Second Ride - KZ1300 after rebuild.. not so good

Sorry to have to re-direct but can't find a way to cut and paste here..

candybuttorg.ipage.com/cba/node/440

She's overheating... crap.

Any ideas, peeps?

Don

Wondering if it may be an impeller issue. Shouldn't be too hard to check when you have the radiator off.

Where were you puking coolant out of? I went through my 1300, and could never figure out where the exact overflow outlet was....

Be absolutely sure you took the engine heat way past the boiling point- that is 100 degrees C. or better
When I rebuilt my engine several years ago I was overly concerned at not letting the new engine get too hot. I even went so far as getting a custom radiator made ( copper with 3 rows ) and it made little difference . It wasn't till I let the engine cycle thru several 120 degress or more several times was I able to burrp all the trapped air out - it is the trapped air somewhere in the cooling system that impedes water flow,that gave me grieve.
Now with the larger rad , engine temp is around 87 to 90 ( highway ) ambient temp. 25 C. The big rad now seems a waste of money.

When filling the rad with coolant to the top, replace the cap, then fill the coolant bottle with the hose attached to the rad and held higher that the rad and fill it to the correct mark- gravity will fill the rad and over flow hose and bottom of coolant bottle - you are trying to expel as much air as you can before you even start the engine.
This is documented in the manual. I read it but didn't follow it to the letter .
The overflow outlet is on the filler neck , on the back side of the rad and runs over the top of the engine and down to the bottom of the overflow bottle. It is a closed system.
good luck

OK then... bad fan relay. And possibly temperature switch too.

It could be a number of things so lets start with the obvious.

Make sure the FAN SWITCH is working correctly to make the fan cut in. This is at the front upper part of the engine on the RH side as you sit on the bike (one wire).

Check obvious wiring to the fan relay etc.

Next check the thermostat is not dead.

The 1300 has a nylon gear which runs the water pump impeller via a chain driven shaft . If this gets too hot it begins to melt and loose teeth which means the pump no longer works. Remove the radiator cap and look to see if the coolant is being well circulated round the radiator............as if its not, then chances are the pump is not being driven.

OIL LEAK.
When fitting the gen cover on any 1300, always tighten the TOP bolts first and work DOWN to the 2 very bottom ones and dont tighten these too much. The casings were all made with a slightly larger gap at the base than at the top, so if you start from the bottom and work up, you break or crack the bottom of the casing off............silly design fault many have fallen fowl to, and why so many 1300s leak form this place.

Good luck
Pete UK

Yea Pete your right with the Generator casing they tend to suffer from a fine crack on the bottom right bolt, would further advise you torque them as well to correct setting not just a further nip for good measure.