Hey all, new owner here. I just bought a used 2002 last weekend that was completely non-functional. It was pretty clean otherwise and I've always wanted of them, so here we are.
This site has already been a huge hand at learning the weak points of the bike. I have verified that the recall harness has been installed and none of the common connectors look burned or charred in any way. I got the bike running this afternoon after siphoning two year old gas out of the tank and putting in fresh, new spark plugs, and cleaning the ever loving crap out of the throttle bodies ( they were very grimy from an over oiled K&N filter).
I took it for a spin just a bit ago while keeping an eye on the coolant temp. I had anticipated that I may have a problem, but I am not sure. Its about 62 deg F ambient outside right now and the bike never got any warmer than 168 F while moving. It was never below 160 F and while stopped for about 2 minutes it climbed up to 180 F.
I understand that the t-stat should crack open at ~168 F, which makes me think that I may have a problem. Getting ready to order some parts tonight, so I thought I would ask some more knowledgeable folks than myself. :)
If it got to 160 in a few minutes I don't think you have a problem. I just did a thermostat replace on my 5th gen but it took forever to get to 150 when moving. 175 to 180 is pretty much normal operating temp when moving. If ambient is above 80F then they will climb above 220 in stop and go traffic. The fans should kick on around 215-220 and temps should drop as soon as you start moving. These thermostats typically fail "open" which results in the running temps being too cool if the ambients are below say 50-55F. That's been my experience and I have replaced two on 5th gens and one on a 2nd gen. Hope this helps.
Sounds kind of boarder line. When mine stuck open it ran about 100 deg above ambient when on the highway. After it was replaced it would sometimes run in the upper 160s if cold out. In order to be sure you may need to run the bike when it is 50 deg ambient. Another clue is the left radiator should stay cold when the bike is warming up. It starts to heat up when the thermostat opens.
Yeah, borderline is what I kind of thought as well. I'm going to run it again tonight and see what happens. I didn't start my ride 'cold'
last night, bike temp was around 110 or so when I took off. I'll try it again tonight on a cold start and see what happens.
[image: View Post]Bad Boy, on 01 May 2012 - 10:29 PM, said:
Sounds kind of boarder line. When mine stuck open it ran about 100 deg above ambient when on the highway. After it was replaced it would sometimes run in the upper 160s if cold out. In order to be sure you may need to run the bike when it is 50 deg ambient. Another clue is the left radiator should stay cold when the bike is warming up. It starts to heat up when the thermostat opens.
As long as the bike is 160 or above inside of two miles from a cold start , probably okay. You know the throttle body inlet plates have a moly coating on them, dont clean too much.
[image: View Post]spud786, on 02 May 2012 - 12:57 PM, said:
As long as the bike is 160 or above inside of two miles from a cold start , probably okay. You know the throttle body inlet plates have a moly coating on them, dont clean too much.
Yeah, I just cleaned with a dry MF towell.
Just rode it again from a cold start. It took about 3 minutes for it to get above 150 in town. The radiators felt warm before that point.
Got above 160 shortly after and never dipped below 160, even at 60+. Ambient is 75 right now.
[image: View Post]spud786, on 02 May 2012 - 05:12 PM, said:
It sounds like its working, you'll know when it gets cold weather if the thermo isnt working, Thats when it would really stand out.
Alrighty. I'm gonna hold you to that one! ;)
I borrows some sync gauges from a friend, going to set the starter valves this weekend as well as bleed brakes, change oil, and coolant. (I assume the coolant in there is from the factory fill)
I dumped the original coolant at 2000 miles and installed prestone mixes with anything, pushin 100,000 miles on original thermo working great. There's too many model years of vfr's that develope the thermo issue for it to be a bad batch. IMO its Honda own coolant causing issues.
[image: View Post]spud786, on 02 May 2012 - 06:37 PM, said:
I dumped the original coolant at 2000 miles and installed prestone mixes with anything, pushin 100,000 miles on original thermo working great. There's too many model years of vfr's that develope the thermo issue for it to be a bad batch. IMO its Honda own coolant causing issues.
Good to know. That sounds like a solid theory to me. I've got a lot of work to do this weekend. Thanks for the tips!
:D
End of thread · 14 posts recoveredWayback Machine snapshot 16 Jun 2012