Engine temp. gage

[JamesW]

Got caught in a pretty good downpour Sat. on my 2013 and noticed the digital temp. gage was jumping around from 150 to 169 to 190 to 184 etc. Never read Hi and the coolant level was just under the full line after cooling down. Very curious, wonder if the sender got a little wet under the fairing?

 

[gumba]

Mine does that all the time. Forget about it.

 

[Bungie]

Mine too.

It 'bounces'. Like the temp comes up, thermostat opens. Temp drops. Thermostat closes. Temp comes up. ...

You would think at some point it reaches an equilibrium but it doesn't appear to the case.

Runs great. Ride more, fret less.

 

[escapefjrtist]

Seems to be a common reported item with the digital gauges Jim.

Like Bungie, I can't imagine why it doesn't eventually reach equilibrium...maybe warmer temps will tell.

--G

 

[JamesW]

Thanx for the responses, somewhat comforting to hear, however, large and fast erratic swings with a lack of relative stability, not talking just a few degrees here, tend to get my attention. I do not remember such initially occurring with the bike.

 

[rbentnail]

There was a thread about this driving folks crazy in the beginning of the "2013 digital readout age". I remember it b/c most of us preferred gauges vs. temp readout for just this reason- the averaging effect. Most IIRC got around it by simply not displaying it.

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

My 07 (07-09's) FZ 6 has a digital temp gauge. It reads "LOW" under I believe 115F, then after that rises slowly. The thermostat opens fully at 160F.

It has never jumped about at all. Steady going up, steady going down (no more than a degree at a time).

Yamaha did something different with the introduction of the digital gauge in the FJR.

Wether it be the sending unit or something else temps don't jump up and down 20 degrees every second or two.

I'm sure the temps are staying realativly, physically steady, its just NOTbeing displayed correctly with the gauge...

 

[art miller]

Now that we are having temps in the 100F+ range I notice my 14ES temp reading 200-220F range when in stop and go traffic. Once moving and up to speed it drops back to 190-175F range. Is this normal? When that digital temp reads 220F I get a little concerned given the bike has only 4K miles. Any of you Gen III riders in the drought zone having a similar experience?

 

[wfooshee]

Y'all keep in mind that this is a very small volume of coolant compared to these big-rig pick'em-ups and giant land barges you guys may be used to driving around at work or with your families. A 30- or 40-degree swing IS equilibrium!!

With Gen-I bikes it was "My temp gauge goes up and down 2 or 3 segments in stop-and-go traffic."

With Gen-II bikes it was "My temp gauge goes up and down 4 or 5 segments in stop-and-go traffic."

Now that there's an actual temperature readout everyone thinks it's a failure!

 

[supertankerm60a3]

The issue is the coolant trapped in the core when the thermo closes. The trapped coolant gets close to the ambient temp.. Rain (the mass of cool water getting into the radiator is the same as riding it in extremely cold ambient temps.. If you search, you will find that the temp swing you are talking about has been discussed several times when the temps are really low. My 03 only has 6 bars so the temp gage does not show fluctuations, gen 2's have 8 but still do not show the swings that ARE happening inside (each bar [6 8 or] reprsents too large a change) however, my friends 02 Concourse has an analog gage that starts to dip in a very regular patterns (45 to 60 seconds) whenever the temp is under 40 and it gets really crazy under 20. It all has to do with the coolant that gets trapped in the core. I have considered drilling a small hole in the thermo to allow coolant to continue flow even when it was closed. Unfortunately this would result in the engine not comeing up to temp at all during extereme conditions.

My 03 dropped to only 1 bar, going down the Shasta grade, in the rain, once, it also stays at 3 bars when the ambient temp is anywhere from 95 to 115. (I havn't ridden in anything above 115)

Since this has been brought up so many times I predict that Yamaha will change the display in the next 4 years or less to the fluctuations are not visible to the rider.

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

The issue is the coolant trapped in the core when the thermo closes. The trapped coolant gets close to the ambient temp.. Rain (the mass of cool water getting into the radiator is the same as riding it in extremely cold ambient temps.. If you search, you will find that the temp swing you are talking about has been discussed several times when the temps are really low. My 03 only has 6 bars so the temp gage does not show fluctuations, gen 2's have 8 but still do not show the swings that ARE happening inside (each bar [6 8 or] reprsents too large a change) however, my friends 02 Concourse has an analog gage that starts to dip in a very regular patterns (45 to 60 seconds) whenever the temp is under 40 and it gets really crazy under 20. It all has to do with the coolant that gets trapped in the core. I have considered drilling a small hole in the thermo to allow coolant to continue flow even when it was closed. Unfortunately this would result in the engine not comeing up to temp at all during extereme conditions.
My 03 dropped to only 1 bar, going down the Shasta grade, in the rain, once, it also stays at 3 bars when the ambient temp is anywhere from 95 to 115. (I havn't ridden in anything above 115)

Since this has been brought up so many times I predict that Yamaha will change the display in the next 4 years or less to the fluctuations are not visible to the rider.

You already have a small "breather hole" in the flat housing of your thermostat. It should be facing up when installed correctly..