Engine Temperature ?????-R1200RT

[FWA1200RT]

I go to a fair number of races and end up idling in line waiting to get thru the gates. Yesterday, I rode down to Indy for the practice session and spent about 15 minutes idling in line to get thru the gate. The RT did warm up a bar on the temp gauge and the Info light flashed yellow.

 

What are the practices for hot weather idling in city traffic? Or is the RT strictly an on the road kind of MC that needs to avoid slow traffic?

 

I did a search on the forum and didn't find too much other than install an auxiliary fan from an RTP.

 

Any thoughts and comments are greatly appreciated.

 

Doug

[upflying]

Slight hijak but in Ca, motorcycles typically lane split to the front of the line at major events.

If you are forced to stop and crawl, is hitting the kill switch an option for extended stops?

[dirtrider]

Afternoon Doug

 

I haven’t ever overheated one enough to hurt it. They will warm up some in stopped traffic or climbing a long hill at real slow speed but it doesn’t seem to hurt them.

 

You will know when yours gets hot enough to worry about as it will start making lots of rattling and chain noises.

 

I take a GS (same engine as yours) off roading and even stuck in a sand wash in knee deep sand & using the engine power to free it doesn’t cause any issues.

 

One of the problems is that darn temperature gauge. BMW 2 cyl boxers never overheated until they put a temperature gauge on them.

 

One thing to keep in mind is the temperature gauge reads the temperature of the “cooling” oil as it exits the engine after picking up engine heat. It doesn’t measure sump oil temp, or oil temp after going through the oil cooler. Personally it would bother me more if the temperature gauge didn’t raise in stop & go traffic or when the engine is working hard as that would mean the cooling system isn’t doing it’s job of removing engine heat.