Gen 1 Temp Gauge wont go past the middle...

Audiomaker

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Lot's of questions today...

Ok, so the bike has seen 107 ambient temps for hundreds of miles in the south. It's been out on hot days in stopped traffic with the fan blaring away. It has felt hot at times... years of riding makes one feel when a bike is extra warm.

But...

The temp gauge never goes higher than a little below center. If half way is 1/2, the needle goes to 3/8th.

I have tried two different senders, two different gauge panels, and two different ECU's and it's still the same.

The gauge will start at zero when cold, and go there once warm, and never move.

Two separate tuners have also been suspicious of the reading...feeling it was not normal.

I know someone will say "that's probably the actual temperature so be happy", but I get the sensation that it should go to at least half way at some point, and I've lost confidence in the temp gauge because of it.

Thoughts?
Sean
 
My only experience is with my own busa, But I've never had the needle go past halfway :dunno: its just as temp stable as our cars. Thats one of the things I love about the bike...........its as stable, reliable, and well built as I could ask for, and still stupid fast :thumbsup:
 
Yeah I'm not seeing a problem. If you want to test it let it run when you not on it. I know mine will start to over heat if I let it warm up too much before I take off. The single fan isn't enough to cool it when she's not moving.
 
My needle only goes to half when im stuck in traffic...and the fan kicks on...other than that its always just below half...
 
My needle only goes to half when im stuck in traffic...and the fan kicks on...other than that its always just below half...

Hmm... Ok.

I guess I'll drop a digital thermometer in the overflow tank and let it sit at a fast idle and see what happens.

Think that would work or does it have to be in the cooling line?

Sean
 
I think it would have to be in a cooling line but I might be wrong. You could get one of the laser thermal readers and see what the radiator and lines are running at
 
I think it would have to be in a cooling line but I might be wrong. You could get one of the laser thermal readers and see what the radiator and lines are running at

In the over flow tank??
You can buy a cheap temp gun. Just google search RC tempature gun.
just aim and push a button instant temp reading.
 
lankeeyankee said:
In the over flow tank??
You can buy a cheap temp gun. Just google search RC tempature gun.
just aim and push a button instant temp reading.

That's what the link is to there Yankee
 
If the reading is right, consider yourself lucky. My 06 temp will skyrocket it traffic, I put in a switch to manually start up the fan early if stopped, and it helps quite a bit, but left on it's own controlling the fan, it will overheat.
 
I have a couple Fluke IR temp meters and also Fluke temp probes.

Can anyone tell me what 1/4 - 1/2 - 3/4 and 100% temperatures would be if the gauge actually had numbers? It's a 2002.

Also, just for the sake of speculation.... if it's reading 220 at less than halfway, what could be the cause considering I've swapped senders, gauges, and ecu's with no change?

The reason I ask is that we put a IR on it while dyno'ing and I think I recall it being 220 once with less than a halfway reading, but I didn't post that because it's vague in my memory.

Thoughts?
Sean
 
if it's reading half way or less in all conditions, don't over think it, be happy and leave it be.. don't break whats not broken..
 
mine never sees more than half either.If in traffic it will go slightly above, the fan comes on and comes right back down.
 
mine never sees more than half either.If in traffic it will go slightly above, the fan comes on and comes right back down.

Yeah, but that says yours does see slightly more than half.

What you just described is what I have heard is normal.

Mine never goes over just below half. It's about 1/8" below the 50% mark or about 45% of the scale.

Fans come on, they go off.... it never moves at all unless I'm riding in really cold weather, at which point it will go to about 35% of the scale.

I'm not trying to over think this. It may be nothing, but if it is an actual problem, it would suck not to know the bike was running really hot if it were.

I purchased the bike in Houston. I live in Oregon and I rode it home. It was darned hot most of the way and at times I was stopped in traffic in 100+ degree temps. The bike felt hot...fan running constantly, but that gauge never moved from that same spot. Just doesn't seem right.

I made this post because I thought maybe it was a more common issue... like Xresister had gone bad or something. Doesn't look that way, so I'll have to get a little deeper into it.

Unplugging the fans and standing by with a IR temp sensor is a good idea... I'll start with that.

Sean
 
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