| Author | Message | ||
     Dipstick |
Anyone know of a cylinder head temp gage that would work on a Buell and could be read in flight? Marlins Clocks makes one but the probe goes on the valve cover and the gage is a large chrome POS that only goes to 300F. A small gage that mounts to the bar or near the instrument cluster would be ideal. I would think this would be a must have for an air cooled sport bike, I live in the south and my XB12S gets hot enough in the summer that the fan sometimes comes on. It would be nice to know before that happens. Is anyone else out there interested in something like this? | ||
| Aeholton |
...I live in the south and my XB12S gets hot enough in the summer that the fan sometimes comes on.... The fan running is not a sign of overheating. If your engine gets too hot, it will go into skip-spark mode and you will know it. It is possible to monitor engine temperature using ECMSpy. | ||
| Iamarchangel |
I don't think of it as a must for an air cooled bike so I'm not interested. For one thing, you're not measuring the internal heat which is the more critical measure. The air is cooling the engine so the figure would be skewed by that. For another, the bike would go into skip mode at a critical heat. Yes, the sensor might fail, but I figure an aftermarket gauge has about the same reliability. I like the idea of a naked bike and minimal gauges. That's just me, seeing as you asked. You, of course, are not me and how you ride and accessorize is completely up to you. | ||
| Mmcn49 |
This is an aircraft pyrometer which reads to 700 degrees. The temperature senders are thermocouples which replace replace the spark plug washers,these are 14mm. The gage doesn't look modern but will read head temps. http://www.ultralightnews.com/engineinfo/chtwirdia .htm Try giving Hewitt Industries a call. My company both uses and sells some of their products. They have an excellent engineering/technical support department and are very helpful. I think a single 12mm spark plug thermocuple feeding a decent looking analog or digital gage would meet your needs. If they don't have one, I'm pretty sure they can tell you where you can get one. They're pyro instruments are from $60-$115. www.hewittindustries.com/ | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
http://www.egauges.com/vdo_mult.asp?Type=Cylinder_ Head_Temp&Series=Cockpit&Units=E I used to use VDO guages on my VW. They were great, worked well, and were accurate. The installation was pretty simple. There was a sender that mounted to the spark plug (ring that fit below the spark plug base). | ||
| Dipstick |
When the engine goes in skip mode its already too hot and when the fan comes on when the engine is running its getting close to being too hot, I would like to know before any of that happens. Measuring CHT at the sparkplug is an excellent indicator of internal heat, air cooled aircraft engines have been using this system for years. I think most Buell riders prefer minimal guages, thats why we need a small one, around an inch or so in diameter. Thanks every one for the excellent links, most of those guages are too big and do not appear to be rated for outdoor use but I will call them. They if anyone will know if such a thing exists. | ||
| Panhead_dan |
Sounds interesting. Please let us know what you find out. | ||
| Ourdee |
Are you really going to shut it down when it gets warm? I shut mine down too much already because it gets to cold. When summer comes, I'm going to run it unless it is knocking. I'm too busy for gages. But I want to see it if you get one mounted up. I'm a big fan of aircraft gages. | ||
| Id073897 |
and were accurate How do you know? Which method did you use to compare with? | ||
| Skully |
David, We have an oil temp gauge/dipstick that will fit your bike:  Keith DarkHorseMoto, LLC Protecting and Propelling Buell Motorcycles (TM) http://www.darkhorsemoto.com | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Which method did you use to compare with?  | ||
| Id073897 |
Thanks! | ||
| Aeholton |
When the engine goes in skip mode its already too hot and when the fan comes on when the engine is running its getting close to being too hot, I would like to know before any of that happens. I disagree. The fan running is not an indication that the engine is "getting close to being too hot". The fan is designed to come on to hold the temperature in an optimal temperature range. According to my service manual the cooling fan specifications are: Key On: 428F=on, 356F off Key Off: 338F=on, 302F off I looked, but couldn't find the temperature that the bike goes into skip spark mode, but I would guess it is quite a bit higher than 428F. | ||
| Dipstick |
Skully, I already have one of those on my bike, I wish there was a way to connect a remote indicator to it so it could be read in flight. I bought it from you last year when my fan came on after a sustained 80+ mph in the summer on a trip up to Dallas. I parked it in the shade for an hour then dropped my speed to about 70+ and had no more problems, I just think 80 mph ram air should have been enough to keep the fan off but the air temp. that day was close to 100F. | ||
| Id073897 |
soft: 280 degC hard: 295 degC | ||
| Dipstick |
Aeholton, I think 428F is too hot, if a pilot saw that on his CHT guage he would be looking for a place to land. | ||
| Aeholton |
But isn't that pilot running an engine with the heads sitting out in the air behind a big fan (prop) in the cool air of some altitude? The rear cylinder of an XB is pretty well enclosed in the frame and the fan is designed to be running pulling air across the head. That being said, I have a large right side scoop on my bike. The fan runs minimally when moving, unless on long fairly high speed runs along the interstate. The fan comes on in stop and go traffic to do it's job. Most of my 40K miles has been stop and go commuting here on the west coast of FL in hot and humid temperatures. In 3 1/2 years of ownership I've never had my bike go into skip spark mode. Including the trip back from Birmingham, AL after having a cooling fan failure. These engines are designed to operate at those temperatures. | ||
| Iamarchangel |
See, that's another issue: information overload. No one seems to know what the critical temp would be or what to do when it gets there. I'm looking out the window at even more snow and wind. I'll ride in the sunshine. It'll cool off when I refuel. | ||
| Id073897 |
No one seems to know what the critical temp would be or what to do when it gets there. What's true for you might not be true for others. | ||
| Mr2shim |
Dipstick, I personally think you're blowing this way out of proportion, I rode my bike every single day last summer in 90+ degree weather, the fan stayed on all the time. As others have said, just because the fan is on doesn't mean the engine is close to critical. You should download ecmspy and buy a cable. Take not of the temperatures at where the fan does come on. It's not as bad as you think, Air cooled motors tend to run normally at much higher temperatures than water cooled engines. You should be more worried about your bike going into skip spark mode than the fan running all the time. My bike has NEVER entered skip spark mode, but the fan is almost always on in the summer. 18k miles later it doesn't have one leak, drip, or drop. It's solid as a diamond. To my best of knowledge, the bike enters skip spark mode at temps near 500F. Which is damn hot. IMO You'd have to be sitting at a stand still for a very long time on a very hot day for that to happen. This bit came from the owners manual. "Your 200* Model Buell motorcycle has a system designed to warn of potential engine overheating and reduce the likelihood of an overheat condition. If a fuel-injected engine exceeds normal operating temperature, the engine will operate in a "skip spark mode" until the temperature is back in the normal operating range." IMO, like I said before you should be way more concerned with your bike entering skip spark mode than the fan running more than you think it should. Keep in mind the bike's ECU knows everything that's going on with the engine, unlike the person operating the motorbike. (Message edited by mr2shim on February 20, 2009) | ||
| Hogs |
Mr2Shim, HAve to agree with ya there two fold... Only time one needs to worry is When it goes in skip mode, happends too IF the rear head temp. sensor goes south as in Screwed up... Now time to worry ,get it in the shop and replace if need be..Forget if the fan is on or not.... Just my Bucks worth. | ||
| Dipstick |
Hey all, my main reason to start this thread was to see if there was any interest in a small CHT guage. Mine bike has never gone in to skip mode and if I slow to 60 the fan goes off fairly quick, I have 10,000 mi. on it. This is my first Buell and perhaps I do worry about it too much, for me it has to be the best bike ever created and I just didn't want to damage it by something so preventable as overheating. As I recall, some years back, Bill Werner measured a temp. of around 480F on an XR750 right after it finished a mile flat track race, that temp. was taken at the exhaust valve seat. I know those engines get hammered a lot harder than than mine does, I guess mainly I was just want to see that temp. when I'm riding. If I come up with one I'll post some pics. (once I learn how to post them anyway) Thanks everyone for your thoughts and your help. | ||
| Riding_tall |
A small gauge that would read oil temp and front / rear head temp would be nice. Not cuz I need one but because I would like one. Have something like that for my truck and it's nice to have. Plugs right into the computer port and uses all the on built in sensors If I had a better idea how to do a small imbeded system I'd try and build one. |
