1983 Runs Hot

[jrich]

I'm starting to put some miles on my 1983, but I'm a little concerned about the how hot she seems to run. It worried me enough I took the time to replace the thermostat, but that does not appear to be helping. When running when it's in the mid 90's, she hovers right under the red on the gauge. Does this seem high to anyone else, is this normal.

 

Been wondering if the sensor is reading incorrectly?

 

Looking forward to hear what any of you might have to say, thanks in advance

[cowpuc]

I've owned a few of the 83's and put a few miles on em and all mine have liked to hang out at about 1 needles worth of distance from the red zone when up to operating tempt.. I know it seems illogical for Mom Yam to have engineered such a close tolerance to overheat according to the gauge but that is where mine always ran their best and ran the coolest.

That said, I will also tell ya that I also discovered plastic water pump impellars in those early scoots that were pretty much gone and were only operating at about 20% of intended water movement.. Upgrading to the later year models aluminum water pump impellar did an amazing job of bringing the water pump efficiency back up to par, providing for a much cooler/normal cool operating bike engine even in the hottest of desert tempts and stationary scenario's like road construction zones where ya gotta "creep" for miles and miles in tempts over 100 degrees... Checking the pump for the upgrade would be first on my list if I didnt know for sure which impellar it has in it and I was headed west for a month of summer fun out CTFW...

Puc

[uhfradarwill]

I've owned a few of the 83's and put a few miles on em and all mine have liked to hang out at about 1 needles worth of distance from the red zone when up to operating tempt.. I know it seems illogical for Mom Yam to have engineered such a close tolerance to overheat according to the gauge but that is where mine always ran their best and ran the coolest.

That said, I will also tell ya that I also discovered plastic water pump impellars in those early scoots that were pretty much gone and were only operating at about 20% of intended water movement.. Upgrading to the later year models aluminum water pump impellar did an amazing job of bringing the water pump efficiency back up to par, providing for a much cooler/normal cool operating bike engine even in the hottest of desert tempts and stationary scenario's like road construction zones where ya gotta "creep" for miles and miles in tempts over 100 degrees... Checking the pump for the upgrade would be first on my list if I didnt know for sure which impellar it has in it and I was headed west for a month of summer fun out CTFW...

Puc

 

Do we know whay year saw the switch to metal impellers?

[frankd]

On the 83, 84 and 85 bikes the temperature gauge is calibrated so that the needle is just shy of the red when the fan comes on. This caused some complaints so when the 86s came out the gauge was calibrated to indicate a little lower. What I'm saying is that your bike is normal.

 

If the bottom (oil pan) and front side of your engine is gunked up with crud you could clean that off and it will run just a bit cooler.

[cowpuc]

Do we know whay year saw the switch to metal impellers?

 

I am not positive on that one Radar,, all 6 of the MK1 Ventures I took out to retirement were 83's except one of them which was an 84. That was a Royale and it did have the "updated" aluminum impellar in it already but not sure if it came OEM like that. It did only have 24k miles on it when I aquired it out of an estate sale (PO had passed away). It did NOT have the updated stator in it though but it did already have the aluminum impellar so it is possible that the plastic impellar only effected the 83's..

[jrich]

Thanks all for the feedback. I'll continue to watch it over time, and this winter when I'm not driving it I will take a look at the impeller.