I dunno guys, but I've just re-read this whole thread a couple of times and I'm wondering if it's not something waaay less dramatic & a whole lot simpler?? Back at around post #17 Lew, you wrote:
.
Seriously overheated (
by the temp gage) over in the Gold Country of Cal. Hi temps, fluctuating gauge , fans running alot. Added some water ( not much though). Long tow home ( thank goodness for AAA Premium)
No smoke or steam, no leaks visible, no loss of power.
Going into the shop
And nothing you've written since about the temps you've actually measured or the 'over-heating' you've experienced suggests that it's
ACTUALLY over-heating -
just that the gauge is going up. :shocked: Is that truly the case?? :dontknow:
Throughout all this, has your Spyder
EVER pegged the gauge right up beyond the H mark? Has it
EVER started coughing & spluttering, running rough & spewing boiling water or steam out of the overflow/resevoir tank &/or the exhaust? Has it
EVER sucked the reservoir absolutely dry on cooling down?? Cos if it hasn't done most if not all those things, then from what you tell us,
I'm beginning to suspect that it's not actually over-heating, it's just the gauge (&/or the way you're reading it?!?) :lecturef_smilie:
I certainly could be wrong, but please bear with me for a bit - I've seen this 'mis-reading' or 'mis-diagnosis' of over-heating a
LOT on motorcycles, 4WD's, trucks, cars, & even heavy earth-moving equipment, simply because the 'temp gauges' we get to see & use these days don't actually
truly reflect what's happening within the cooling system, so many people/operators who've never learnt otherwise begin to expect their gauges to climb from Cold to somewhere in the middle of their range and then stay there all the time.... only that's
NOT truly reflecting the way your engine's coolant temp changes! :banghead:
Most modern vehicles, including our Spyders, have '
dumbed down' temperature gauges - they are damped so that the gauge simply goes from '
Cold' to about half way up the range as the engine warms up & reaches operating temp; then instead of showing what
REALLY happens within the rather wide range of acceptable operating temperatures (ie. the coolant temp going up & down as the load varies, the fans cut in & out, & the thermostat opens & closes etc, all within the 'safe temperature range... ) they are damped so that the needle/graph just sits there at about half way, thumb in bum, display in neutral, alllll the time, despite the continual changes that
ARE occurring.... well, the needle sits there unless/until something in the system fails & then usually well
AFTER the coolant temp has spiked waay into 'boiling coolant temps', the needle or bar graph
finally gets moved right up into &/or beyond the Red & gives the operator a belated & waaay too late warning! :gaah:
This is all done just to keep the '
uneducated motorist/engine operator masses' out there happy, so they don't worry about the needle/bar graph going up & down all the time (like it should!
) as the coolant temp fluctuates between something like about 70° C & 120° C (cos the coolant is pressurised & not just water, so it doesn't actually 'boil' until something like 120°C plus - bit more, bit less, whatever it is exactly really duznmatta...
) So on the '
damped gauges' we see mostly these days, that needle probably won't move too much at all for most of its operational life...
unless something in the system fails. But even then, if it's the
damping device itself that fails or stops limiting the electrical feed quite so well (as it may well, cos they tend to be an 'added on' thing...) then the needle/bar graph can start moving up & down more than most might expect (heck, some of us even search for & remove these damping devices when & if at all possible, cos we
want to know what is actually going on with our coolant temps!
) and
MANY drivers/riders/operators who don't know any better may then get worried about that needle moving as it should; altho if it hasn't actually left the safe operating range, which on
my Spyder is the lower 7/8ths of whole range (it's marked orange) in which case the temp is
still perfectly fine (even if it's right up the top of the orange!
) and the cooling system is doing exactly what it should, despite the gauge showing you something closer to what's
REALLY going on with your coolant temps! :lecturef_smilie:
So unless your temp gauge has
actually pegged out on/beyond the orange & well into the Red &/or past the H mark & you've experienced one or more of those other over-heating symptoms mentioned earlier, instead the needle has remained in that 'lower 7/8ths' of the dial,
then there's a good chance your engine/cooling system has never actually over-heated! Got warm, sure; maybe even hot, then if it's cooled down again thru normal operation without displaying any of those other symptoms, especially the spewing coolant one, it's probably fine, cos that's what happens when you run an engine under varying loads in high ambient temps - the temp goes right up to whatever its increased boiling temp under pressure & due to its make-up might be, but unless it goes
OVER that temp, then it's just hot, but
NOT BOILING, &
NOT OVER-HEATING!
And from what you've told us so far Lew, I'm really beginning to suspect that your Spyder & 'over-heating' experiences may well fit into this category - if your temp gauge has never pegged the H or gone well into the Red & you've never experienced any of those other symptoms, then
your Spyder may not ever have actually truly 'over-heated'.... :dontknow: Come to that, has the Nanny ever shut the engine down during any of these 'over-heating' events?? Cos she's
meant to shut the engine down if the engine temp gets too high for safe operation.... altho there are some instances/certain scenarios where she can't do this, but most of
them are pretty terminal & instantly catastrophic!
Food for thought anyway?!? And even if it doesn't help you, I hope all this helps to save
someone from chasing their tail over a gauge reading that is actually perfectly OK, even if it's right up the top of the orange instead of sitting still in the middle of the dial as we've been brain-washed to expect! :cheers:
