[vaulter]

Thanks guys. The bike still runs hot (no red light) just maximum bars lit up some of the time and 5/6 bars 70% of the time. The only time the bike is somewhat normal is when I’m on the freeway, any other time is always running hot. Any traffic light, for any duration beyond a minute causes the bars to reach 5/6. It isn’t even hot here yet.

Dealer said he’s going to make inquires because the tech said the fan works fine. From my point of view, the fan works but it’s not keeping the bike at a somewhat reasonable temperature assuming 5/6 bars isn’t considered normal.

I’m so desperate I’m considering replacing the coolant entirely but I’m bummed I even have to take action after only putting on a thousand miles or so.

instead of buying a 50/50 diluted coolant, buy distilled water and 100% concentrated coolant, mix it yourself 30/70 (30% coolant, 70% distilled water), it will cool your engine much better.

 

[jpd]

Will the fan cycle back off when you sit still? At spring time air temps the fan should be able to cycle on ond off. Starting moving will also get airflow and turn the fan off. At how many bars is the fan comming on? How many to turn off? I am looking to check if the guage is in error. I have not tried but you could try using a non contact thermometer on the thermostat housing and see if you get differant readings when the fan turns on and off. Post up the temps so someone with a v300 can check thiers also. The aluminium t-stat housing should change temps faster than the radiator or hose. Do these checks at home with the bike running at idle, after a short warm up ride.
On the 300 is there a switch for the fan and a sensor for the guage? Is it all controled by thr ECU? I do not have a v300 wiring dia. To check

 

[Kawabunga]

There is no switch for the fan. I only know the location of the fuse, and don't know where the aluminum t-stat is according to your advice, I'd have to do some homework on that. However, I do have a thermometer gun and will take the temperature when the fan clicks on and off. Its hard for me to tell if the fan is running or not because it seems fairly quiet at least, to me...

I had to lightly touch the belt with the tip of an allen wrench to see if it was moving since it runs so fast and smoothly, it was hard to tell if it was indeed running, like I said, for me the fan runs quietly, compared to say.... my car.

Other people don't seem to have a problem telling when their fan clicks on so I guess it's just me...

I'll test out the temps in relation to the fan the minute I got free time. Right now it isn't hyper critical since it's not hot yet and I'm not taking any crazy trips at the moment, but I do want to get this issue resolved because I hate seeing the bars hit 6 out of 6 and then having the fan kick it down to 5/6 bars. I almost never see 4 bars unless on the freeway going 45mph or above, that or I'm riding around the neighborhood at night with no traffic lights, just stops signs.

 

[motorboy]

Just a thought but are you sure the fan is running in the right direction -can you feel hot air coming out the back of the radiator when the fan comes on

 

[motorboy]

instead of buying a 50/50 diluted coolant, buy distilled water and 100% concentrated coolant, mix it yourself 30/70 (30% coolant, 70% distilled water), it will cool your engine much better.

Good idea or take that distilled water and mix a batch of coolant using water wetter that would be about the best being winters over no chance of freezing just remember to change it out next fall

 

[jpd]

The thermostat housing is where the hose from the top of the radiator attaches to the engine. The water pump is where the hose from the bottom of the radiator attaches to the engine. You can get temp readings at both locations. The thermostat starts to open at 190 f and the cooling fan should come on at 219 f and turn off at 210 f. You should be able to feel the airflow when the fan comes on. I got my values from the v 650 service manual but yours should be about the same. you could also check at both sides of the radiator where the hoses attach. it will tell you how well the radiator is working. If the temp you measure are not too far above these I would lobby the dealer that the temp gauge or sensor is defective. The gauge should cycle near the center of the range so you can tell if the temp is going higher than normal. Most systems have a gauge or an overheat light not both. A correct gauge is important so you can stop before you damage the engine from an overheat.
Any of the special coolants will give you extra protection but the system needs to be working correctly FIRST.

 

[aboyandhisversys]

I prolly wouldn't worry a WHOLE lot about it...

I haven't ridden mine much in any heat yet, but did notice that the heat bars on the dash do rise rapidly when stopped for a minute or two. I live in the St Louis, MO area----we had some upper 70's weather last month and I could feel the heat off of the radiator when riding at times----much more than my Super Tenere puts off in similar conditions.

The 650 Versys (and my ZX1400) tend to fly up to near the top of the temp gauge(s) when stopped in warm temps. The 1400 is a leg burner in stopped summertime traffic.

Remember that motorcycles are designed for light weight, and to move. Radiators are therefore not designed for long timespan stops, although the (admittedly light weight) fans can keep up with the heat; otherwise the warranty departments would be overwhelmed with burnt engines.

My advice, watch the gauge, stop the engine in case of obvious distress (smoke, leaking, burnt smells,) otherwise, just relax and enjoy the great outdoors.

 

[A737mech]

Has your coolant been changed since new? If it has was the problem before or after coolant change. I ask this because . I had a Jeep and it was none for over heating problems. There were three factors one was the sensors were junk and would give false readings, second the fan failed to cool radiator efficiently, third was air trapped in cooling system creating bubbles and interrupting coolant flow. Some of these could be looked at.

 

[pouria]

Hi,
The day I picked up my Versys-X 250 from the dealership I also noticed that the coolant temperature raised some how quickly! this was a bit annoying because 5 bars out of 6 seemed abnormal especially compared to my previous bike. But I have experienced something. it happens that the radiator and cooling system is not filled correctly by dealers. I bought my first bike from the same dealer and the bike ran really hot! I found out the coolant in radiator was close to nothing! still, don't judge the level of coolant only based on what you see on the reservoir tank. if there is air in the system, there won't be enough vacuum in the radiator to suck water in from the reservoir tank.
So this is what I did with my versys with only 12km on it. I flushed the cooling system completely. according to manual there must be around 1500cc of coolant liquid in the system, when I drained it, it was around 800cc and it was filled with Blue coolant. I bought organic green ethylene glycol anti-freeze and added to it radiator water 50-50 . I then refilled the system, made sure it is filled with no air trapped in the system, this time it took around 1200cc of coolant liquid and then ran the bike in idle. it took around 10minutes of running idle (the manual says don't idle for more than 4 mins) for the temperature to rise again and when it went up to 5 bars, temp dropped to 4 bars again. These days I'm breaking-in the bike in hot summer days of Tehran and the temp goes to 5 and back to 4 in a cycle. seems normal to me.
whole process shouldn't take more than an hour.
I hope this helps.

 

[Brockie]

Good thinking. If the radiator level is low enough it will not drag the coolant out of the overflow bottle, giving you the false impression that the radiator is full.

 

[Starlord]

My x300's fan only kicks on after its 1 bar from the top. No problems so far I just think the run hot on the gauge.

 

[Wenjen4]

My son and I went on a Father's Day weekend ride over the Talimena Scenic Drive in the Winding Stair Mountains (really just hills) in southeastern Oklahoma. Lots of up-down hills and twisties. The temps were in the low 90's, but slightly cooler at the upper elevations. Several times during the ride my son reported that the temp gauge was one bar from the top. (4 of 5, or 5 of 6, can't remember for certain) He never got the temp warning light and once the road flattened out and straightened out the gauge dropped at least 2 bars. We only rode about 45-55 mph. After reading this thread, I'm wondering if I should be concerned or not.

 

[CheesyRider]

Mine is the same way, Wenjen4. As long as the coolant level is where it is supposed to be and it doesn't actually overheat, I'm not going to worry about it.

 

[motorboy]

My son and I went on a Father's Day weekend ride over the Talimena Scenic Drive in the Winding Stair Mountains (really just hills) in southeastern Oklahoma. Lots of up-down hills and twisties. The temps were in the low 90's, but slightly cooler at the upper elevations. Several times during the ride my son reported that the temp gauge was one bar from the top. (4 of 5, or 5 of 6, can't remember for certain) He never got the temp warning light and once the road flattened out and straightened out the gauge dropped at least 2 bars. We only rode about 45-55 mph. After reading this thread, I'm wondering if I should be concerned or not.

Ark is my playground been up there so many times I lost count-I'm sure you have ridden the pig trail and all over highway 7 from the Louisiana border up to highway 62 by Harrison over to Mountain Home than a run down Push Mountain--all great riding- one summer back in the late 70's I stayed up there 2 weeks just riding the roads did 2,000 miles

 

[miczat]

Hey Kawabunga, Did you get this resolved. I'm breaking in a 2018 model Versys-X with just 250ks (155 miles) on the clock but 5/6 heat bars, even on a cold morning most of the time.

No engine warning light, and I can hear the fan noise, so it must be starting. But since some Versys-X say they don't see over 3, it has me interested...

 

[hdrider02]

4-5

I always see 4-5 bars, but then I live in Florida.

 

[schnutzy]

Depends on the kind of riding i'm doing. Stop and go commuting, i'm pretty much always at 4-5 bars, no matter what the temp outside is. Cruising around with minimal stops is normally 3, sometimes 4 bars if i'm on a large incline or something like that. I've never hit the 6th bar, or gotten any warning lights in the 2400 miles I've done so far. I was a little worried at first, cause it would be high on my commute to and from work, but I've learned that it's not an issue, stop and go traffic just kind of sucks like that.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[gearhead.vn]

I regularly get up to 5 out of 6 bars, in city driving with ambient temperatures exceeding 35c. So I don't think 5 out of 6 is abnormal for these circumstances. At that point the fan comes on and it drops to 4 bars, but never to 3.

When it rains and ambient temperatures are 30-35c, it will drop to 3 bars while driving normally (50-60km/h here).

This is my experience. I was worried the very first time I took the bike out. I called the dealership and they told me it was normal. Ever since, I don't pay too much attention to it. I never had the temperature up to 6 bars and never had a CEL.

 

[Scott Zinda]

My bike temp goes up when I am not moving or riding longer periods at high revs in warm weather. Slow riding tends to have the bars go up too. The bars being so close the top that fast does bother me, but I feel confident its normal. Maybe Kawasaki needs another way to display this or have an area that turns red when too hot. Or should have guidelines. But I am not going to stress over it.

 

[gearhead.vn]

It would be nice to know the corresponding temperature for each bar. Maybe the scale is awkward. Clearly, having 5 out of 6 bars is normal as the bike is often in that range. I don't think it'll be an issue in the long run.

Would be nice to know if other Kawasaki models display temperature in the same fashion, like the Ninja 300/400, etc.