please help w/ overheat

[fun-times-always]

first post here, a friend on mustangforums recommended this site to me concerning a problem with my 2004 R1. the bike has 5000 miles on it, mostly stock save for exhaust, intake, and other small stuff. the story is mostly i brought the bike to a self car wash to hose it down. it has ran just fine the entire time i have owned it, but after washing it, it was overheating on the way home bad. i stoped a couple of times just to get it 15 miles. the light comes on, on the dash. is there something i may have hit with that sprayer or pulled a wire off or something of that sort? i am pretty new to the bike world. any help i would appreciate much. thank you much. my intent is maybe its a quick fix insted of paying a dealer lots of money for.

[Cutty72]

Check make sure all your coolant lines are still connected where they should be, and that there is coolant in the system.
Then check to see if the thermostat wires are all connected.

and FYI, high pressure water and bikes aren't the best combo in the world.

[fun-times-always]

i will, thanks for your help on that, and wont make that mistake again

[Mr Lefty]

yeah shit just get a bottle of Meguires quick detail and spray and wipe after every ride and you'll be good. no need to ever wash the bike with water imo unless you get caught in some nasty rain or some how get nailed with mud... :2cents:


on the main issue... yeah check to see that you didn't somehow dislodge a hose... also check that your fan is working... you may have unplugged the fan if there's a quick disconnect you hit with the high pressure water.

how long ago was this? does the bike overheat when it's idle'n or only at speed? does your fan come on... how is your coolant level?

when you washed did you try to avoid the motor with the pressure washer? or did you intentionally wash the motor? be honest... that pressure is a lot for hoses and wires...

good luck bro.

[fun-times-always]

i didnt put any DIRECT pressure on the engine, the sprayer was a fair distance from the engine. the fan works, and it works well. Its louder now than i have ever noticed before, and it will not overheat at idle, i can let it idle for a long time, nothing, but at any speed at rpm greater than say, 3k it will start and i smell a burning smell. i hope this info helps a little bit too. thanks again

[Mr Lefty]

i didnt put any DIRECT pressure on the engine, the sprayer was a fair distance from the engine. the fan works, and it works well. Its louder now than i have ever noticed before, and it will not overheat at idle, i can let it idle for a long time, nothing, but at any speed at rpm greater than say, 3k it will start and i smell a burning smell. i hope this info helps a little bit too. thanks again

How long ago was this?

[fun-times-always]

this happend back in july, its been in the garage since then, but days are still great and i got the bug again (not far from phoenix, az) and thought it would be worth a try to fix. i see your in Osan too, i spent 2 years between Daegu and Incheon

[LOZ]

i smell a burning smell.

but what kind of burning smell? burnt rubber, burnt coolant, burnt oil? be more specific.

this is very good info. it means that there is a leak. you shouldnt be smelling anything else besides exhaust fumes... so if you smell burnt up coolant then there must be a crack on one of the hoses. sometimes the crack is so small that it wont leak unless the coolant inside is under a lot of pressure, in other words, really hot. and that is why it only overheats when you go passed 3Krpm.

also check the radiator itself, it could be cracked as well. I had a similar situation when I bought my truck. all the hoses were fine, but the radiator has a small crack at the bottom on the right side, that was almost impossible to spot....

you might want to take off your radiator and check it manually. then plug it and run water through it to see if you can spot it coming out anywhere...

spotting a leak on a bike shouldnt be too hard. just take off the plastics, have somebody hold the throttle over 3Krpm and wait till you start smelling the burn, then carefully look at all the hoses. use something to move the hoses around, so you dont burn yourself.

hope this helps.

-Loz

[Mr Lefty]

but what kind of burning smell? burnt rubber, burnt coolant, burnt oil? be more specific.

this is very good info. it means that there is a leak. you shouldnt be smelling anything else besides exhaust fumes... so if you smell burnt up coolant then there must be a crack on one of the hoses. sometimes the crack is so small that it wont leak unless the coolant inside is under a lot of pressure, in other words, really hot. and that is why it only overheats when you go passed 3Krpm.

also check the radiator itself, it could be cracked as well. I had a similar situation when I bought my truck. all the hoses were fine, but the radiator has a small crack at the bottom on the right side, that was almost impossible to spot....

you might want to take off your radiator and check it manually. then plug it and run water through it to see if you can spot it coming out anywhere...

spotting a leak on a bike shouldnt be too hard. just take off the plastics, have somebody hold the throttle over 3Krpm and wait till you start smelling the burn, then carefully look at all the hoses. use something to move the hoses around, so you dont burn yourself.

hope this helps.

-Loz
:dthumb:

[t-homo]

Seems like you should have a pretty good chance at finding the culprit. A lot of good info and a lot of fuckin knowledge on here.

[fun-times-always]

good deal, tom morning i will check it out in daylight. thanks for everyones help on this

[neebelung]

and FYI, high pressure water and bikes aren't the best combo in the world.

werd.

And if you must take a hose to your bike, get those plugs for your exhaust (they sell them at Cycle Gear and most dealerships).

[Particle Man]

this is very good info. it means that there is a leak. you shouldnt be smelling anything else besides exhaust fumes... so if you smell burnt up coolant then there must be a crack on one of the hoses. sometimes the crack is so small that it wont leak unless the coolant inside is under a lot of pressure, in other words, really hot. and that is why it only overheats when you go passed 3Krpm.

also check the radiator itself, it could be cracked as well. I had a similar situation when I bought my truck. all the hoses were fine, but the radiator has a small crack at the bottom on the right side, that was almost impossible to spot....

you might want to take off your radiator and check it manually. then plug it and run water through it to see if you can spot it coming out anywhere...

spotting a leak on a bike shouldnt be too hard. just take off the plastics, have somebody hold the throttle over 3Krpm and wait till you start smelling the burn, then carefully look at all the hoses. use something to move the hoses around, so you dont burn yourself.

hope this helps.

-Loz

good advice all around. It's an '04 with only 5k on it? How long did it (notice I didn't say "Did it sit" - with such low mileage the thing must have sat for a while)? Original hoses? Hoses crack over time, especially if the bike sits. The sudden temp change from running temp to cold from the wash may have been too much for the hoses to take.

[No Worries]

... it has ran just fine the entire time i have owned it, but after washing it, it was overheating on the way home bad. i stoped a couple of times just to get it 15 miles. the light comes on, on the dash...
Is it really overheating, or has water shorted the temp switch? I remember that some Kawasaki's would run terrible in the rain. Water was getting into the sparkplug tunnels and shorting out the spark. They fixed it by keeping the water out of there. Maybe find your temp sensor and clean the contact wire.

If your R1 was mine, I would want to know what's the real temp of the engine. Either check the temp of the oil, or borrow or buy one of those digital laser guns that can tell you the temp. I think they're only around $50 now. That would be a fun tool.

[Gas Man]

I'm kinda with NW on this.

I think its purely electrical. Either the temp display is in-accurately reading or maybe the fan switch is fubar. Does the fan come on at all?

[was92v]

This is a little off the wall, but you may want to check you radiator fins to make sure that the Hi Pressure spray didn't fold the outside edges down, blocking airflow. If they are, a small wooden dowel can be used to open them up. Probably not the problem, but easy to look for and easy to fix (gently).

[fun-times-always]

UPDATE
took all the plastic off and checked it out. well i found the problem. The hose on the left top side that runs to a solid pipe which leads to the block, where the hose and the pipe meet is kinked and the hose will not fit secure over it. there is no way to replace that pipe either, or at least a simple fix. i figure i will try to make it a circular as possible and run some epoxy on it, as the gap is a hairline. not sure what else may work, an extra clamp and jb weld perhaps

[Mr Lefty]

so wait... your saying the metal pipe is kinked? I'd double check that that's your problem... cause unless you're using some new car wash I've never seen the pressure isn't enough to bend a pipe :lol:

is the pipe on your radiator?

can you provide pics?

[fun-times-always]

no the pipe isnt off the radiator, there is a rubber hose between this pipe and the radiator. i can get pics tom off cell phone to show, but its a solid pipe that runs next to kickstand, as thats the best i can describe it offhand, its a small kink on the bottom, i have no idea how it got there, the only explaination i can offer is perhaps i got a little spray happy and it budged the hose just off that kink and left a fine crack which was probably covered up. i really hope my fixit idea works, cause im not pulling that engine out. i put some money into that bike, but what a PITA, makes me wanna trade or sell for more car stuff sometimes

[Mr Lefty]

so it's the motorside... damn for the life of me I can't find a pic of the 04 R1 with out it's fairings showing the left side.


we have a few R1 owners... they may be able to help you figure out if something is wrong... I know I've seen several things when work'n on motors that look like they're bent or tweaked only to find they're made that way... :lol:


the only reason I say this is cause unless it's just a complete coincidence... I don't think the water pressure would cause that...

[LOZ]

Im waiting for the pics as well... this should be interesting.

when I washed my bike with a hose, I would set it to MIST, instead of jet or anything that was direct hit....and I would cover the ignition with a plastic bag and the electronic damper(i had a 1000RR)

unless you dunk your bike in a pool of mud, you shouldnt need a carwash hose for it...

[fun-times-always]

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff64/fun-times-always/img030.jpg
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff64/fun-times-always/img031.jpg

[LOZ]

you had no return line to your radiator... your bike was running dry. be glad that shit didnt blow up on ya.

you can go to autozone or any car shop and buy some radiator hose that has that general shape. should cost just a few bucks.

[OTB]

you had no return line to your radiator... your bike was running dry. be glad that shit didnt blow up on ya.

you can go to autozone or any car shop and buy some radiator hose that has that general shape. should cost just a few bucks.



NO No No ! Do NOT buy general ID radiator hose. Go buy the molded replacement from Yamaha. The OEM hose is molded with stiffeners to prevent the hose from collapsing at high flow rates. Using a generic hose will likely end up with the same issues as what he has now. The reason he's having the issue to begin with is that the original hose lost it's strength over time, allowing the hose to kink and collapse.

JMHO

[fun-times-always]

i took that hose off, it didnt come off, the pipe i have described is next to the oil filter as shown

[LOZ]

i took that hose off, it didnt come off, the pipe i have described is next to the oil filter as shown

in that case, that pipe doesnt seem to have a kink, just a factory bent... doesnt seem to by tight enough to prevent water from flowing through it.... and I highly doubt that pressured water could cause steel to bend.... Im thinking you must have hit something and thats probably how it got bent. :idk:

[HRCNICK11]

Before it started to over heat had you drained and refilled it?

If so you might have had a air bubble that made its way to the pump. Happens all the time to people getting there bike ready for a trackday. When you refill it make sure you sqeeze the hoses a lot like your milking a cow it will move the air bubbles to the top.

[fasternyou929]

Did you see fluid leaking from somewhere? Can you draw an arrow pointing to where in the picture? The kink I'm seeing in the picture is a factory bend and would not impede water flow.

Also, what are your symptoms of overheating? Is it just smell? What temp does your bike indicate? Is the fan running then?