I'm riding my new bike in 40F ish weather and if I stop at a light it can get over 50% of the heat bars on the dash lit up... how's this bike do in hot weather?? I was thinking of riding to flaming gorge UT this summer and wonder if there are any issues to manage when I'm down there?

Has anyone installed a switch to keep the cooling fan running 100%?

4 bars is nothing. 5 bars in summer is not uncommon when in stop and go traffic. I have not seen mine go to the top yet. I probabley ride in a similar climate to you. I live in Wisconsin. I'm seeing mostly two bars on the highway. 3 Bars after I slow down. My bike ran a little cooler after break in.

Rook

Thnx for the info - I had been getting a little worried!

Hey icemannn don't know what 40 f is but i ride in say 16 centigrade to 40 centigrade and mine doesn't get over hot as well oil choices have been known to drop the degrees a couple

Muzzy fan is the way to go, here in phoenix my temp guage would peg at stop lights in the summer, with the after market fan it never goes over 3 bars even on 100 deg. + days.

Stimo, thnx for the reply - what do you think of Motul oil? Mobil 1? Both synthetics...

Buck20 does the muzzy fan stay on all the time?

* Last updated by: iceman99 on 4/13/2009 @ 7:25 AM *

A couple of cooling tricks on the 14. I am running the stock fan and coolant but mine rarely gets up to the third bar above the "C".

1. Remove the black plastic "spats" on the front fender, they are nothing but air deflectors , looks better without 'em IMHO and allows more cooling flow to the radiator.

2. Ditch the stock exhaust with catalytic converters. Besides waying a ton, they run way too hot. I use Yoshi slips without the restrictor inserts.

3. Go to a synthetic oil after breakin. I run a 5w40 Rotella.

4. Accumulate some miles, the more mileage the cooler this engine seems to run.

5. Try engine Ice coolant.

6. Extra cooling fan kit is available and will make a huge difference if you get stuck in traffic.

Kruz

* Last updated by: Kruz on 5/20/2009 @ 12:32 PM *

I just had the 1000km service. as well as new oil, I had new coolant loaded and wrapped the headers with fibreglass. The bike is much cooler and even a little quiter. it still gets hot at teh lights but it cools down much quicker. I've got stock exhausts.

I just had the 1000km service. as well as new oil, I had new coolant loaded and wrapped the headers with fibreglass. The bike is much cooler and even a little quieter. it still gets hot at teh lights but it cools down much quicker. I've got stock exhausts.

Hey Iceman I have kept away from motul oil as think it is overrated due to others comments. I have used the mobil one ot racing t as its called over here and found it is excellent oil and dropped the temp a little. I then recently changed to Pm lubricants Google them and used an oil from them which has been totally good as dropped 5 degree and definite increase in fuel usage and changed the exhaust note which goes in line with all the other review comments on it.I run 2 mufflers at different times use the one in the pic for weekend blasts it really over fuels the bike but use another carbon fibre slip on during the week for around town seems to keep cooler than the other one.

Ditto everthing Kruz said and add some Water Wetter or other similar additives to your coolant.
I live in Houston Texas and it is a hot bitch down here. No overheating issues at all especially since the stock cans went bye bye.

Hey Kruz,
this is Jeff. You and I had dinner in San Antonio at PF Changs right before you relocated to Dallas!
How the hell are ya?

On the former ZX14 forum, there was mention of Engine Ice. I did a little research on it, and think it would work well as a coolant for the ZX14. Will try it next time the coolant needs changed.

http://www.schnitzracingstore.com/catalogs/catalog.asp?prodid=4812189&showprevnext=1

My ZX14 is pretty much stock still, and on hot days it runs to all but the last bar on the temperature gauge while sitting at a stop light in town. Out on the back roads, it drops two bars lower.

The Muzzy "fan" is just a fan blade, but it works very well, know of many folks who use one.

Reducing the exhaust back pressure (for example, less restrictive slipons) as well as changing the timing would affect engine coolant temperature as well.

She's a hot blooded beast, but can be tamed. :)

(fixed the link)

* Last updated by: privateer on 4/16/2009 @ 4:10 AM *

I run engine ice in mine and its seems to make a difference, I and I think it lubricates and protects better than Water Wetter also. I have been using Motul 15w50 5100 syn blend and the tranny shifts much nicer than with standard oil.

Ya, and btw, I believe Amazon.com sells Engine Ice

HMFIC wrote:

Hey Kruz,
this is Jeff. You and I had dinner in San Antonio at PF Changs right before you relocated to Dallas!
How the hell are ya?

Doing fine, how's that new R1 treating you?

Kruz

All modern sports bike have this heating "I wont say problem" but characteristic It is mostly because sports bike designers are trying to achieve power to weight, and in part they achieve this by reducing the radiator size. Given that we ride a 1400cc the radiator size is about half a same size car.... So no dramas, happy riding..

My full exhaust made it run cooler by one bar though the engine still bakes you on the right side.

Hi Iceman,
It can be quite alarming to watch your temp soar in cool weather.

Do not Fear however.

I had exact;y the same question when I first got on the forum. The other memebers here told me it was quite normal for the whole 6 segments of you LED display to light up when its hot.

Ive ridden mine in 40C+ (110F+ in yank speak) and have not had the overheat alarm go off once.

Enjoy your bike, I have the 08SE as well, 12000km on the clock and the bloody thing seems to just get faster and faster

OZ

Great.

Yeah, I'm still puzzled some days why the temp climbs. Like this morning, it was 8C and rolling at 80kmph it had half the bars lit...

Advancing the timing 4 degrees really helped a LOT. Low rpms and coasting keeps the temps down on a hot day.

I too have the timing advanced(Dynojet Ingnition Module)and am enjoying a much cooler bike.

The muzzy fan, mobil-1 oil and a coolant change with good stuff and an after market exhaust system.( thats the time to put the fan in ) solved any problems I was having with the bike running a little hot. Phoenix is the place to test it, if it doesn't over heat here you're good to go!

Thermal coat your header, end of story.

Engine Ice sucks! It works great for a short period of time but degrades very quickly.You will also have to pull it out and put something else in for winter if you live where it gets cold,it has no antifreezee in it.I think it's made for racing only if you ask me.

Hey Phil,

I don't know where I heard about it but once I did it sort of got my attention, you're talking about ceramic coating the exhaust header aren't you? (if not pretend I didn't say anything :) )

It seems like this would have a positive impact on radiated heat from the exhaust headers... any comments or details you want to share? Is it a win-win project or are there any tradeoffs? Would you do it again? Details, if you could would be appreciated.

I've tracked a place down here in the Seattle area that looks like a good prospect for doing the work - I'm just not ready to give up any of these lovely riding days for the project.

Thanks,
-Dennis