Help!! Im stupid and dont know what to do.

Today, I was getting my 99 gsxr 750 ready for the track again this season. It had sat most of the winter empty of all water. Well, I added water& water wetter, Cranked it up to get it to operating temp. Not sure what op temp was, (its fairly new bike for me) So I figure just get it warm. The phone rings, i get it. I look out side, and water is boiling everywhere. I run out turn it off, let it cool, and pull the thermostat to make sure it works. Yep, fine. Shop guy said to run it without rad. cap to let air out, So i do that. thermostat opens.. water goes in, I add more. But Now the bike runs Really hot... (seems hot, not real sure, only ran it one time before winter started.) Any ideas? Im lost. What does a 99 gsxr 750 run temperature wise? By the way I suck at being a mechanic so im prob. just an idiot. Thanks

 

coulda busted your head gasket...

 

Oh, and it sucks that my 100th post had to be a problem. Oh and a little more info. The water was running out of overflow, boiling in reserve. HOT... Damn Hot,

 

You don't have the radiator fan connected do you?
Even idling, a motor can get really hot with no air flow thru the radiator.

 

I dont think i got it that hot though. Wouldnt water come out of exhaust? Wouldnt it loose Compression? Bike seems to run ok(well ok in drive way) but revs fine. Just seems real hot to me. But like i said, Im stupid

 

No, no Fan at all. But bike didnt sit long at all before it started boiling out.

Anyone know what the running temp is? What is too hot?

 

179 on my 97 750.

------------------
97 GSXR 750
Sportbike Madness Racing

 

I was thinking I remembered the temp around there when I ran it during a track day last year, But today, I saw it up to 224-227ish. Freaked me out because i didnt know where it should be.

 

Sounds like a good possibility of a blown head gasket to me. From personal experience there are 3 ways for the head gasket to blow.

1. Straight out to the outside (rare, because of the surface area that has to separate to allow the combustion gas to escape). In this case you'd lose compression and it wouldn't necessarily overheat but if left long enough you'd hear it "tick" like an exhaust leak.

2.Into the oil galley, in which case your crankcase oil would look like chocolate milk, and after sitting overnight, you'll see water droplets on the dipstick or on a stick stuck in to the oil fill hole and slowly withdrawn.

3.Into the water jacket, which may be what you have. Quick way to check this is to fill it to the top, start it with no rad cap and watch the water surface in the rad. You may see some bubbles initially, due to air in the cooling system, but as it warms up, blip the throttle a few times. If the bubbles increase with the rpm you're most likely seeing exhaust gas bubbles... not steam, since the heat will not build that fast.
Expect to see water turbulence (due to the faster spinning pump) but not bubbles.

If you do have a blown head gasket (could also be a warped or cracked head), expect to have the head resurfaced and probably the cylinder block too, since those hot combustion gases can burn a channel through the aluminim, even .001 of an inch can create a weak spot for it to blow again. Besides, milling the head or block will boost your compression a bit.

My .02 worth, hope it helps.


[This message has been edited by Don Nees (edited 03-12-2002).]

 

How did I blow the gasket? btw, I am an engine idiot. Dont know anything about them except where the starter button is.

 

Impossible to say without knowing the maintenance history on the engine, and even then, as they say s*** happens. Maybe someone removed the head before you got it for some reason and didn't clean the cylinder and head surfaces, didn't torque it down in the proper sequence, didn't use the proper torque spec, maybe their torque wrench was not properly calibrated, or Lord forbid tried to save money by using a sealant and re-using original head gasket instead of a new one (don't laugh....seen it done, and fail). The point is, it may not have been anything that you did or didn't do that caused it to blow..., with the stress that these engines are under...s*** happens.

BTW your earlier question re:"Wouldn't I see water in the exhaust?" was a valid one, but would only happen if the gasket blew between the water passage and exhaust port, which I should have listed as scenario #4,and could be hard to distinguish from normal condensation on a cold start.

In any case, I'd stick with #3 and go from there.

 

if you have no rad fan the enginge will overheat just sitting there. do you have a box fan for your house you can use that in ft. of the bike and run it. It should not get over 200 idle with the fan blowing into the rad.how did you check the t-stat? heat water up and use thermometer. check the temp the t-stat opens.I use a trick to make sure the coolant system gets all the air out drill a small saftey wire size hole in the t-stat itself should be enough room on the part that does not move and is still over the water. Put hole on so it is as high as you can get it so the air will get blown out the hole to the rad. Start the bike and top it off with water.

 

Ok... Heres what ive got. Nothing strange about the oil. No water leaking out the exhaust. I removed the radiator cover started it. Reved it some, seems no bubbles in radiator. Vibration (maybe) made it move around, but it wasnt like bubbles. So Now Im off to the shop, Wish me luck. Thanks to everyone who helped out. I just wish I knew a lot more about engines. Thanks Again

Oh and Huff. When I was checking the Tstat, I was afraid it was sticking closed since the bike was dry all winter. So I heated up some water and dropped it in. Opened right up. Water was prob around 200 degrees. Thanks for the help. Oh and I did put a fan in front, It still got hot, just not as fast.

 

Hee hee hee hee...

 

Water boils at a temperature of 212F at sea level.

The radiator cap is there to pressurize the system. Pressurizing the system increases the boiling point of water. The more pressure, the higher the boiling point, but a typical motorcycle system will increase water's boiling point to 230-260F.

If you run the bike without the radiator cap in place, the boiling point of water is at the UNPRESSURIZED TEMPERATURE (212F). You should never, ever, ever run the system above 200F with the cap off. That was your mistake. It has nothing to do with "operating temperature" or what temp the thermostat opens. In an unpressurized system the water WILL boil at 212F MSL. If you are at a higher altitude the boiling point temperature be lower (i.e. at 1000' MSL boiling point is 210F, at 2000' MSL boiling point is 208F).

If your system boils over and you catch it immediately, you can avoid engine damage. If it boils over and evacuates enough of the coolant, you could have major head damage. A leakdown test is indicated in your situation.

Rule #1 when doing any kind of work to power equipment - NEVER walk away from a running motor.

 

Your problem may be more widespread, look at the side and see if it says Suzuki anywhere on the bike. If it does then there's the problem.

Just kidding of course.

My honda will overheat quite quickly at idle as stated the Suzuki will too. The fan idea was what I would try too. Good luck and I hope it isn't anything too serious.

Oops, I missed where you said you tried the fan thing. You may have a damage impellar on the cooling pump which could limit flow capacity. I've seen that on a Ducati racebike before. It had some flow but not enough.

[This message has been edited by RCjohn (edited 03-12-2002).]

 

Sorry, I didn't mean to chuckle, but couldn't help it. I ran my F4 up to 147C at Summit and only (slightly) burned an exhaust valve. The engine ran all the races that weekend (after we changed the oil) and then all the races at Daytona before we bothered to pull it. No head warp. No ruined head gasket. No damage to pistons, cylinders, or anything else really expensive.

 

I doubt he had any problems or any damage beforehand. Sounds to me like everything worked exactly the way it should. He ran the bike up to boiling point with the radiator cap off and it boiled over.

 

When it boiled over, the cap was on. I didnt try the cap off thing until someone at the shop recomended it.