Folk starting and running the bike through the winter months causes this issue more than not running at all I would say . Like said back there running a bike till the fan comes in is not enough , where is the water the hottest in an engine ? ... around the cyl heads more so exhaust side , where is temp transmitter or fan cut in switch ? mostly top hose or around cylinder head area , so water temp may bring fan in ,but block ( crank cases with a bike ) are relatively still cold , gearbox , clutch ,oil temp it's all still cold relative to upper engine temps , this causes more condensation to build up , only one way to get it warmed up proper and that's to ride it . See this on cars all the time , your average shopping trolley cars , Clios , fiestas and the likes will have milkshake all up the filer caps ....looks like margarine Motorway cars .... non of it or little .... it's just the usage that evaporates it away .
I've done that before... Set off early morning (ie: dark) for Trackday at Silverstone. Foot slipped off the peg at the first roundabout, I looked down and saw shiny black stuff all over my boot... DOH!!
Riding in traffic or on slow roads will certainly get the oil temp nice and high but moderately fast road riding seems to over-cool the engine on our bikes, at least as far as water temp is concerned. The radiator seems over-effective at these speeds. We don't know what the oil temp is, of course but there is a pretty big oil-cooler on there as well.
Thermostat opening and regulation temp is set to low by the sound of it ,the designers may do that for a reason to err on the cooler side , going off on a tangent here modern Diesel engines are so heat efficient in winter months on the road the thermostat can be closed but because of the water volume in the block the engines thermal transfer cannot get the water up to temp so this is where you see auxillary heaters .... some diesel powered some like some Merc models have ceramic water heaters some with thermo plungers .... basically glow plugs in water housings . Also with cars you see thermostat controlled oil coolers to stop over cooling in the colder months
It used to be a common sight to see cars with radiator blinds on the winter months. Some were like roller blinds, others had sections that could be folded back and secured that way with press studs. Only just realised that the rock steady 100c at all times, once up to temp, temp gauge on my 320d is oil temp, not water...
Yes alot of diesel cars have vaccum operated or electric radiator blinds but even with blinds closed there are conditions where they still cannot get up to temp so they still have auxillary heating . All the older bikes used to have quite big oil coolers but modern oils have come along way , the oil can take extreme punishment for 20k miles service intervals (cars ) imagine 1100 degrees of turbo temp with oil going through the shaft what is has to withstand
It's more how it gets used that causes condensation , I wouldn't bother modifying anything , change the oil and filter , take it for a good run ,just ride the bike
I hear that but the conversation was taking a different direction. It is a hypothetical question. So what do we think?
I had the same problem with my air/oil-cooled SS, so it's not confined to water-cooled Ducatis. However, our water-cooled engines do seem to run cool when unrestricted by traffic. I can't help thinking that a thermostat that opens at a higher temp would be better for our climate. According to Shazaam, our ECUs deliver an enrichened mixture up to 80c, so a thermostat that opens after that would seem sensible. My bike wants to run at 70c.
Modification is not required, just do as most bike manufacturers say and do not let bike tick over to warm up, start them and ride them. Start ups and short rides are the death of any engine. Someone on this forum even starts his Pani up to charge the battery! So you pull hundreds of amps out of the battery to start it on cold oil that takes a few revolutions of the engine to reach all the parts, and then drip feed a few amps back into the battery! When he comes to sell that bike bike with 10k miles on it, it will have as much wear as an engine with 80k miles. If you want your oil to get up to temperature quicker and do not want any chance of it overheating then consider fitting a Laminova oil cooler. The Laminova will heat the oil quicker, using the water temperature, and will never let it get hotter than the water temperature. There should be quite a weight saving too. The Laminova is very popular on aircraft and car racing applications. If I still lived in the colder UK climate then I would have one fitted on my 848.
Just my 5peneth on this subject. I found temp would stay 55-65 degree ish, so i modified the thermostat so that i could adjust it ( after draining the coolant and removing it) and got it to open between 75 and 85, needle central. I did this by tapping an m6 thread into the end piece and fitting a bolt with locknut in its place. Works well.
There arnt many old 748 riders cause its to painful! The thermostat expansion plunger acts on a brass rod. Modifying the rod/ plunger distance by the method previously explained makes the thermostat valve open later, and raises the cooling system temp.
Ahhh....has been a while since i did this mod!...broke the original bar that the pin presses against, and fitted a brass threaded bar in its place for adjustable temp.
