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Overheating

zenii

zenii

Rookie
Joined
Jun 29, 2010
Location
santa cruz
Moto(s)
Ninja 250(sold), 2003 SV650S
Name
Ren
Hey all,

So about two weeks ago, I am coming home from work and it's pretty late, about 9PM. I'm going into a curve in the road when all of a sudden a raccoon jumps out in front of me, and before I have any time to register what happened, I hit the little fucker and go down with my bike. Fortuneately I was about two blocks from my house so I was able to pick myself back up and ride home. At the time the only damage I could notice was the frame slider on one side, and a small tear in my jeans so I counted myself pretty lucky.

Anyway after that I let the bike sit for about a week, rode it 10-20 minutes one day to make sure it was working again, let it sit for another week and rode it to work again yesterday, and here's the problem, when I go on the freeway my bike gets to around 250 degrees F and and the red engine light turns on. Usually hovers around there, between 248ish (when the light turns off) and up to 254ish? Now I couldn't really stop since I was on my way to work so I just rode the rest of the way there, and the way back, but it wasn't really hot that day but my bike was still overheating (never happened before) so I'm thinking when I went down it must've locked something loose so that the cooling system isn't working? Anyone have any ideas what I might want to check out/get checked out?

Thanks

(bike is 2003 Sv650s)
 
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did the radiator get damaged? bent fins can reduce cooling capacity.

is the coolant level right? it may have spilled some coolant while on it's side, and now be low
 
From what I can see the radiator looks to be undamaged, I skimmed my manual but I'm not quite sure how to check the coolant levels..

Will it be safe to ride it in this condition or should I not ride until I get it fixed?
 
zenii said:
and here's the problem, when I go on the freeway my bike gets to around 250 degrees F and and the red engine light turns on.
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zenii said:
Will it be safe to ride it in this condition or should I not ride until I get it fixed?
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Don't ride the bike with the red engine light on, bad things will happen.
 
zenii said:
From what I can see the radiator looks to be undamaged, I skimmed my manual but I'm not quite sure how to check the coolant levels..

Will it be safe to ride it in this condition or should I not ride until I get it fixed?
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Remove the radiator cap when the bike is cold and see if the coolant is full to the top.

do not ride the bike as it is.
 
zenii said:
and here's the problem, when I go on the freeway my bike gets to around 250 degrees F and and the red engine light turns on. Usually hovers around there, between 248ish (when the light turns off) and up to 254ish? Now I couldn't really stop since I was on my way to work so I just rode the rest of the way there, and the way back, but it wasn't really hot that day but my bike was still overheating
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:wtf

Do you realize just how incredibly foolish it is to do this?
 
Not to worry, keep riding until the engine is destroyed, then you'll know what to fix :thumbup
 
ALANRIDER7 said:
:wtf

Do you realize just how incredibly foolish it is to do this?
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No I did not, which is why I asked. Funny how that works huh? :rolleyes

Thank you to everyone who helped me without having to be a dick about it, I think I'll try to find out what's wrong before riding again.
 
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zenii said:
No I did not, which is why I asked. Funny how that works huh? :rolleyes

Thank you to everyone who helped me without having to be a dick about it, I think I'll try to find out what's wrong before riding again.
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I wasn't trying to be a dick. :rolleyes

Red means STOP. Your bike is trying to tell you something important. Duh. If you're not intelligent enough to pick up on that, you've got bigger problems.
 
zenii said:
No I did not, which is why I asked. Funny how that works huh? :rolleyes

Thank you to everyone who helped me without having to be a dick about it, I think I'll try to find out what's wrong before riding again.
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I don't know about YOUR world, but in MY world, FRIENDS tell me the truth, and "dicks" tell me what I what to hear :thumbup
 
Your bike does not run hot normally. My fan has never come on even on 100 degree days. Bent fins would not cause that much of an overheat unless there was a hole in the radiator. Did the coolant hose get a hole in it or come off?
 
MikeGyver said:
Your bike does not run hot normally. My fan has never come on even on 100 degree days. Bent fins would not cause that much of an overheat unless there was a hole in the radiator. Did the coolant hose get a hole in it or come off?
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Maybe your fan doesn't work. :twofinger Enough bent fins could cause a problem, but yeah, I doubt that's the problem.
 
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Considering that you crashed, you probably punctured a radiator hose. BUT... Remove the coolant cap, top it off with distilled water or fresh premixed coolant (if it's low). If the bike continues to overheat after doing this WITHOUT any sort of leak, you probably messed up your thermostat in the crash somehow (unlikely). If you have a leak..... get it fixed, top off the coolant, and be on your way. Your radiator fan won't come on while riding, so if you are overheating while actually moving, then the problem isn't your radiator fan.
 
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