly how thermostats and engine cooling works!! My issue has been, and I suspect that many other members is as well, is that the CRANKCASE gets hotter than the HEADS!!! The water jacket and cooling system works just fine. The ISSUE (for me anyway) is that the REST of the engine runs so damn hot that the bike's FRAME - which should and I'm sure does - act as one huge 'heat sink' gets just as close as hot as the freakin' engine! I mean too hot to hold a finger to. I had a 650 and this NEVER happened, even after running balls-to-the-wall for hours in 90 degree temp's!
This may be common(?) and but I can't see how it can be normal...
WTF??

ps. just replaced the coolant and used Water Wetter to boot! It DID bring down the coolant temps - just like advertised, but still, my issue is with the GD crankcase getting so hot - And I don't believe that the very hot header that runs below the engine is responsible. I just wrapped it with glass thermo-tape which cools it dramatically - you can touch the header minutes after you've ridden. There is no way that the radiant, and certainly not convective heat is heating that engine for HOURS after a quick ride to that extent. I took a shop-vac and sucked the exhaust cool after a quick ride- the engine still insisted on heating to an unbelievable degree after stopping! WHAT THE HELL!?!?

What kind of mods do you have ? Perhaps you are excessively lean ?

Without knowing your bike , it is hard to say.

A larger oil cooler will help drop crankcase temps. Did you wrap the front header where it passes in front of the oil cooler ? That looked like a poor design decision from the moment I saw it (Header in front of the cooler).


What kind of coolant and oil do you run ?


............................Blake

[Nihilist]

Now that you mention it, I have noticed the same thing the last few times I've ridden in 90*F temps. My legs are feeling some major heat from the crankcase when I'm at stops or very low speeds . I've done some intake mods (Minor) and have after market exhaust, so perhaps it is due to the bike running leaner than stock ?

Has the header wrap helped at all ? I've considered it, as the front header passing the oil cooler annnoys me.


.............................Blake

[Nihilist]

Kinda funny. I reread your last two posts and have to say that I had thought about this before , and came to the conclusion that the use of the frame as a heatsink was probably an engineering decision rather than a random happening. A big chunk of aluminum acts as a GREAT heatsink. Any Audio equipment will show this to be true !

Can't comment on how the SV compares to other bikes as far as the frame being used as a heatsink, as this is my first aluminum framed bike. Seems to make sense though.

I do HATE the fact that the oil cooler is behind the header pipe. HOW STUPID ! ! ! Lets sandwich the oil cooler between the HOT crankcase and the BLAZING HOT header pipe . Yeah, that's the PERFECT spot !

I imagine a slightly larger cooler and slightly longer cooler lines along with a remounting of the oil cooler to just below the radiator would work wonders.

My other bike is an '85 Ninja 900 that I stripped the fairing off of. I added a Katana 750 oil cooler right below the stock radiator. Ran much cooler and steadier temp. When I took it to the dragstrip, it was about midway on the Temp gauge at the launch, and was near the Cold line at the end of the strip !

Perhaps a bit too much cooling, but just proves the point.



.........................Blake

[jstein38]

OK - Well 1st, the early SV's didn't even have an oil cooler! - But then that bike didn't cook the damn paint off like the 1K! (exaggerating) And I agree - couldn't find a hotter place if you tried... then again I think of the Buell with those huge side mounted rad. scoops...
Still, gotta be a better way.
Yes - have done the mods that one might suspect would cause way hot temp's. Got new Erion cans - didn't change the air intake (K&N). Thought this might have leaned things up more, so didn't want to exacerbate the issue with a more open yet intake.
Trying like hell to not 're-map'. Don't really want to spend the $ on a PCIII or II or whateverthehell is required...
Such a box IS required to do the fuel remapping isn't it? That's what people say, so I guess it's true.
The bike is new (to me), but as I write this, I'm coming to realize that this DID get worse after the new exhaust ("exhaust options" under this forum) The engine was always WAY hot, but it does seem worse, so I've probably leaned the damn thing out!
I'm running Rotella-T (1st change) - will be changing out to Amsoil on Monday -Guess that's today...
Have already flushed & replaced 50/50 EG + Water Wetter. If I still need to reduce temp's after I get a FU@%!# Power Commander... I will go Prop. Glycol - Engine Ice, I think it's called...
Hell...

[jstein38]

Wrapping the front header definitely keeps the chin spoiler area cooler - and you can FEEL the hotter exhaust coming out of the right can - which is mainly fed by the rear cylinder - so now it is probably MORE imbalanced, since the rear (less air flow) cylinder is staying hotter than a MF'r and the front is letting its exhaust exit fast & hot.
The total solution, I'm afraid, will involve removing and wrapping the rear cylinder's header - all curled up - in Thermo-Tape as well. And probably a $2-300 PCIII and remapping AND a $65 K&N filter.

[UKBaz]

seams right to me, I'v seen it reach 105c in traffic, but then the fan comes on and cooks my left leg!

[johnnymad]

Originally Posted by UKBaz

seams right to me, I'v seen it reach 105c in traffic, but then the fan comes on and cooks my left leg!

Same here - 86/87C when moving. Somewhere beteween that figure and
105C when stopped until the fan kicks in or I move off again. Never goes above that.

[hrbutler]

Originally Posted by jstein38

Wrapping the front header definitely keeps the chin spoiler area cooler - and you can FEEL the hotter exhaust coming out of the right can - which is mainly fed by the rear cylinder - so now it is probably MORE imbalanced, since the rear (less air flow) cylinder is staying hotter than a MF'r and the front is letting its exhaust exit fast & hot.
The total solution, I'm afraid, will involve removing and wrapping the rear cylinder's header - all curled up - in Thermo-Tape as well. And probably a $2-300 PCIII and remapping AND a $65 K&N filter.

Wrapping the front header pipe will also result in hotter exhaust gasses out the muffler exit. The stock configuration would seem to lead to cooler gasses from the front cylinder(long pipe out in the air stream) than from the rear (short pipe in the lee of the engine until below the crankcase). The difference in gas temp really only changes the speed of pressure waves in the gas, which has a minor effect on cylinder breathing. This difference was probably accounted for in the OE mapping. Wrapping the front pipe only (much easier to do) might be enough to make them almost equal. For a street bike, the difference in performance really can't be felt. Even wrapping both of them would not change things enough to require re-mapping. To the point of the frame acting as a heat sink( NIHILIST) it does absorb heat from the hot engine, radiator and oil cooler but it is not designed to remove heat from any of them. If it were there would be huge areas of contact between the source ( engine ) and sink (frame). The contact between the engine and frame is just enough to properly support the engine as a stressed frame member. With low temp differences (200 Deg really is low for heat transfer) large areas are required to transfer lots of heat.

[Torchwood]

Originally Posted by jstein38

Wrapping the front header definitely keeps the chin spoiler area cooler - and you can FEEL the hotter exhaust coming out of the right can - which is mainly fed by the rear cylinder - so now it is probably MORE imbalanced, since the rear (less air flow) cylinder is staying hotter than a MF'r and the front is letting its exhaust exit fast & hot.
The total solution, I'm afraid, will involve removing and wrapping the rear cylinder's header - all curled up - in Thermo-Tape as well. And probably a $2-300 PCIII and remapping AND a $65 K&N filter.

Actually, the right side exhaust can and gases run hotter then the left anyway, regardless of exhaust wrapping!!! It's an SV thing.....

On the South East Coast ride day, my PAIR resistor went bad and i had a few problems! BUT, just by chance i checked both exhaust cans to make sure both cylinders were firing and the same, and i felt the gases were very different!!! So when Retro came back to get me on the side of the road, i showed him! And he tried his too.. He had never known this either, so we knew it was a normal thing on the SV that the rear works/runs hotter then the front, even when stationary!! The gases on the right were hot n dryer.... Where as the gases on the left were colder and quite damp!! So movement of airflow is not relevant.

[dc_03_sv1000s]

Originally Posted by Torchwood

Actually, the right side exhaust can and gases run hotter then the left anyway, regardless of exhaust wrapping!!! It's an SV thing...so we knew it was a normal thing on the SV that the rear works/runs hotter then the front, even when stationary!!

The left and right exhausts are not independent of each other, they are bridged but the left side has a nasty bend in the pipe (take a look under the bike) so the right side passes a greater volume of all exhaust gas (both front and rear cylinders). The left side is cooler because there is less heat in the form of gas passing through the left than the right.

You are probably right but I don't think one can use the temperature of the cans to come to the conclusion you are proposing.

[Torchwood]

Originally Posted by dc_03_sv1000s

The left and right exhausts are not independent of each other, they are bridged but the left side has a nasty bend in the pipe (take a look under the bike) so the right side passes a greater volume of all exhaust gas (both front and rear cylinders). The left side is cooler because there is less heat in the form of gas passing through the left than the right.

You are probably right but I don't think one can use the temperature of the cans to come to the conclusion you are proposing.

Yes, we did mention the exhaust system and the way it runs under the bike, and i further thought it is a factor after seeing the Ti-force system, and the member here who made his own up!!! Even though there is a bridge thing in the middle, its narrow and bendy, so your right there! Where as the right side is more direct in-flow with the front cylinder! But a mate on a 650 had made his own up and put like a straight ( I ) piece in the middle, but it still banked to the right!

I wonder if anyone has made there own and not joined them, leaving them independent?

[dc_03_sv1000s]

Originally Posted by Torchwood

But a mate on a 650 had made his own up and put like a straight ( I ) piece in the middle, but it still banked to the right!

I wonder if anyone has made there own and not joined them, leaving them independent?

Did you're mate on the 650 have a dual exhaust or single ? That would be an interesting comparison.

Also if you had independent exhausts for the front and back I wonder if you would have any issues with them getting out of sync unless the headers and pipes worked out to be similar in length ?

As for the original topic of the SV gets hot... Yeah it does, don't think there's too much you can do about it. Wouldn't be surprised if some of the main bearing journal slop contributes to the heat as well. In anycase lot's of SV1K owners have but over 30,000 or even 50,000 miles on their odometers without problems so ride it an enjoy. The trick is to ride routes where you never have to stop and feel the heat. Sometimes easier said than done but ehh, what'll you do

[rider1260]

I never felt the SV was that hot this is my first water cooled bike
I suppose when shorts are worn it might be hot but even in chicago rush our traffic ( parking lot ) I have never been uncomfortable