Cooling Issues

[marshall100]

Bit baffled by todays events. Running really well at a local enduro, did about 45 minutes before the red light started flashing.

Now I've never encountered this, and while there was no consistency to what was going on, one minute it would flash fast, then slow, and then stop alltogether. Will the bike ever shutdown if it gets too hot? mine certainly seemed to. I took the access cover off to find the coolant tank empty. I dumped the contents of my camel pack into the tank, by which time the bike would run again. I cleared a load of crud out of my rad (though I was fighting a loosing battle with that) and went on my way again. Ran for a while and then it started flashing again. Pulled over to let it cool down as it was getting towards the end of the race, checked the coolant reservoir which was still full, and soldiered on to the flag.

I've never encountered overheating problems like this, initially suspect that either the pump impellar has fallen off, or the rad was that thickly caked in mud, it wasn't doing what it needed to. It certainly seemed to help by running in open fields at pace.

[kdeal]

A dirty radiator is number one cause. Pressure wash the dirt from the backside to the front, better yet, take the radiator out and clean it. The water escapes from around the coolant tank cap when it gets too hot. Check for leaks, especially from around the coolant bottle. Check the impeller with the upper hose off by looking thru the hole and trying to turn it with a small screwdriver. Is yours aluminum or OEM plastic?

[marshall100]

Water impeller is the metal one (it's also present, correct, and spinning when the engine is cranked) I've decided to remove the rad as it's by far the best way of solving the problem. It's a layer of mud across the whole of the rad. I'll post a picture up in the next couple of days.
Shame, I was flying and really enjoying myself.

[cannondale27]

Run the moto number plate and use duct tape or get in front so you dont get roost in radiator

[marshall100]

I was running with the carbon nose guard, but that didn't work. Previously it's done a superb job. There was a water filled trench that seemed to launch dirt under and up the bike......

4 Years racing a dale and this has never happened.

[marshall100]

That was swept of dry stuff three times with whatever tools I could clear it with while riding. It all makes sense really, a deep muddy watery section, that was followed by a section through the woods which was basically a flat out blast. The mud would have baked on almost immediately.

At least that's what I think happened. Other parts of the bike are wet and caked in mud like I've never seen before, it's absolutely everywhere.

[speedracer]

Wow,no wonder!You might try and find some outerwears material to cover your rad with.You can zip-tie it to the mounting tabs.Pantyhose works also,just have to be from a jumbo size gal.

[marshall100]

Yep, I'm going to come up with a fix for it somehow...

[ScramblerXLE]

I've been running blue fiber type (NOT foam type!) furnace filters in front of the radiators on all my bikes for years. Haven't overheated in a race since. AND it makes keeping the radiator clean about 1000x easier. Look for something like this at the hardware store and cut it to fit:



There are lots of us at the GNCCs doing this, it works very well.

[marshall100]

Superb, that looks ideal.