I have a 2009 Suzuki Burgman 650A and am having a problem with it over heating. I replace the thermo switch which was bad, have checked the thermostat which is good and have cleaned the radiator fins. Could it be the water pump or the chain that drives the oil pump which also drives the water pump? I have little mechanical knowledge so can use all the available knowledge. Thanks.
Yes, fans runs perfectly. No leaks anywhere. Clean radiator, tested thermostat, replaced thermo switch, hoses are all good. How can one tell it the water pump is bad?
I’ll let Dave_J or LeDude jump in .....I remember reading you need to burp the radiator after refilling but I don’t think that would be causing all your problems.
No leaks or weeps. As I mentioned earlier the thermo switch was bad and I did replace it. I tested the thermostat. It's working perfectly. By the way, coolant temperature was hitting the red line. I shut it down as soon as I noticed. I wonder if the overheating because of the bad thermo switch damaged another component in the cooling system.
If there is air trapped in the system it will cause over heating. There is a procedure for 'BURPING' the air out. It may take 2-3 tries to get all the air out.
Snipped from LeDudes page:
11.
Fill the system with 1100ml of new coolant and bleed the system of any air bubbles by slowly and gently rocking the scooter from left to right a few times.
12.
Start the scooter and let it run until you see a few bars on the coolant temp indicator.
Repeat process a few times, and try to bleed more air of the system by rocking the scoot and watching
the coolant until it is free of air baubles.
Add coolant if you see the level drop on the radiator.
13.
Replace the radiator cap tightly, (twist to the right).
14.
Take the scoot out for a short ride.
Let it cool down and double check the coolant level. Repeat #12 as needed, add coolant if necessary.
I added the highlighted "Repeat #12 as needed" to #14
Also it is VERY important that the thermostats air jiggle port is at the top when installing. This allows air to bypass the shut cold thermostat. It is a small port so let the bike sit awhile between steps #11 and #14
If there is air trapped in the system it will cause over heating. There is a procedure for 'BURPING' the air out. It may take 2-3 tries to get all the air out.
Snipped from LeDudes page:
11.
Fill the system with 1100ml of new coolant and bleed the system of any air bubbles by slowly and gently rocking the scooter from left to right a few times.
12.
Start the scooter and let it run until you see a few bars on the coolant temp indicator.
Repeat process a few times, and try to bleed more air of the system by rocking the scoot and watching
the coolant until it is free of air baubles.
Add coolant if you see the level drop on the radiator.
13.
Replace the radiator cap tightly, (twist to the right).
14.
Take the scoot out for a short ride.
Let it cool down and double check the coolant level. Repeat #12 as needed, add coolant if necessary.
I added the highlighted "Repeat #12 as needed" to #14
Also it is VERY important that the thermostats air jiggle port is at the top when installing. This allows air to bypass the shut cold thermostat. It is a small port so let the bike sit awhile between steps #11 and #14
I removed the water pump. Can't find anything wrong with it. Gotta a couple more hose to check. I have a new thermostat to install. Don't know of anything else I can do. Sure hate to reassemble and it doesn't work. Will it be okay to start it with all the tupperware removed?
Maybe I missed it, so I ask, how do you know it is actually overheating? Is it pushing coolant out the overflow can?
One cause of hard to find overheating is from leaking head gaskets. You can rule this out by starting the cold engine with radiator cap off. If you have a leak it will blow coolant out. If all’s good you should only see a small flow across the top of the interior tubes from the bypass hole in the thermostat ( assuming you can look in)
A sign of over heating (besides having all temperature bars showing) is that when you stop the bike but with the key still “on”, you should hear the cooling fan kick in or still running if it kicked in while you were still riding and you will hear it cut out when the fan cools the water/antifreeze down enough.
You can test the old thermostat by putting it in a pan of water bring to the boil and it should open.
Is your rad full, is the expansion bottle at the high level mark, have you got a 50/50 coolant mix, is it good or tired old coolant change it if more than 2 years. Fan should kick in when coolant temperature nudges 4 bars. Is the Rad cap good. Check the oil filler cap for creamy deposits if there are any suspect head gasket.
You can test the old thermostat by putting it in a pan of water bring to the boil and it should open.
Is your rad full, is the expansion bottle at the high level mark, have you got a 50/50 coolant mix, is it good or tired old coolant change it if more than 2 years. Fan should kick in when coolant temperature nudges 4 bars. Is the Rad cap good. Check the oil filler cap for creamy deposits if there are any suspect head gasket.
In about 1977 we had what was called a two day 'Road March' from Ft Ord (Moneray CA) to 29 Palms Marine Corp base . We left Ft Ord (Closed base is now Calf State Uni) and drove to Bakersfield for the first night stop. Our planed 2 meals for the two days was C-Rats with a cooked Supper meal at Bakersfield CA.
I was driving a 2 1/2 ton cargo truck with a huge diesel engine.
In Bakersfield a couple of us went down to market and bought some grub fixens. I had Yukon Gold Potatoes and 2 nice cuts of Pork, a 7 pound pork Pork Butt and a 12 pound shoulders. Salt, pepper and garlic rubbed.
A few guys had different items. Every thing was wrapped in foil. At 6 AM I put the pork shoulder and butt on the sides of the trucks exhaust manifold and the potatoes went up on the radiator and started the engine. We pulled out at 8 AM after breakfast. Our first stop, lunch and a C-Rat, was 3.5 hours out of Bakersfield at 35 MPH. I rotated the items around. The smell was real good.
Our dinner stop 3 hours later we all gathered the food and shared with all the guys. We had Tacos, corn on the cob, rice, beef roast, vegies, roasted pork, potatoes.
It was a very nice "Tail Gate Party" throw together meal to add to our C-Rats. We still had 2.5 hours to go to 29 Palms. Was so full it was hard to stay awake. I did not organize this, one of our Mess Sergeants did.
I'm still waiting on new water pump. Once installed I'll have a new thermo switch. thermostat, radiator cap and new water pump. The radiator is clean but I may flush. The hoses are in good condition. I'm extremely doubtful I have a blown head gasket because there was no sign of oil in coolant or coolant in the oil. By the way, I tested the old thermostat.....it worked. Since I'm replacing everything I won't know what the problem was assume I have fixed it.
The water pump is mechanical and driven by the engine. Normally not much goes wrong apart from the oil seal and this is indicated by coolant dripping from the back of the pump. The impeller is plastic and if the fins are good and it spins freely on the bearings probably nothing wrong with it.
yeeaaah, but keep your speed below 60 mph and try to use straight roads when your head is down there
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