100 degree heat with an air cooled engine

[dsinned_imp]

Dsinned, I cut some plastic tabs from the top of a cottage cheese container. One to 10mm and one to 7mm, The oil rails of the cooler are 10mm apart and a very small amout of that is taken up by the fins as it loops up and down between them.

The 7mm fit right in and the 10 went in snugly. I think the 10mm probe would work, but, my plastic test tab, well, could give a little.

I just looked on their Trail Tech's site and they have an 8mm probe that they say fits most Honda radiator's. It would fit ours.

I just might order one with the 8mm probe. The probes by themselves are $31.95 so I'm not ordering more than one! The gauge can be had in black or silver.

Popgun, whatever became of the Trailtech temp sensor project? I'd be very interested in your assessment of this product and its usefulness on your bike to monitor the EOC. You can PM if you'd like. TIA.

[venturer434_imp]

Honda Engineers went through a lot of testing (extreme tests) when developing the air cooled engine. Initially they saw problems around the spark plugs, cracked cylinder heads.. which they fixed it with using the finest materials..

You can read the article with the link below

http://world.honda.com/CB1100/engineer-talk/

[the Ferret]

And finned covers for the spark plugs and oil galleries around the spark plug bodies in the cylinder head.

[Lord Popgun]

Dsinned, I ordered the one with 8mm probe. I never rode hard for long distance, but this Summer I never saw it go over around 107degrees when riding and 121 maybe at lights. Maybe higher on 100 degree days, but I can't remember. NEVER anything I would worry about. Fun to have though.

I haven't done it yet, but want to put the paste in the fin spaces one either side of the probe. The thinking is that air though them cools the fins next to the probe.

Honestly, I don't think there are any heat worries with our bikes. Now in that Arizona heat, may be different

[Ulvetanna_imp]

This bike is very well-designed. I live in that kind of heat, it handles it swimmingly. It's the toughest, most durable bike I've owned in 35 years, and that's over 50 machines. Honda did it up right.

[flynrider]

Dsinned, I ordered the one with 8mm probe. I never rode hard for long distance, but this Summer I never saw it go over around 107degrees when riding and 121 maybe at lights. Maybe higher on 100 degree days, but I can't remember. NEVER anything I would worry about. Fun to have though.

I haven't done it yet, but want to put the paste in the fin spaces one either side of the probe. The thinking is that air though them cools the fins next to the probe.

Honestly, I don't think there are any heat worries with our bikes. Now in that Arizona heat, may be different

Nah, it's not an issue. I've ridden it around town in temps above 115F without a problem (well, the bike had no problem. I was cooking like a sausge ).

[Ulvetanna_imp]

Dsinned, I ordered the one with 8mm probe. I never rode hard for long distance, but this Summer I never saw it go over around 107degrees when riding and 121 maybe at lights. Maybe higher on 100 degree days, but I can't remember. NEVER anything I would worry about. Fun to have though.

I haven't done it yet, but want to put the paste in the fin spaces one either side of the probe. The thinking is that air though them cools the fins next to the probe.

Honestly, I don't think there are any heat worries with our bikes. Now in that Arizona heat, may be different

Nah, it's not an issue. I've ridden it around town in temps above 115F without a problem (well, the bike had no problem. I was cooking like a sausge ).

Nah, it's not an issue. I've ridden it around town in temps above 115F without a problem (well, the bike had no problem. I was cooking like a sausge ). If you can stand it, the bike can stand it.

[dsinned_imp]

The "accuracy" of the Trail Tech temp sensor is highly dependent on the thermalcouple's mounting location and exposure to the cooling air wind stream. Ideally, it should be in a dead air location away from forced air cooling.

I got relatively low readings initially as well. I had to jury rig a thermal barrier around the T/C on top of the EOC, while pressing it down with a couple of tie wraps against the top of the cooler housing. I believe this location is close to the higher temperature oil flow inlet to the cooler. After doing this I realized temp readings as high as +210F riding at slow speed (uphill) on a moderately warm Fall weather day. Typically, under normal riding conditions, at highway speed, I see about 180F on the readout. This seems about right for optimally air cooled oil. Of course, my pusher fan mod, helps to keep the temp from increasing to much higher readings under harsher riding conditions.

Try the insulating thermal grease to see if your readings increase. And if I may make a suggestion, also try covering that location of fins with a small piece of duct tape on the front of the cooler. This should help to improve the accuracy of the sensor. It is still not as good as having a sensor in direct contact with oil INTERNALLY, but still should help to improve the TT temp sensor's accuracy.