Thats what she said, never.
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Thats what she said, never.
Water has very little capacity to cool when it's boiling which is precisely the time in an engine when you need it to cool the most. With a waterless coolant, the system maintains its cooling capacity at those borderline temperatures so you are far less likely to damage your engine.
Can't imagine those fans lasting for very long.
Doesn't matter what you have in there, no air flow = no cooling..it's a pretty simple system. Raising the boiling temp is just a band aid IMHO and will likely lead to damage from an overheated engine...because you won't know it's overheating
I had the same issue when I had my 525exc, and I finally gave in and bought the fan kit for it..best $100 I ever spent on that bike.
First thing I did to try to keep it cool, was fatten up the jetting...which helped drastically.
Second was to ride faster, which helped even more.
Third, I put the fan kit on it and it never boiled over again
I know when I had my WR450, I looked into fan kits for it and they were available for most enduro bikes. Can't speak for Kawi, but Yamaha at the time used the same rads and shrouds on the YZ and WR models
Pick up a cheap automotive temp guauge kit, or even a cooking thermometer carefully in the fins of the radiator or mechanic wired to somewhere hot lol, either way you will know what temps you are running and wether shutting the engine down is necessary. A weak rad cap can boil over way before engine overheats
Don't forget water flow. Sitting there at an idle, you aren't moving enough water to effectively cool an engine that's at it's upper temperature range. You need some engine speed with a light load to keep things operating efficiently. This goes hand-in-hand with the ride faster sentiments.
How do the air cooled guys tell when they are overheating? Loss of power and sudden engine knock are two major signs. Water boiling off isn't the only sign of over heating and it doesn't necessarily mean you are overheating either. If the system can't maintain pressure, the coolant will boil off well before the engine is at risk (but the engine will at great risk shortly thereafter). If your cooling system is in bad enough shape that you are overheating while on the move, there's a good chance you may not notice the boil over for a while which is a substantially worse problem for water based systems since the coolant is exiting stage left.Quote:
...because you won't know it's overheating
KTM learned and put a factory fan on the 2012+ 500's. I have mine hardwired ON.Quote:
Third, I put the fan kit on it and it never boiled over again
WR250R has a fan, doesn't look very big and might be a feasible retrofit.