What coolant are you running?

I notice the VFR just runs hotter than any other bikes I've owned.  Especially in the georgia heat!

Debating distilled water/water wetter or engine ice..

What are you guys running, and if you switched from the stock ethylene glycol, are you seeing an improvement?

Stock ethylene glycol, i'm replacing the 100° celsius fan swich for a 90° one... I'll tell you if this improves something.
I've seen people installing a second fan on the right rad.

100% Engine Ice...it is very efficient at gathering and dissipating heat.  What I mean is that when you stop on hot days the temp will rise fairly quickly and then when you get airflow going, it cools back down fairly quickly.  

I use Engine Ice, both my bikes are notoriously hot running bikes, but engine ice keeps them pretty under control. The VFR doesn't get over 100C unless its minimum 30C+ outside and event then as long as I'm moving it won't exceed 90C and the FZ1 is more or less the same.

That being said a number of my friends run Motul coolant in either a 50/50 or 70/30 coolant/water mix. 50/50 is widely accepted as the best mix for temperate conditions and 70/30 is for those that live in places that daily exceed 35C+. In any case I'd recommend Engine Ice simply because you don't need to mix it because I'm a lazy shit.

Have always used Honda type 2 premixed coolant available at Honda Car dealerships. Its Silicate and Borate free, blue in colour, and from memory lasts 5 years.

Cheers.

Grum

I use "MoCool".  Seems to work.

https://www.motul.com/us/en-US/products/mocool

These bikes run hot, period.

Here's a thought for you, something that might be a factor on your 10 year old VFR (maybe... maybe not...)

I'm finishing up refurbishing a '99 VFR800, going all-out on the cleaning and maintenance to bring the bike back to something near its original glory.   When I took the radiators off of the bike I was shocked by how dirty they were and how full of tiny rocks and other bits of road debris.  I used citrus-based degreaser to loosen and wash away all of the built up crud and goo and I used high pressure water to blast out all of the tiny rocks and other unknown bits.  I imagine all of this garbage would impede/degrade the efficiency of the bike's cooling system.

Obviously my '99 VFR is much older than your '07 (18 years vs. 10 years), but it your radiator(s) are anywhere near as dirty and clogged with debris as mine were that might be a big contributing factor to the "runs hot" situation.

8 hours ago, GreginDenver

Here's a thought for you, something that might be a factor on your 10 year old VFR (maybe... maybe not...)

I'm finishing up refurbishing a '99 VFR800, going all-out on the cleaning and maintenance to bring the bike back to something near its original glory.   When I took the radiators off of the bike I was shocked by how dirty they were and how full of tiny rocks and other bits of road debris.  I used citrus-based degreaser to loosen and wash away all of the built up crud and goo and I used high pressure water to blast out all of the tiny rocks and other unknown bits.  I imagine all of this garbage would impede/degrade the efficiency of the bike's cooling system.

Obviously my '99 VFR is much older than your '07 (18 years vs. 10 years), but it your radiator(s) are anywhere near as dirty and clogged with debris as mine were that might be a big contributing factor to the "runs hot" situation.

Good advice. I typically realize a cooling system being dirty if the overflow itself also has "dirt" settled in it... mine is clean as can be! I'll try the flush first and replace the coolant as I'm sure its the original coolant.. figured I would see what you guys run before starting the flush. If that doesn't work, perhaps I'll remove the radiators and give it a go.

Just to be sure we understand each other, the dirt and greasy grime and tiny rocks and bits of other unknown debris were on the outside of the radiators, not on the inside.

2 minutes ago, GreginDenver

Just to be sure we understand each other, the dirt and greasy grime and tiny rocks and bits of other unknown debris were on the outside of the radiators, not on the inside.

got it haha. 

18 hours ago, Grum

Have always used Honda type 2 premixed coolant available at Honda Car dealerships. Its Silicate and Borate free, blue in colour, and from memory lasts 5 years.

Cheers.

Grum

I've been using this for a whole lotta years -- nicknamed "Honda Blue" - It works well in every bike I have used it in. 

I'm running Motul MoCool in the 825 and it seems to work pretty well.

A mate, with a VTR1000 also runs it and it made a big difference to that.

Do you get freezing conditions in Georgia ?  I assume not, so the best coolant mix should be based on the MINIMUM temperature you are likely to encounter.  See the chart below, work out your bikes minimum temperature. For instance my garage is attached to the house & the minimum temp even in cold spells is about 5C, so if the bike never goes out in the winter, then a 20/80% antifreeze/water mix will protect it down to -8C.  Which is way below the temps the bike will experience when wrapped up for the winter.  Just remember to start & warm thew engine before riding if you decide to take it for a sly winter spin & don't leave it outside if the temperature may get below zero degrees.

[image: freezept.gif.68b11e39dbc32bae321f3d269eadfe2e.gif]

More water = better cooling, use distilled water to get the best cooling effect & to reduce contamination in the cooling circuit.  If you find any light alloy corrosion in an engines cooling system, you can run it on flat diet Coke or your own light acid mix (50/50 water & vinegar is good) do a few heat cycles in the engine, then flush the whole system before adding your chosen percentage antifreeze/distilled water mix.

You can read more here  https://hellafunctional.com/?p=629

YMMV  or maybe YTMV  (Your Temps May Vary :)