Oil Temp Gauge Shows "No Bars" While Riding in Cold Rain

[speedybee]

Has anyone else had their oilhead temperature gauge drop to "no bars" while riding in a cold rain? Is this normal? Did the sensor get wet and send a bad signal or did the oil temp really drop to that extent?

 

 

 

[Stan Walker]

What bike?

[speedybee]

What bike?

 

2004 R1150RT

[dirtrider]

Afternoon speedybee

 

That oil temp sensor is a MAJOR player in the engine fueling control so if the bike was still running OK then I doubt the oil temp sensor was sending a bad signal.

 

If your oil temp dropping ONLY happened this one time in the cold rain then it is likely that the cold water cooled off the engine case & cooled off the oil cooler therefore dropping oil temperature.

 

See if it happens again in warmer riding conditions.

[kioolt]

I seem to remember my 04RT doing the same thing in a continuous heavy rain once. I wouldn't say it was a cold rain.

[Stan Walker]

Has anyone else had their oilhead temperature gauge drop to "no bars" while riding in a cold rain? Is this normal?

 

My 2002 has dropped a bar or two when riding in the rain but never all the way to none.

 

Not only does the rain cool the oil cooler but it also cools the cylinders and heads. So I suppose that given a cold enough rain and maybe coupled with riding slow and easy it's possible that the RID would drop all bars.

 

In short, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

Stan

[kalali]

Afternoon speedybee

 

That oil temp sensor is a MAJOR player in the engine fueling control...

 

DR, is there a description of various sensors and on how they control engine management? Mine is an R1100R with no oil temp gauge. Thanks and sorry if this is a bit off topic.

 

Edit: Never mind. Found a real good thread from Roger04rt in a different forum.

[greiffster]

My 2002 has dropped a bar or two when riding in the rain but never all the way to none.

 

 

Same here. I got caught in a hellacious downpour outside of Chattanooga. It was cool, maybe 70 degrees. My RID dropped 1 bar (to 4) on the oil temperature. roger 04 rt previously posted this which would indicate an oil temperature under 90 degrees at zero bars. Seems unlikely rain could drop the oil temperature that far from the normal 180+ temperature. Perhaps the rain caused some electrical issue instead? Did it drop steady, bar by bar, or did it go from 5 to zero?

[Stan Walker]

Has anyone else had their oilhead temperature gauge drop to "no bars" while riding in a cold rain? Is this normal?

 

One possibility is that the oil thermostat is not working correctly. It should be controlling the amount of oil that flows through the oil cooler to keep the engine at a normal operating temperature (5 bars seems to be standard).

 

I would thing that this could be checked by feeling the oil cooler while you are having this problem. You might even get a hint that this was a problem by seeing how quickly the oil cooler heats up from a cold engine start. It should stay cool until the oil temp reaches around the five bar area.

 

This should be fairly straight forward to replace on your bike. Earlier R1100RT's not so easy.

[elkroeger]

I spent 10 years commuting on my 1100RS in Seattle. It gets plenty COLD and WET. I'd say that a cold rain will definitely NOT drop your temp. gauge to zero. I've ridden through slush, snow, driving rain and foot deep flooding. Never seen the temp gauge do that....