03 1600 Classic here 70K miles. Coolant flushed and radiator replaced about 5K miles ago by previous owner.
Totally new to this bike so I'm not sure what's normal but.... The cooling fan seems to come on pretty quick (like after 2 minutes of idling) and then basically never goes off again while I'm riding. I have not had the temperature light come on but I've not ridden a really long distance in hot weather yet. It's been in the upper 70s and low 80s here.
One event of concern was I had parked in the garage and gone inside. The fan was running when I left it but then 30 minutes later, my wife came home and asked me why the fan was running on the motorcycle so I go out there and sure enough, the fan is still going. I didn't know what to do so I started it up for about 30 seconds and then shut it off to move some coolant through the system. After about 30 seconds the fan went off.
The previous owner, my brother in law, mentioned that it had overheated a little on his last long road trip but that it hadn't done it in the 5 months after that.
I'm in Texas so it's about to go from mild to wild temperature wise and I don't want to end up stranded. Coolant level looks okay. Was thinking maybe it could have some air in the system if whoever did the radiator didn't get it purged all the way.
Thoughts anybody? I'd appreciate any input you'd care to share.
maybe some air, to check that take the rad cap off and do it old school idle the bike 60 seconds with cap off and any air will expel the system, i think part of your bike sounds normal to me, but if there is a problem its with electrical switch that runs the fan, maybe the water temperature sensor needs changing, i dunno
The previous owner, my brother in law, mentioned that it had overheated a little on his last long road trip but that it hadn't done it in the 5 months after that.
The fan should only turn on when the coolant reaches a certain temperature. Usually near the boiling point of water 212F.
If your fan turns on within two minutes of idling; I would suspect that the temp sensor is not operating as designed.
When your bike was in the garage with the fan running for 30 minutes; was the key in the "on/acc" position or does the fan run independent of ignition power?
You say that the radiator was replaced. I would ask the BIL what symptoms he was having that prompted the new rad and inquire if there was any electrical work done too.
Thanks Scott. The key was off when the fan was running for so long out in the garage. I'll have to ask why the radiator was replaced. I only found out by looking through the maintenance log book he gave me and haven't had an opportunity to ask him about it. I wish the bike had a temp gauge so I could see if it was actually running hot or not.
I hope I'm not generating too much noise here but maybe it'll help someone else some day.
I finally got in touch with BIL. The symptom he saw that lead him to believe it had overheated "a little bit" was the same as what I'm seeing. He went in to a restaurant and came back out 20 minutes later and the fan was still running. So, no temp light. No boil over. No real evidence that the engine is actually overheating. Just a long running fan. The radiator had been replaced because of a crack but it went many miles with no problems after that so I don't think it's a case of air in the system from that particular maintenance anything being clogged.
It's not very warm in Dallas today but I thought I'd give Scotts advice a try anyway. I have an infrared thermometer and I took some readings off of the engine and the radiator while I let it idle for about half an hour. When the inlet temperature on the radiator reached 120 degrees the fan came on and never went off. Outlet temperature was around 100 or so. The hottest the heads ever got was about 180 degrees on the rear head and 160 on the front. Once I shut the engine off, the fan cutoff on it own after 3 minutes when the outlet temp of the radiator was roughly 80 degrees.
I know the infrared thing is not super scientific but it's some kind of data at least.
BIL said that after he noticed the fan running long he changed the oil and that seemed to return things to normal. That seems like a stretch and probably a coincidence but it about time for an oil change anyway so I'm going to do that and see if anything changes.
I've convinced myself that this is a bad fan switch that's getting stuck in the on in the position. I found a kawasaki forum for an ATV that uses this same fan switch and it's riddled with this exact complaint with the fan switch being the solution.
I've ordered one. Will report back when I've replaced it and can determine if it's the actual culprit.
None of my bikes including my Vulcans; would run the fan when the ignition was off. I know some cars do that, but having an enclosed engine means that air movement can be directed around the entire engine.
Motorcycle fans don't really provide much air movement to the engine itself; after it pulls it through the rad and hits the front of the engine it dissipates to the sides.
When I hop off the bike on a VERY hot day here in TX; I like to let the fan run with the engine off for a little bit. This always requires me to leave the ignition in the on position.
Because the water pump isn't running, cycling the coolant through the engine; it will drop the temperature of coolant in the rad very quickly.
After about 4-5 minutes; I start the engine again; the water pump cycles the cool water into heads and when the fan shuts off I kill the engine leaving the cooler water in the engine and warmer water in the rad.
May not actually do much to prolong engine life; but I like doing it so....
Anyway, it still sounds to me like a wiring/switch issue rather than an actual overheating issue.
Still, as temps get higher; I'd test it by letting the the coolant cycle at idle in my own driveway.
Sorry my 1995 500 vulcan will keep running the fan after the ignition switch is turned off to cool off the engine IF the temp is above the fan switch temp.
I have a 2000 Vulcan 1500 Custom Classic and had the same problem. The system is designed to run until the lower temp is reached, regardless of the key position. The problem you have is a faulty temperature sensor. Mine gradually took longer and longer to sense the lower temperature to the point it drained the battery. Have it checked or replace it and you should be good to go. Once done, the lower temperature is reached within a minute or less after you turn off the bike.
Replaced the switch this morning and it seems to have solved the problem. The fan now comes on after about 9 minutes of idling instead of 3 and when it does come on it runs for 5 or 10 seconds and then goes off.
After about 20 minutes of idling, I purposely shut the engine down right when the fan came on to see if would keep running, which it did for 10 seconds or so and then turned off on its own.
Installation was simple. I didn't even drain the radiator. Just unbolted the regulator/rectifier and let it hang there. Once it was out of the way I broke the switch loose with a crescent wrench (not enough room to get a socket on it) and was able to run it the rest of the way out by hand. I was able to swap the new one into the hole fast enough that I only lost an ounce or so of coolant.
I bought one of the switches off of ebay for $45 instead of the $100+ factory part. It looks identical but I did have to squeeze the connectors on the wire ends a bit to get them to fit tight enough to stay on.
Good deal shiloh,problem solved,love when a plan comes together:grin2:
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Kawasaki Vulcan Forum
712.7K posts
67.9K members
Since 2008
A forum community dedicated to Kawasaki Vulcan motorcycle owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about performance, modifications, Vulcan 1500, Vulcan 2000, Vulcan 500, Vulcan 1600, Vulcan 900 and all other Vulcan motorcycles.