R1150RT overheating

[Maxim]

It was extremely hot last Sunday in New York. I was going from PA to Queens, NY and had to cross GWB (George Washington Bridge). The traffic at 5 pm was incredible, just a dead jam, that's it. After about 40 min at 0.5 miles per hour I noticed that the temperature indicator approached red line. I was not sure how dangerous it was, but just in case got from the mainstream traffic and stopped and killed the engine for 15 min. Then I checked the temperature and it was OK. I decided to take Lincoln Tunnel instead of GWB, but when I got there I saw almost the same traffic situation, although not that awfull. When I got into the tunnel, the air there was so HOT and the speed was so SLOW... I noticed again that temperature was crawling towards the red line. When I exited the tunnel I stopped and let the endine cool off again. I have never encountered this problem before, and want to ask you: do you know if it's really bad or maybe BMW are not good for very hot weather due to the lack of liquid cooling.

[DavidEBSmith]

Actually, they do have liquid cooling, it's just that the liquid is oil and there's no fan on the radiattor (on the non-police bikes) to help cool things down.

 

Oilheads are probably no worse in hot weather than most conventional air-cooled bikes, it's just that you have a temperature gauge to make you worry. If there's no air moving over the oil cooler, your RT will get hot. If you can keep moving at all, it will ususally be enough to keep the oil temperature OK. There have been some reports of bikes apparently being damaged by overheating, but very few.

 

If you're going 1/2 mile in 40 minutes, you might as well just pull over and take a nap, it's not like you're losing much ground.

[Motor Po-Po]

You could give your dealer a call and order the oil-cooler fan from the police bikes (R1150RT-P) and that will probably fix you right up.

[Mr. Frank]

After you overheat like that, it's a good idea to change your oil. It's also a good idea to use synthetic oil if you frequently ride in slow traffic in the summer.

[Francis]

Part of the strategy of driving an RT in the NY metro area is to know that 5pm on a weekend is a bear at any entry point to NYC and to time the arrival at a different time. Same goes for the Major Degan, Cross Bronx Expressway before and after a Yankee game and acess to Long Islad and the Hamptons on a weekend. The long lines, high heat, and stopped/slow traffic are a difficult adventure on an RT. From personal experience on an RT I can tell you the GWB and all tunels into Manhattan get progressively worse with long traffic lines the later it gets on a Friday night and a Sunday night.

 

Welcome to this board and NYC RT mania.

 

Francis

[SMM]

I know this may sound obvious but it took me the hard way to realize that I was doing it. I had the "choke" on and the engine was idling above 1200, in bumper to bumper traffic down here in ATL the bars were rising. Figured I'd mention it just in case.