00 Busa Overheating

[Lukekban]

I have a 2000 Busa and am having over heating problems. Bike is bone stock with 23k on it. Bought the bike about 4 weeks ago from a friend. Start the bike and it sits and warms up normally. It hits the mid way mark and the fan comes on. Then I sit and idle for a few minutes and the temp gauge slowly climbs all the way up to the red. It seems to take a few extra minutes on first warm up still happens every time, first start of the day or last ride of the day. Once I start moving and get some air flow, the gauge drops right down to normal(a little below half). The fan is coming on right at half way like its supposed to and staying on till I start moving and it cools down. The bike does this ever time I let it sit and idle, even on a 60 degree morning. When I got the bike I would let is warm up in the mornings some times for 20 minutes with no problem. So I changed the coolant today and allowed the bike to idle for about 10-15 minutes while already warm in an 80 degree garage with no problems, it would start to get past the half way, the fan would come on, and it would stay cool. Coolant level seemed a little low but not too bad. Some small black spec in coolant but my drain bucket may have been dirty. Thought I fixed the problem but I went for a ride for about an hour and a half, went home and relaxed. Took the baby out later at night and the problem had returned, idle for a few minutes and the gauge starts to climb. The manual says to use an ethalene glycol based coolant, does really give a specific type so Im using some red 5 year Mopar coolant since I work at a Dodge dealer. Initailly thought radiator had some blockage but then the problem shoud have occured despite new coolant. I heard the head gasket seals coolant passages and some sort of exhaust passage? Not sure. Anyways, thought maybe there may be a small leak between the coolant passage and the exhaust passage causing the coolant to become contaminated with carbon and reducing coolant capability. Any possibility there? Havent checked coolant level again but maybe Im slowly burning some off in the cylinder but no abnormal smoke out the exhaust present. Some people say to add a second fan or engine ice or that its normal but this problem was not always there, only started about a week ago and Im trying to fix it, not hide it. Many people say they've never had any overheating problems even in extreme conditions. Trying to give as much info as possible. Being an experienced auto tech I know how important info is and am hoping to find some one who knows there stuff technically. Any help out there for me?

[DOOM&GLOOM]

Okay breathe and relax!

I just flushed and changed the OEM coolant yesterday and put in Engine Ice.:thumbs up:

In my opinion, I have found that if the resivior is not maintained closed to the full mark you run the risk of running air into the system.

A problem that you may have also is " Burping " the bike if you think one session of burping is good enough, your wrong.

There are several different ways of burping and I combine as many as I can.
Start; Fill rad as usual to the top, then run the bike if the cap off and rev the engine on and off to about 4-5000 rpm to get the pump moving coolant for a minute or so if the coolant level drops put more in until you reach the top.
Once you feel it has stabled off, rev again and if coolant is staring to over flow this is when you grab the cap and put it on the rad.
Get on the bike and rev the engine and rock the bike side to side periodiclly.

Let the bike run till the fan comes on twice, then shut off the bike and let cool for about 45 minutes or enough that pressure is gone to remove the cap.

Once you have shut down the bike look at your resovior it should be bubbling and adding coolant into the resovoir. It might climb past the full mark by maybe a 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch in some cases. Dont worry it fine.

Once the bike has cooled alot of the coolant that was in the resovior is now majicially back in the bike.

Repeat this step one more time, except once the bike has cooled check how much is in the resovior and fill to full if needed.

Complete Flush is another option.

Buy 3, one gallon bottles of distilled water( just easier to pour than a big bottle) at the grocery store and repeat the same process, except drain the bike after each cool down until water is the only thing left. ( could be 3-4 sessions untill all coolant is out)
Of course once completed add your choice of coolant again by the method as the first.

I just flushed and switched to Engine Ice, and in my opinion has completely out performed standard oem coolant 50/50 mix. I cant believe the difference!!!:thumbs up: 2 bottles is all you'll need. Remember this if you plan on converting to Engine Ice you MUST FLUSH THE RAD, Engine Ice and OEM standard type coolants are 2 different types of coolants and dont together, so a flush is required!!!!!!!

If you live in an area where freezing isnt a worry, you can run REDLINE's Wetter Water and distilled water which is a great coolant but has no anti freeze protection.

I hope this helps:cheers:

PS- There is a possiblity that your thermostate is bad and or your rad is dirty. I would recommend just a simple flush before getting drastic!

[PrimalBusa]

Some times rocking bike at a standstill is not enough to burp system.
I had to go out and ride mine while doing sharp parking lot manuevers both ways.
Then I took it out on the road and did some left and right sweepers like at 45mph.
Then rechecked coolant and all was good. I have a 2000 Busa with dual fan setup.
Even dual fans didn't help with improperly burped cooling system.