Temp sensor?

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bhkfjr

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 6, 2009
Messages
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Location
west palm beach, Fl
My bike runs at 163 degrees at normal conditions at speed. That wasnt the case today. This morning the temp readout was all over the place. Never seen this before.

60 degrees, cruise set at 80 mph. Temp readings would jump from 157 to 172 to 161 to 168 to 159 etc. at intervals of a second or two. This went on for at least 30 min. When I turned off cruise control to pull into rest stop the read outs stabilized around 161-163. Riding the final 40 miles home the readouts fluctuated but only between 161-165.

I dont recall ever seeing even the smaller fluctuations under constant speed. Something is amiss! Im not really mechanical so I cant figure out if its a thermostat or temp sensor or what. Anyone experience this or know whats up?

 
Take a deep breff, nothing is amiss. This has been observed & discussed since 2013 when Mammy Yammy decided to go digital with the coolant temperature readout. What you are seeing is quite normal but a solution was devised a few yrs back to keep people's heads from exploding- switch your display to a different page.

 
My advice is similar to Mr. Nail's: Rearrange your info screens so that coolant temp is no longer displayed. Seriously.

I cannot recount a single time anyone has reported an FJR overheating, even in IBR competition or those crazy-ass 24-hour high speed rallies in the Nevada desert.

(Full disclosure: I look at my coolant temp during summertime traffic jams in Atlanta, but ONLY to place bets with myself about whether it will climb above 220F. 221F is the highest I've noticed. If it hits 222, I'll throw a small party and reminisce about watching Denise Nicholas and Karen Valentine on TV.)

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Related FJRForum threads: this one, this one, and, finally, this one, which is less than two months old.

 
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Ouch! Boy am I embarrassed. Should’ve searched. Thanks for the replies all. I was mentally at the dealer replacing sensors and thermostats.

 
bhkfjr posted: Ouch! Boy am I embarrassed.
Don't be. Happens a lot, especially to those who don't read every little thing that gets posted here.

Should’ve searched.
Probably. The Advanced Search feature (gear icon to the right of the Search box) can find many interesting things. After you've been here a while, you can narrow search results by author, Forum section, and/or period of time. ("I want to re-read that Ride Report by Redfish Hunter about his cousin crashing the Harley. Wasn't that written in 2012?")

Thanks for the replies all.
No problem, dude. That's why us old guys are here. And we LOVE saying, "Ride more. Stress less," because that's our central philosophy.

I was mentally at the dealer replacing sensors and thermostats.
Jeez! What a nightmare!

See you at EOM?

 
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Thanks for the replies all.
No problem, dude. That's why us old guys are here. And we LOVE saying, "Ride more. Stress less," because that's our central philosophy.
While partly true and not sure about you putting words in my mouth--I would agree that I say it mostly because SkooterG says it so much AND seems to ruffle newby/low-post feathers less than me saying what I actually believe.
smile.png


 
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SkooterG? Who?

No problem, dude. That's why us old guys are this old guy is here. And we I LOVE saying, "Ride more. Stress less," because that's our my central philosophy.

See you at EOM? Then you can check out my dirty, scuffed, and gouged 2015 FJR, which -- by then -- should have around 70,000 miles on it.

 
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To abbreviate my experience- my purchased-new-under-warranty bike was down for over five months. I’ll skip how Yamaha gave zero fuchs about my not having a bike for that long, but I will tell you that my shop drained and replaced coolant, which was not part of the prescribed repair, and lied about it. They lied and said they never touched the coolant, which made it quite confusing when the bike started dripping coolant.

That led me to discover that the overflow bottle was filled with a clear liquid (probably tap water), and the bike started temp flux into overheat(Hi) at long stops.

Long story long- there was air in the system because of the screwup by the dealer. Once I had an Indy shop bleed it, zero problems.

The symptoms you describe are normal operation, all day long. Nothing to be concerned about.

 
I will agree with most of what has already been said but I will add this. If you are experiencing the same March Winds in sunny Florida that I am getting over here in Louisiana, that will make that temp readout even more erratic. Or rather, it will make the span of the observed temperature fluctuation greater. The readout always fluctuates but the crazy, gusty winds create more load, less load, and back and forth. That may account for the different amounts of fluctuation you saw. YMMV

 
My 2018 ES does the same thing an I'm done worrying about it. Noticed temp up to 225 at a stop light with ambient temp about 68 before fans started bringing the coolant temp down.

Didn't blow up and got me home.

 
Since this is the NEVER-ENDING, POINTLESS, or RECURRING department, I will add this. I was often concerned when the temp. rose to the 220+ range and was tempted to pull over and let it cool down. This only occurred when riding in stop and go traffic in 90F and up temps. At what temp do the fans kick in? Is it detrimental to the valves to have the temp that high for an extended time? It kinda seems the GenIII bike runs a little hotter in stop and go than my prior two GenII's. perhaps that is not true as the earlier bikes did not have a number readout.

 
C'mon, art miller. Ride more. Stress less.

As you say, the earlier Gen FJRs didn't have numerical readouts. How do we know if Gen3s run hotter? They might run cooler. That could also explain why they don't roast your thighs as badly as earlier FJRs.

 
C'mon, art miller. Ride more. Stress less.
As you say, the earlier Gen FJRs didn't have numerical readouts. How do we know if Gen3s run hotter? They might run cooler. That could also explain why they don't roast your thighs as badly as earlier FJRs.
As is stated, "perhaps that is not true". On my GenII's the heat bars never rose to the upper end. I do not recall how many bars there were but never hit the top. No stress here!

 
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