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Oil cooling for r1150r/rockster


eliastfk93

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Hello all, I am considering tracking down a pair of heavy duty PC fans and placing one behind each of my oil coolers. I have yet to brainstorm a way to wire them to my battery. I was just thinking that this would be a nice addition to my rockster because I am often caught in Houston traffic during the summer. Has anyone seen anything like this done? And do y'all think the fans would help out, or is it just too much trouble?

 

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Hello all, I am considering tracking down a pair of heavy duty PC fans and placing one behind each of my oil coolers. I have yet to brainstorm a way to wire them to my battery. I was just thinking that this would be a nice addition to my rockster because I am often caught in Houston traffic during the summer. Has anyone seen anything like this done? And do y'all think the fans would help out, or is it just too much trouble?

 

Morning eliastfk93

 

You are probably trying to fix a problem that doesn't exist.

 

The Rockster has a lot of cooling even without any fans-- Have you EVER seen your engine overheat in traffic? I don't mean just a little high on the dash temp gauge (that is normal as the gauge is measuring pre-oil-cooler cooling oil temps not sump temps). I don't remember does the Rockster even have a temperature gauge?

 

When a BMW boxer engine overheats you will know it as they will start sounding like a metal barrel full of rattling chains.

 

What is making you feel that you need fans on the oil coolers?

 

If you do add fans then it sounds like you want to add PULLER fans not pusher fans. If you add puller fans (behind the oil coolers) then it will probably take some sort of shrouding to seal the fans to the coolers. If you do that then they must be designed properly with large enough fans to not impede the air flow through the coolers when the fans are not running.

 

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To add, the Rockster doesn't have a temp guage.

It's understandable, the concern about the heat.

Here in Central Cali, we get to 105-110 ambient in summer but no real traffic to speak of like you would in a city like Houston.

Here, we get stuck in line going into the National Parks, Yosemite, Sequoia, where the lines will hold you up for a while and the bikes will get hot.

Changing the oil maybe a bit more frequently than the book says and making sure you have the glass oil sight window is about all we need.

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DR,

 

I made it though last summer without any issue, but I have been stuck and felt ridiculous amounts of heat coming from the engine. It just makes me nervous lol. Also, as mentioned above, I've got no temp gauge of any sort which adds to the concern. It was just a thought, I think I can manage though, I've just got to keep being attentive. Tell you what, one thing I keep reminding myself of is that harley riders dont seem to have any issues, so I should be ok in theory

Edited by eliastfk93
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DR,

 

I made it though last summer without any issue, but I have been stuck and felt ridiculous amounts of heat coming from the engine. It just makes me nervous lol. Also, as mentioned above, I've got no temp gauge of any sort which adds to the concern. It was just a thought, I think I can manage though, I've just got to keep being attentive. Tell you what, one thing I keep reminding myself of is that harley riders dont seem to have any issues, so I should be ok in theory

 

Morning ultralife 9v

 

If you are really worried then use a good quality synthetic engine oil (can run hotter without oil damage) & be sure that your engine idle RPM is set to specs (higher than spec engine idle can add lots of heat while idling). Also, be sure to keep the oil coolers clean of dirt & bugs.

 

You haven't seen a hot BMW boxer until you get one stuck in 2' deep sugar sand in 100°f ambient then try to work/ride it out using the engine. (they will rattle so bad that you will swear you will have piston or chain in your lap any second)

 

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eliastfk93,

 

We had a lot of interstate construction around Atlanta last summer, long back-ups, 2 and 3 lanes into 1 kind of thing on Sunday evenings with people coming back from the lake/mountains/Grandma's house. I got caught in it several times and got really good with the kill switch and starter buttons on my old R1100RT. Even looked into a "police fan" for the RT. I'm sure that 25-30 cranks in an hour gave the battery a good work out. You have to be careful doing this because the fuel injection system is really dependant on a good battery charge (i.e. you can't bump-start a fuel injected anything with a dead battery - AMHIK?? IFOTHW!!). If your Houston Traffic is a slow stop-and-go, you might try this method. It worked for me and the bike, kept the temps down, saved gas, and gave me something to do while waiting.

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eliastfk93,

 

We had a lot of interstate construction around Atlanta last summer, long back-ups, 2 and 3 lanes into 1 kind of thing on Sunday evenings with people coming back from the lake/mountains/Grandma's house. I got caught in it several times and got really good with the kill switch and starter buttons on my old R1100RT. Even looked into a "police fan" for the RT. I'm sure that 25-30 cranks in an hour gave the battery a good work out. You have to be careful doing this because the fuel injection system is really dependant on a good battery charge (i.e. you can't bump-start a fuel injected anything with a dead battery - AMHIK?? IFOTHW!!). If your Houston Traffic is a slow stop-and-go, you might try this method. It worked for me and the bike, kept the temps down, saved gas, and gave me something to do while waiting.

 

I do that if I get stuck for a really really long time. It seems like using the shoulder is acceptable-ish her in the city of Houston also. It's still technically illegal, but the police really don't pay much attention to bikers. I see sportbike riders get away with some pretty bold $hit around these parts, so I figure I'm pretty golden (especially with the bags LOL). My father's got an 1150-rt-p so that's where the fan idea kind of came from. He's never had an issue even with 66k on the clock.

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