Overheating...

[Spyder Tony]

My ST LTD has overheated before (had her about a month) and did so again last Sunday. All occurrences (5 times) have been on hot days (between 100 and 107 degrees) but I had not been excessively pushing the Spyder. Each time, I take a pic and send it via e-mail to the mechanic at the dealership. I get it in the shop within a few days and there is never a code thrown.

I have noticed that I seem to run cooler (no heating issues) when keeping the RPMs at 6,000. I don't redline (9,000 RPM's) but used to regularly run on the freeway in the 7,000 RPMs...which seemed to lead to engine overheating. Since I have been running at 6000 RPMs, I don't seem to be overheating. I know the Spyders are sensitive to heat, but I thought i'd be able to ride at freeway speeds on a hot day without getting the dreaded engine "overheating warning".

The dealer has verified that the fan kicks on when it is supposed to (based on coolant temperature) and said he can't find another cause of overheating. Forrest (the chief mechanic at Elk Grove Powersports) has opened a ticket with BRP for the overheating issues, but i'm not sure if it is due to the ambient temps in Sacramento, California as of late, or if I have a problem that requires dealer service. I plan to take some pretty long trips on the Spyder, so any info you could suggest would be appreciated.

I rarely (if ever) use 5th gear, but have been cruising in 4th at 75-80. Now I shift to 5th at 80 and keep at 6000 rpms instead of staying in 4th and maintaining the 7000 rpms I used to. Anybody else notice a "cooler engine temp" when maintaining llower RPM at speeds? The dealer said the Rotax "Could not be hurt by extremely high RPMs" and that 7,000 should be a safe amount. Again...this is just a theory, but I seem to overheat much less since backing off the RPMs a bit. I have attached a pic of the overheating light as well...Overheating.jpg