draig126
Member
Well, long story short two weeks ago I decided to take an ill-advised water crossing. Everything was going well until I hit a rock that had to be about 1-foot tall. The bike lurched to the right and I went down. After much work, and some help from my friends, I managed to finish the crossing, but not after nearly getting the bike hung up on the skid plate on yet another rock or two. Once ashore we inspected the bike and it looked good. From there we drove on pavement all day that day and other than the kick stand needing some attention (it no longer swings very freely) there appeared to be no ill effect of my adventure.
After a week of travel for work the same friends and I went for another ride and we put a few hundred more miles on it today with no issues before doing a few miles of gravel. While heading up a dirt road I noticed the bike's fan was not turning on and the water temperature was getting hot! My friend and I immediately turned around and as I coasted off the hill with the bike idling I was able to bring the water temp back to about 183. We found a spot to pull over and inspected the bike to see what the issue could be. I was hoping a wire came free or a rock had gotten stuck in the fan.
Instead we found this (images taken in my basement tonight after the ride).
As it turns out one of those rocks, during the water crossing, pushed up pretty hard on the plastic "handle" below the left side shield. This in turn pushed up on the bottom radiator assembly which then pushed the fan into the radiator not allowing it to turn. I have the fan now pulled from the bike and I am going to test it tomorrow as it no longer seems to turn on once the bike comes to temp and the fuse is still good.
I'm also debating about replacing the radiator, granted it is not leaking water but I'm afraid it is just a matter of time......
After a week of travel for work the same friends and I went for another ride and we put a few hundred more miles on it today with no issues before doing a few miles of gravel. While heading up a dirt road I noticed the bike's fan was not turning on and the water temperature was getting hot! My friend and I immediately turned around and as I coasted off the hill with the bike idling I was able to bring the water temp back to about 183. We found a spot to pull over and inspected the bike to see what the issue could be. I was hoping a wire came free or a rock had gotten stuck in the fan.
Instead we found this (images taken in my basement tonight after the ride).
As it turns out one of those rocks, during the water crossing, pushed up pretty hard on the plastic "handle" below the left side shield. This in turn pushed up on the bottom radiator assembly which then pushed the fan into the radiator not allowing it to turn. I have the fan now pulled from the bike and I am going to test it tomorrow as it no longer seems to turn on once the bike comes to temp and the fuse is still good.
I'm also debating about replacing the radiator, granted it is not leaking water but I'm afraid it is just a matter of time......