New owner here.

[pcarnut]

Has anyone done the heat wrap on their pipes to address this. I've been thinking about doing it for the benefit of the motor as much as myself, plus the insulation is supposed to help with the efficiency of the exhaust system, a win/win.

 

[bhick]

I've got an 06 with 32k on it and even thought I'am in washington I agree with you the bike is hot. I've found the riding pants are a must with boots, but aiso moving the side wings out helps too. Its weird but they work just the oppisite as you would think. It's in the owners manual if you have one. When they are in ,you get the heat from the motor, when they are out it puts your legs in stale air the heat flows around your legs,but its still warm. My crotch gets hot too,and I'am to old to think its something else, once the temps drop to mid 70's its a great ride. I did the barb. jumper and increased the 02 settings by 5 points and this seemed to cool it down to, at least it feels like it did.Good luck with new bike.

 

[Scooper]

Thanks everyone, I got it done. I was able to do it by removing the hex bolt from both sides then loosen the nuts enough to lift them over the pins then move them both back at the same time.

theZsdad: no the side farings are not open, just plain hot. It seems that the heat is from the cat and the radiator heat, as soon as the temp gauge hits 5 bars the heat just pours out at my feet at 4 bars it is constant but bearable. I'm guessing that anything over 90-95 degrees it couldn't be ridden here, which is about 5 mo a year here. Probably why the original owner only rode it 1100mi in 18 mo he owned it. But I have my 1050 Tiger I can ride in the summer.

Not sure about the gen2's but five bars ?? The radiator fan must be kicking on at 5 bars and that is why you are getting so much heat at that time. My 2004 runs at 2 bars most of the time and three on a hot day. If I get stopped in traffic too long it will go to 4 bars and the fan kicks on. Seems to me that your bike is running warmer than must . But like I said I'm on a Gen 1

Worth checking out though.

Scoop

 

[AVGeek]

I agree with Scooper...unless you're in stop and go traffic, the bike usually runs between two and four bars, even in the middle of summer here in Phoenix. I also have the Gen 2, and ride it year round.

 

[ehc0720]

Thanks for the info guys, my bike runs at 4 bars at highway speeds, 5 bars starting at about 40mph and 6 bars in stop and go traffic. Is there any doc somewhere that tells us what the normal number of bars are? I think I'll have the radiator flushed, the bike was 18mo old with only 1100 mi on it when I bought it 2 wks ago, anything else to test? I'll have to watch to see when the fans come on too.

 

[03HiYoSilver]

This link may give you some more details:

https://www.fjrforum.com/forum//index.php?s=&showtopic=106471&view=findpost&p=445846

 

[ionbeam]

Thanks for the info guys, my bike runs at 4 bars at highway speeds, 5 bars starting at about 40mph and 6 bars in stop and go traffic. Is there any doc somewhere that tells us what the normal number of bars are? I think I'll have the radiator flushed, the bike was 18mo old with only 1100 mi on it when I bought it 2 wks ago, anything else to test? I'll have to watch to see when the fans come on too.

The temperature gauge is a digital idiots gauge, it had no mission to be an exact lab instrument. The variation of one block between two bikes means nothing.

The basic question being asked is if the cooling system is working correctly. The fundamental answer is that if your thermostat opens, the fans run, the engine does not knock when hot and you never have a boil-over, then it is working correctly. If you had no temperature gauge and your cooling system met the previously stated requirements you would have no reason to obsess worry about it working correctly. If you and your bud are sitting at a traffic light and his cooling fan turns on 15 seconds before yours, do you park your bike and call a tow truck? Each bike has its own range of 'normal'. Your normal most likely isn't the exact same as another FJR but they all will be within the span of normal.

The actual coolant temperature sensor has only one specification, that is to be between 290 and 390 Ω @ 80º C. There is no mention of a low temperature or high temperature resistance value, so the only place the sensor is specified to be accurate is at 80º C, and even then the sensor has a wide tolerance range. We can take the cold operating temperature, the boil-over temperature and the number of blocks on the display and divide it out to determine how many degrees per block the gauge represents. The only problem is that this math solution probably has little real world relationship to the temperature response curve of the actual temperature sensor.

The ECU puts out a fixed precision 5 volt reference to the temperature sensor. The output of the sensor goes straight back to the ECU where the voltage goes to a shunt or drop resistor. The output of this node goes to an analog voltage to digital converter. Every ?? seconds the ECU will poll the A/D converter and read the digital value that represents the temperature. From there the ECU updates the dash display, determines if the thermostat has opened and if the value is over the threshold where the radiator fans should turn on. The ECU only cares if the thermostat is open so it knows if it should be running the Cold Operation FI map, and only cares if the temperature has crossed the threshold where the radiator fan relay should be activated, or the fan relay should be released. The ECU simply ignores the temperature values in between. It is these in between values that you are worried about. Take a clue from the ECU and basically ignore these values which means that everything is normal and OK. At the temperature sensor's most critical output point it has a 25% tolerance -- how can the readings on your dash be more accurate that that?

Until the fans fail to turn on, you boil over even with the fans on, or the fans turn on when the engine is cold you have nothing to worry about.

 

[wheatonFJR]

Thanks for the info guys, my bike runs at 4 bars at highway speeds, 5 bars starting at about 40mph and 6 bars in stop and go traffic. Is there any doc somewhere that tells us what the normal number of bars are? I think I'll have the radiator flushed, the bike was 18mo old with only 1100 mi on it when I bought it 2 wks ago, anything else to test? I'll have to watch to see when the fans come on too.

The temperature gauge is a digital idiots gauge, it had no mission to be an exact lab instrument. The variation of one block between two bikes means nothing.

The basic question being asked is if the cooling system is working correctly. The fundamental answer is that if your thermostat opens, the fans run, the engine does not knock when hot and you never have a boil-over, then it is working correctly. If you had no temperature gauge and your cooling system met the previously stated requirements you would have no reason to obsess worry about it working correctly. If you and your bud are sitting at a traffic light and his cooling fan turns on 15 seconds before yours, do you park your bike and call a tow truck? Each bike has its own range of 'normal'. Your normal most likely isn't the exact same as another FJR but they all will be within the span of normal.

The actual coolant temperature sensor has only one specification, that is to be between 290 and 390 Ω @ 80º C. There is no mention of a low temperature or high temperature resistance value, so the only place the sensor is specified to be accurate is at 80º C, and even then the sensor has a wide tolerance range. We can take the cold operating temperature, the boil-over temperature and the number of blocks on the display and divide it out to determine how many degrees per block the gauge represents. The only problem is that this math solution probably has little real world relationship to the temperature response curve of the actual temperature sensor.

The ECU puts out a fixed precision 5 volt reference to the temperature sensor. The output of the sensor goes straight back to the ECU where the voltage goes to a shunt or drop resistor. The output of this node goes to an analog voltage to digital converter. Every ?? seconds the ECU will poll the A/D converter and read the digital value that represents the temperature. From there the ECU updates the dash display, determines if the thermostat has opened and if the value is over the threshold where the radiator fans should turn on. The ECU only cares if the thermostat is open so it knows if it should be running the Cold Operation FI map, and only cares if the temperature has crossed the threshold where the radiator fan relay should be activated r, the fan relay should be released). The ECU simply ignores the temperature values in between. It is these in between values that you are worried about. Take a clue from the ECU and basically ignore these values which means that everything is normal and OK. At the temperature sensor's most critical output point it has a 25% tolerance -- how can the readings on your dash be more accurate that that?

Until the fans fail to turn on, you boil over even with the fans on, or the fans turn on when the engine is cold you have nothing to worry about.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

One of my favoritist posts ever! :clapping:

Alot of common sense backed up by knowledge backed up by humor...

 

[ehc0720]

Well I went for a ride today trying to get the fans to come on, highway and city driving, no luck. So when I got home I let it run parked in the driveway (85 degrees today) after a few minutes it went to 7 bars and the fans came on, back down to 6 bars and they went off so the fans seem to be working. I called the Yamaha dealer and spoke to the service mgr and a tech guy, the tech guy said, yep the FJR is a hot running bike, he recommended a Power Commander V to richen it to run cooler, the service mgr recommended flushing the radiator and filling it with Engine Ice. Both of these 'should' bring the engine temps down 10-20 degrees each. Well, I don't know that a 20-40 degree drop in engine temp will be noticeable on my legs so I'll try the Engine ICE first (cheapest fix) and then the Power Commander V next, if these don't work I guess it will be traded off before next summer.

 

[Ignacio]

You should still read and seriously consider ionbeam's post in #26. Changing coolant or flushing won't change when the fan comes on and 6 or 7 bars is perfectly fine. Unless your system is boiling over or the fan never comes on....it's very likely working exactly as designed.

And switching to Engine Ice puts you at risk of cracking things if you park you bike ever in subfreezing weather and likely won't do anything to change excess heat from the system.

Much ado about nothing IMO.

 

[ionbeam]

...the tech guy said, yep the FJR is a hot running bike, he recommended a Power Commander V to richen it to run cooler, the service mgr recommended flushing the radiator and filling it with Engine Ice...Well, I don't know that a 20-40 degree drop in engine temp will be noticeable on my legs so I'll try the Engine ICE first (cheapest fix) and then the Power Commander V next, if these don't work I guess it will be traded off before next summer.

Ahhh, is this the root of all the bar watching, that you want your legs to be cooler? If so, it's time to trade the FJR. The snake oil Engine ICE isn't going to make much difference, the problem is the amount of BTUs shed by the engine as a byproduct of combustion. The flow through the radiator, the thermal dissipation of the radiator and the duration of the engine coolant in the radiator are all fixed. The ability of any non-traditional coolant to give up heat in the radiator more rapidly than traditional coolant in a daily driver will be nil. I would suggest that the information that the service guys have read may not fit the facts in normal street use. You may want to check this out yourself.

The Power Commander works to cause the engine to run cooler than stock because it makes the engine run rich. After a point the richer the engine runs, the worse combustion becomes so not as much available energy gets converted to byproduct BTUs. The real heat load comes from the cylinder heads and there isn't much you can do, or should do about this. For the engine to have acceptable performance, acceptable mileage and acceptable life span, the cylinder heads have to attain some minimum value. Even running super cold nitrous oxide via the air intake runner or direct injection into the cylinder head will not make the engine run any cooler.

I'm pretty sure the amount of byproduct engine heat from the FJR's engine is typical with other in-line 4 cylinder, high torque, high HP engines. The radiator heat load, the head pipe heat and the engine heat are all trapped inside the body panels. The designers task is to block and insulate the rider from the heat and find some way to duct it out and away from the body enclosure. When stopped at a light or for traffic, zero air flow makes this really hard to do.

If you are wearing proper gear and your FJR is too hot for you, I doubt that you will find any simple solution. I think it's probably time for you to start shopping. If you are looking for another ST you need to sign up on the other boards and see what the owners are saying about heat. I'm pretty sure you will find similar discussions as we have here. Even some of the naked hooligan bikes put significant heat on the rider.

Feel free to vote this post with the red - button.

 

[ehc0720]

I completely agree that the engine has to run at a certain heat range to be efficient. I guess the real fix would have to be a re-routing of the heat coming out of the radiator and off the cat/pipes. I saw a site that had an entry by a French guy, in French, who made some wing sort of things that attached to existing bolts that kind of prevented the hot air from hitting your legs. I might look into trying something like that. The heat isn't just bad in traffic it is also going down the highway, this maybe why the previous owner only put 1100 mi on it in 18 mo he owned it. BTW... I wear tall boots, but my riding pants ride up 5-6 inches (34" inseam) when I bend my legs so they aren't much help for my ankles. I did try insulated winter boots, great for cold not for heat. Sure wish I was able to test ride one before I bought it. I've had several bike over the last 40 years of riding, only had one hotter than this, a 1999 BMW K1200RS it actually would look like I had a bad sun burn on my shins after each ride.

 

[Quality Guy]

I have a solution: Wrap your legs in aluminized asbestos before each ride. An added benefit will be more visibility.

 

[networkguy]

I just picked up a 2009 with only 1100mi on it and it came with the topbox for $11K, hope I did good. I have been going back and forth between an FJR and the BMW GT, when this one showed up I took it. I knew I wanted the Gen II because of the heat issues but this one is still very hot. I live in AZ and can't imagine what it will feel like when the temps go up. I rode about two hours yesterday in the high 70 degree range and my ankles were baked, I had on jeans and Sidi riding boots. Other than that is is great, the original owner had the suspension soft in the front and hard in the back so it pogo'd on the way home when I bought it, I've set the front and back slightly to the hard side now. In the owners manual it say the handlebars can be adjusted forward and back but to take it to the dealer to have them do it. Why is that and how do you do it? Thinking the helibars or gen mars risers may be in order, the helibars may be better because I would like the angle changed. Oh, I also am picking up the wire harness I've seen here to save the spiders. Thanks for any input!!! Anything else I will "need"???

Hey man....OT a little...did you pick up that black one at RideNow on Cave Creek by chance? Sounds like the same bike I was looking at...funny thing...I went to an event at their shop a couple weeks ago to buy that very same bike...and it was gone. I ended up getting the 09 AE they had on the floor instead

edit: nvm on my handlebar comment. I see you already got it done.

 

[ehc0720]

I just picked up a 2009 with only 1100mi on it and it came with the topbox for $11K, hope I did good. I have been going back and forth between an FJR and the BMW GT, when this one showed up I took it. I knew I wanted the Gen II because of the heat issues but this one is still very hot. I live in AZ and can't imagine what it will feel like when the temps go up. I rode about two hours yesterday in the high 70 degree range and my ankles were baked, I had on jeans and Sidi riding boots. Other than that is is great, the original owner had the suspension soft in the front and hard in the back so it pogo'd on the way home when I bought it, I've set the front and back slightly to the hard side now. In the owners manual it say the handlebars can be adjusted forward and back but to take it to the dealer to have them do it. Why is that and how do you do it? Thinking the helibars or gen mars risers may be in order, the helibars may be better because I would like the angle changed. Oh, I also am picking up the wire harness I've seen here to save the spiders. Thanks for any input!!! Anything else I will "need"???

Hey man....OT a little...did you pick up that black one at RideNow on Cave Creek by chance? Sounds like the same bike I was looking at...funny thing...I went to an event at their shop a couple weeks ago to buy that very same bike...and it was gone. I ended up getting the 09 AE they had on the floor instead

edit: nvm on my handlebar comment. I see you already got it done.

Yes it was. And for the guy who jokingly wrote, I think, to wrap my leg in insulation, I actually inserted insulation into my boot to cover the area on my leg that gets hot. It still got warm but the temps were also in the 60's. I think I'm going to put highway pegs on so I can move my legs when it get's too hot. Also the engine temps are nromal and the fans do come on and go off at the correct temps, I checked with a digital laser thermometer. I guess I'm just more sensitive to heat than most folks.

 

[Meltdown]

I was a little concerned when I first bought my FJR about the temps and would obsess where the gauge was. Normal for my Gen2 is 4 bars at speed, 5 for anything under 30mph for more than 5 minutes, and the fan will cycle on & off in traffic.

As far as the heat on your ankles is concerned, you're probably more sensitive to it coming from a bike with no fairing on it. My last bike was a Suzuki C90 cruiser and any heat generated by the motor was blown away in a fairly uniform pattern. The FJR with all it's plastic panels will still unload all of the heat it generates, but it is directed out at specific points through openings in the bodywork.

I suggest replacing your boots. I use Sidi Adventure Rain boots. They are thick and I feel no heat from the motor. Plus, they make me feel like Mad Max while wearing them. Good luck.