Glowing headers

[The Gorf]

Attack of the killer RT part 82774859822!! Only 4K$ more in repairs on this hunk of shit and I will have paid for a new K1200GT in the past 18 months!

 

So this is my lovely 2000 RT. The night before I roll it up to a bike swap meet, I am washing it, waxing it, detailing it. I start it and let it run for just a couple minutes while I do some tune up tweaks to it and what do I notice?

 

Both cylinder headers are glowing cherry red. in the night it was actually fairly impressive. It was worse on the drivers right side then the left, but they both were glowing.

 

YAY something else to repair... again!

 

So what are my options here, and how to I tell? A single thread came up in the search talking about compression, so tomorrow I will check that. Would a choked up cat do it like it does on a car? Anything else I should check?

[Couchrocket]

Please define "just a couple of minutes."

 

Doesn't take long w/ no air moving over the bike to get hot. Try using a large fan if you're going to "run it in place."

 

Many stories here about "I just let it idle for a couple of minutes and it cooked the paint on the fairing." The conventional wisdom is, start it up and ride it away.

[The Gorf]

Less then 3 minutes with a box fan on it. I actually know that because it all happened in the time it took a Nirvana song to play, and it is 3:11.

[Boffin]

Attack of the killer RT part 82774859822!! Only 4K$ more in repairs on this hunk of shit and I will have paid for a new K1200GT in the past 18 months!

 

So this is my lovely 2000 RT. The night before I roll it up to a bike swap meet, I am washing it, waxing it, detailing it. I start it and let it run for just a couple minutes while I do some tune up tweaks to it and what do I notice?

 

Both cylinder headers are glowing cherry red. in the night it was actually fairly impressive. It was worse on the drivers right side then the left, but they both were glowing.

 

YAY something else to repair... again!

 

So what are my options here, and how to I tell? A single thread came up in the search talking about compression, so tomorrow I will check that. Would a choked up cat do it like it does on a car? Anything else I should check?

 

It is normal for the headers on an RT to glow cherry red if left sat idle for a minute or so, you can sometimes also see it if you stop after a brisk ride. That is why the headers blue up.

 

You have nothing to fix, TADT, just ride it.

 

Andy