healthy valves

[Jeff Layton]

Guys, Guys. My bike reads damn hot. Like in the Hot section now that its' summer (yes, in that last little 1/8"). Dead of winter it was touching the line but not entering the zone. In all cases, the fan is on after it gets up there. (If it's already in the hot section, how do you know when it starts to climb?) Using the manual & troubleshooting *everything* in the whole coolant system (including the carb mixture!), Kawasaki's own procedure sez my gage is bad. I've been through 4 just trying to BUY a new one for 65 freakin dollars and have taken mine apart like 6 times trying to fool mine into reading right. Is it a crime that I'm trying to fix my dang bike & just want the gold-plated parts made of Unobtanium to meet the manufacturer's own dang spec? I've now checked a total of 9 gauges (also spelled "gages" according to Webster) and found eight of them out of spec. And FWIW, electric fan systems overheat everyday with the electric fan running. And when aluminum head engines overheat, they get *really expensive*. Jeff "If a gauge is there, it better be right" Layton A15 Austin

----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike Peplinski" To: ; DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Friday, May 26, 2006 10:58 AM Subject: RE: [DSN_KLR650] Re: The Letter to Kawasaki > Take it easy Jeff, we don't need to get God into this one just yet. The > temp gauge does swing quite a bit on mine too. Even in cold weather if I'm > idling or not going very fast it gets pretty hot but the fan kicks in. I > think the critical point is that the fan kicks in. The first time I rode > my bike the fan came on after I parked it. I'm not even certain that there > is a fixed "normal" position. I'm not a "wrench" but unless the gauge is > way high or the fan is not kicking in you aren't overheating. The gauge > could be getting funky, or the sender. My experience is that an > overheating engine runs irregular before damage is done. Now if you're > cruising along at 85 mph and the gauge is climbing, you better think real > hard about slowing down but otherwise. they're really pretty tolerant.

[Don S]

Has anyone thought to try a digital thermometer? I've seen some that have a thermo probe connected by wire to the LCD display. I would suspect the problem would be adapting the probe to fit into the sending unit of the stock system or finding a way to get it into the coolant where it would be at it's hottest. If one knows the rated operating temperature of the engine, the digital readout would be far more accurate than the mickey mouse tinsel gauges from KHI. Jeff Layton wrote: Guys, Guys. My bike reads damn hot. Like in the Hot section now that its' summer (yes, in that last little 1/8"). Dead of winter it was touching the line but not entering the zone. In all cases, the fan is on after it gets up there. (If it's already in the hot section, how do you know when it starts to climb?) Using the manual & troubleshooting *everything* in the whole coolant system (including the carb mixture!), Kawasaki's own procedure sez my gage is bad. I've been through 4 just trying to BUY a new one for 65 freakin dollars and have taken mine apart like 6 times trying to fool mine into reading right. Is it a crime that I'm trying to fix my dang bike & just want the gold-plated parts made of Unobtanium to meet the manufacturer's own dang spec? I've now checked a total of 9 gauges (also spelled "gages" according to Webster) and found eight of them out of spec. And FWIW, electric fan systems overheat everyday with the electric fan running. And when aluminum head engines overheat, they get *really expensive*. Jeff "If a gauge is there, it better be right" Layton A15 Austin

----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike Peplinski" To: ; Sent: Friday, May 26, 2006 10:58 AM Subject: RE: [DSN_KLR650] Re: The Letter to Kawasaki > Take it easy Jeff, we don't need to get God into this one just yet. The > temp gauge does swing quite a bit on mine too. Even in cold weather if I'm > idling or not going very fast it gets pretty hot but the fan kicks in. I > think the critical point is that the fan kicks in. The first time I rode > my bike the fan came on after I parked it. I'm not even certain that there > is a fixed "normal" position. I'm not a "wrench" but unless the gauge is > way high or the fan is not kicking in you aren't overheating. The gauge > could be getting funky, or the sender. My experience is that an > overheating engine runs irregular before damage is done. Now if you're > cruising along at 85 mph and the gauge is climbing, you better think real > hard about slowing down but otherwise. they're really pretty tolerant. Archive Quicksearch at: http://www.angelfire.com/ut/moab/klr650_data_search.html List sponsored by Dual Sport News at: www.dualsportnews.com List FAQ courtesy of Chris Krok at: www.bigcee.com/klr650faq.html Member Map at: http://www.frappr.com/dsnklr650 Yahoo! Groups Links __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[kestrelfal]

I believe the water temperature gauge uses a D'Arsonval meter. Doing a 'net search on this device may give you helpful information in sorting your problem. Fred

--- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, "Jeff Layton" wrote: > > Guys, Guys. My bike reads damn hot. Like in the Hot section now that its' > summer (yes, in that last little 1/8"). Dead of winter it was touching the > line but not entering the zone. In all cases, the fan is on after it gets up > there. (If it's already in the hot section, how do you know when it starts > to climb?) > > Using the manual & troubleshooting *everything* in the whole coolant system > (including the carb mixture!), Kawasaki's own procedure sez my gage is bad. > I've been through 4 just trying to BUY a new one for 65 freakin dollars and > have taken mine apart like 6 times trying to fool mine into reading right. > > Is it a crime that I'm trying to fix my dang bike & just want the > gold-plated parts made of Unobtanium to meet the manufacturer's own dang > spec? > > I've now checked a total of 9 gauges (also spelled "gages" according to > Webster) and found eight of them out of spec. > > And FWIW, electric fan systems overheat everyday with the electric fan > running. And when aluminum head engines overheat, they get *really > expensive*. > > Jeff "If a gauge is there, it better be right" Layton > A15 Austin > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Mike Peplinski" > To: ; DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com> > Sent: Friday, May 26, 2006 10:58 AM > Subject: RE: [DSN_KLR650] Re: The Letter to Kawasaki > > > > Take it easy Jeff, we don't need to get God into this one just yet. The > > temp gauge does swing quite a bit on mine too. Even in cold weather if I'm > > idling or not going very fast it gets pretty hot but the fan kicks in. I > > think the critical point is that the fan kicks in. The first time I rode > > my bike the fan came on after I parked it. I'm not even certain that there > > is a fixed "normal" position. I'm not a "wrench" but unless the gauge is > > way high or the fan is not kicking in you aren't overheating. The gauge > > could be getting funky, or the sender. My experience is that an > > overheating engine runs irregular before damage is done. Now if you're > > cruising along at 85 mph and the gauge is climbing, you better think real > > hard about slowing down but otherwise. they're really pretty tolerant. >

[nakedwaterskier]

1 if set at max then it takes longer than 3k to get to min...or is it the other way around; in any case, I am waiting 13k till my next valve check adjust cuz I(actually Mark B) set em farthest as permissible from where they wear to. And at 18k the engine is well broken in by now. 2 if there is a tech day near you, you just take it apart and let one of the experts do the valve adj for next to nothing 3 checking the valve clearances is relatively easy even if it takes two hrs and you better have a 1/4 drive torque wrench handy esp. for the valve cover bolts(and doohickey)...adjusting em you need the shim kit for Jeffrey