2009 Cooling system temperature unstable

[Lars-Erik Andersson]

Hi Im an Young/old guy from Sweden (66 year) and I bought a used 2009 last Year with 13000 kilometers on ODO... In excellent condition and with fantastic acceleration but from beginning I`ve been worried of unstable cooling water temp depending on riding conditions. On big roads riding legally 60-75 mph , temp is not over middle on Tempmeter but coming in Town and slow riding it gets up over halfway up to 3/4 …. feels not ok ! Is the Cooling system underdimensioned on generation 2 ?
Hard to get info from Yamaha dealers locally ; so few bikes sold here in Sweden and no real exsperience !
Changed cooling fluid but was not better ; feels that Ive got "air-traps" in lines when filling.
Perhaps Its needed to use "vaccum Equipment" to fill safe but nothing said on that in Yamaha service manual for Vmax 1700.
We dont have so high Outside temperature here in Sweden but this bike goes awfully warm compared to other bikes I have own/ed. My old Honda Goldwing 1000 -79 is Always on Cold side when running completly different.....
Please come back if its ok or not behavior on my Vmax cooling ! Im nervous
/regards
Lars-Erik Andersson

 

[rebeltaz83]

Normal for it to get that warm in town, or in traffic. As long as the fan works, nothing to worry about. The gen 1 was the same way. My brand new 2018 model gets just as warm in traffic/City riding fan comes on and the temp. Drops. Just a Vmax thing.

 

[Lars-Erik Andersson]

Thxs for fast reply ..... that seems for me a little odd with a motordesign with unstable cooling water temperature.... but then I dont have to dismantle and change the termostat and waterpump as I have got advice from the local Yamaha dealer without loooking at machine....
Ive had a long "deairing of water" as the upper cooling pipe is higher than filler position ie air pocket there. It has coming out air from system still after 1500 km running!
Have seen in some other Vmax forum that they made an "electrical bypass" so they can start fan manually.... Can Someone describe procedure for where to connect the wires ? Other improvements possible ?
Regards
Lars-Erik

 

[MaxMidnight]

A few thoughts:

Provided the coolant level goes back to the same level as it was before the ride then this would indicate that you are not loosing any coolant.

You also need to appreciate that in town the radiator does not have the benefit of air going through it at at motorway speeds.

You don't know what the temperature difference is between a half and three quarter needle deflection. It may be (say) ten degrees or it may only be two.

IMO it your paranoia you need to fix rather than the bike (no insult intended)

 

[rebeltaz83]

The Vmax engine is huge compared to the goldwing. It's a performance engine, not a lazy Sunday engine. With 11.4:1 compression, and 1700cc all packed in a tight area it's gonna get a little warm with no or little air flow. Hence why allot of Vmax riders put the bypass switch on the cooling fan. I never worried about it as long as the fan come on. I had a 78 goldwing, no comparison 2 completely different engine designs. The goldwing engine was designed to run in low rpm range for smoothness, mpg, and cruising. The Vmax engine is designed for all rpm ranges, and performance in mind. I also read that you could put another small fan on the right side of the upper radiator to help with cooling. It's just the nature of the beast. Even car guys have the same problem with a performance build, sometimes having to go with 4 core radiators, high volume water pumps.

 

[Lars-Erik Andersson]

Thxs
Good with a forum with other owners having the same experience ,,,,,that "calms me down" ; I will try stop worrying about something specific wrong on my bike !
It seems more like I have to live with temperatures going up and down; thats a VMAX1700 design.
Think I will try to mount a manual switch fan control during long winter month...
regards
//Lars-Erik

 

[BrutMAX]

Lars,
Check out this You tube from Tim Nash aka VMAX Guru

Its a very simple inexpensive mod, I recently did it on my 2018. It works well in traffic and with the hot humid temperatures here in southeast Texas.

 

[Pighuntingpuppy]

My Gen 1 will creep to the 3/4 mark in traffic. I live in Albuquerque New Mexico. 90-100F drives and while uncomfortable with that fan blowing on my legs....never got hotter than that.

 

[Lars-Erik Andersson]

Lars,
Check out this You tube from Tim Nash aka VMAX Guru

Its a very simple inexpensive mod, I recently did it on my 2018. It works well in traffic and with the hot humid temperatures here in southeast Texas.

Hi and thxs feel this modification is exactly what I want not taking so much time to modify. Perhaps trikiest is to find a discrete place for new breaker .....dont want it so open on cover but thats a small problem.....
// Lars-Erik

 

[Jerry Klay]

Anyone know why Tim went to the relay under the fender rather then tap in at the ECU??

 

[Pighuntingpuppy]

Going to a relay rather than an ECU prevents power backfeeding to the module.

 

[Jerry Klay]

Thanks. I figured it was just a lot cleaner wiring.. vs. just hacking into that ECU wire.

 

[Lars-Erik Andersson]

Hi tried to follow on Schematic; that wiring from ECU goes diretctly to the fan relay so I believe just a question of more space there /better and safer to connect! as it is a lot of wires close to ECU.
The signal from water temp transmitter goes in to ECU and there is the signalhandling to that wire/relay that starts the fans. Still no big problem to take off some plastic parts for a safer connection place

 

[Jerry Klay]

No doubt about the wires near the ECU. I have also my battery charger cable, and heated gear cable both with fuses.. plus Garmin wiring. So I get it for sure.

Thanks

 

[Lars-Erik Andersson]

I agree fully ….both positions is possible. My bike has a Garmin unit from batteri direct . VERY Good remark with extra fuse on each new wire installed ...very easy to forget !
// Lars

 

[Lars-Erik Andersson]

Hi again did a #secret test# with my wifes kitchen "test probe" for meat in the oven showing actual degrees just to try to get a degree level on the Vmax temp scale not that static pics as today .Fantastic results but I cant handle this site to handle over a picture or a small film but very intersting to see what temperatures the thermostats open without dismantling cooling of my bike.
Please advice how to get a over a picture in forum or a short film perhaps ( to big I believe). Me to old to fix

 

[Lars-Erik Andersson]

• 

 

[Lars-Erik Andersson]

Tricky try to show measuring cool water temp with wifes kitchen tools. Temperature goes up to approx. 80 degreeC then termostat Open and goes down go 65 then up again to round 80 showing halfvay on the vmax screen! Medans that the temperature dont have to be so high in reality as seen on screen

 

[Jerry Klay]

Interesting.. my 09 will run 3/4 of the scale at any stop or slow down during the summer... And takes a long time to cool down even when running 60-70 MPH down the highway.. I wonder if the thermostat is due to be replaced.. When the fans are on I generally don't see the temp drop, it just holds at about 3/4 scale or a bit more..

I appreciate any input if others have seen the same temp behavior..

Thanks

 

[Lars-Erik Andersson]

Perhaps you can test the same way I did to see where the thermostat starts operating.
I used a funnel to get some extra water to have slight overpressure in that filling up hole. The termostat shall start ramping from 71grade C(160F) fully open 85C(185F)I feel that my thermostat is ok...the problem as You describe is that the cooling system generally has low capacity this problem was nowhere ön my goldwing 1800 even efter hard running the temp was stable .I have also got Air pocket after cooling water change also critical to get out air from pipe system