pls need help overheating radiator

thats a pain, 'Engine, but the fzr does run hot in traffic - and it doesn't help that you're in the phillipines. Whats your average temp over there, 35 degress and 150% humidity?? My bike would piss itself too.
I would flush the radiator and make sure there are no blockages, replace the fluid with a strong concentration of coolant fluid (if you buy the concentrate, at least 1/2 water, 1/2 coolant), and rig the radiator fan to be ON at all times. Or you can put a switch in so that you can turn it on yourself. Or get a bigger fan....
Of course, this may not do the trick. The only way to cool the engine properly is to get some good airflow over it (open riding) - maybe try turning it off when you are really stuck in traffic.

 

can you remove the thermostat from the fizzer?

 

yes

 

I'm not sure if this has been said before, but i'll state the obvious:

The FZR is NOT a commuter bike, and is not made for australian roads, let alone phillipino ones. I assumed everyone realised this and use their little FZRs as toys. That's what they are, very cool toys.

If you can't afford to have a toy, than paying 2k for a 80s sports bike, when you could get a little hornet or something for half the cost and built for commuting, was a very silly move.

Just my opinion..like to hear what others think on this.

 

I bought my fzr250 so I had a commuter and a 'toy' for the weekends. It worked great as a commuter. Yes it had a tendency to get hot, but certainly never overheated (I was able to avoid extremely bad traffic most times). I didn't want to get only a commuter as I wanted something that would be fun for weekends. If the bike wasn't fun, then I may not have enjoyed riding as much as I did (and do), and may have given up.

I agree that the fzr is meant for the open road (but then again so is my current bike) but they can still be used to commute. And, to be honest, after riding a cb250 for a few days I actually felt 'unsafe' on it because I didn't have any power had I needed to accelerate out of a situation. At least with the fzr you can do this.

 

I agree with Boz I commut 50ks to work and then back on the fzr and when im in town the power and braking keeps me safe. I had a cb250 to start with and it was s$%t to commut on and was no fun.

 

(Safety aside... <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s --> )

If your bike is overheating your not lane-splitting fast enough! <!-- s:lol: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_lol.gif" alt=":lol:" title="Laughing" /><!-- s:lol: -->

Ok, on a more serious note... in the entire time i had my bike it never overheated once! Yes, on about 4 occasions it got what i would consider uncomfortably hot but even then it didn't make it to red on the temp guage.

My advice, just ride it faster. <!-- s:roll: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_roll.gif" alt=":roll:" title="Rolling LoL" /><!-- s:roll: -->

 

My bike gets hot as well about 4mm under the red on the gage. I will come into town after a 45min ride and when i stop at the first set of lights the bike gets hot in no time. When i I put my new air filter in im going to put a switch on for the thermo fan.

 

My Fizzer gets hot when in the traffic it gets almost to the red and then the fan kicks in and the temp goes down... to about half way... then im normally riding again and the temp goes back down to just about cold

 

My bike will hover around the 2/3 mark when I am stuck in traffic and have no opportunity to lane split. My bike is used as a commuter / toy just like Boz described. I hear all the time of people going to the trouble of wiring a manual override switch to the fan, why not just replace the thermostat and flush the cooling system?

 

might sound stupid, but have you checked the radiator fan is going the right way? i had the same problem, and the radiator fan was going in reverse

 

At last a reason to live in England <!-- s:lol: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_lol.gif" alt=":lol:" title="Laughing" /><!-- s:lol: --> <!-- s:lol: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_lol.gif" alt=":lol:" title="Laughing" /><!-- s:lol: --> <!-- s:lol: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_lol.gif" alt=":lol:" title="Laughing" /><!-- s:lol: --> <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s --> .

Fit a bigger rad

 

A bigger rad will work, also rigging a more aggressive pitch fan goes a long way. I'd pull the rad and go with an extra row in the core(if there is room which there should be), and either get a faster turning motor for the fan, or more aggresive blade pitch. Never run straight water in your rad as it is not an efficient coolant. A 50/50 mix of ethylene glycol/water will be more efficient then water alone, and adding water wetter will also make the cooling system work more efficiently.

 

its also very easy to test if your thermostat is working - take it out and chuck it in a pot of water - slowly bring to the boil (use a thermometer for reference) and you can see at what temp it pops open - might be buggered! (the temp is stamped on the thermo from memory its about 82 degrees