Liquid "Cooled" Engine

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It seems that the liquid cooling of my Brutale is not terribly efficient. The longer I sit at a stop light, the higher the engine temperature rises. The fan kicks on at 207 degrees F. but does little to stem the rising engine temps.

Isn't the whole purpose of liquid cooling to keep engine temperatures regulated so that the coolant releases at a certain temperature and prevent the engine from overheating? Once I moving again the temperature drops but this is more a characteristic of air-cooled engines.

The only other liquid cooled engine I've owned was a 2003 Honda ST 1300. The engine temperature was indicated by bars, with 5 bars being the most. That bike's cooling system kept the engine from ever rising above 2 bars, no matter how hot the Texas summer.

Am I missing something here? Will the Brutale eventually reach a temperature that stabilizes or could I assume that the longer I sit at a light, the hotter the engine will get?

-- Tom Solimine (Tsolimine@amph.com), September 20, 2004

Answers

I'm facing the same tempreture problem with my Brutale.The temp will rise up to 104 degrees celcius when the bike is stationery. It takes a longer time for the engine cool down compared to the F4.And I believe this is because of the lack of fairing and second radiator like the F4. A friend of mine changed the fan switch on his bike but it doesn't seem to help.The fan starts at about 85 degrees celcius but the temp will still reach 108(on his brutale) on red lights. Next thing I'll try is to use Redline's water wetter.I will post the results.Hopefully it will sort out the bike's temperature problems.

-- Iskandar Z (yojo@tm.net.my), September 20, 2004.

The cooling systems in the Japanese bikes are indeed a little more efficient. Part of it is in the design. The water cooled engines are supposed to stabilize the temps for most all riding conditions. Air cooled bikes have the same problems sitting in traffic, though there is not a temp guage on most of them, so you don't notice as much. As apposed to most of Europe, we can and do face higher temps during the summer, especially in the southwest. Running the Honda Procool and water wetter or any of the additives that are designed for race applications where controlling hot temps is good. The only thing you have to make sure is that there are no silicones on the water. These cause premature wear on the ceramic water pump bearings. Too low of engine temps create inefficient gas burn and also causes power loss. Too high causes too much wear, but will give added power while the engine lasts. A running temp of 200-230 F is normal for these engines, as this is the range that they were engineered for. If you haven't done so already, consult your dealer to make sure that your warrenty is not affected should something go wrong. You may also talk to people who are racing at the tracks nearby to find out what they recommend. If your temp continues to rise, stop and let it sit for a few minutes. Restart it and let it run for a minute or two using lowe RPM's. Simply idling will not help the temp much, so rev is every few seconds but not more then 3-4000 range. By reving it, more water circulates through the radiator helping it to cool down faster. I hope this is helpful.

-- Cali-Kane (mvagusta@sbcglobal.net), September 20, 2004.

I've had similar problems with my Brutale. Actually had the temp up to 240F - I was worried so I contacted the dealer. They called MV and said that as long as its not blowing coolant it should be ok with occasional high temps. It seems it may be part of breaking in the engine - now that I have over 2K miles on the bike overheating seems to happen less frequently.

-- Josh (eatenbyagrue@gmail.com), September 20, 2004.

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