Fan motor replacement...

[oKLRider]

If anyone has actually replaced one of these, and not claimed it on warranty , can someone tell me how far in the connector is? I'm sure it's a PITA to get to, and since these test fan motors I've got coming may not work...I'm probably going to add a quick-disconnect behind the left panel.

 

[Skimo]

You will have to lift tank up. The connector is where the down tube of frame and cross brace met. The harness side of the connector is pinned to the crossover bar.


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[oKLRider]

You will have to lift tank up. The connector is where the down tube of frame and cross brace met. The harness side of the connector is pinned to the crossover bar.

You verified my assumptions, thanks! ::003::

 

[vnp514]

I'm interested in the results of this.

Pete

 

[oKLRider]

Me, too! ::008::
Stay tuned, they sent a tracking number yesterday and should be here next week...

::017::

 

[scott123007]

This bike really needs a slightly bigger radiator. It's disappointing how frequently the fan needs to come on and it has nothing to do with the radiator being side mounted other than that there is limited space for a larger radiator. Since the radiator is too small, the fan needs to be more protected from a tip over because you "could" be totally screwed if you had a tipover while off-roading that disabled the fan. Although the side mounted radiator seems like a good idea, the fan appears to be the Achilles heel.

 

[markjenn]

This bike really needs a slightly bigger radiator. It's disappointing how frequently the fan needs to come on and it has nothing to do with the radiator being side mounted other than that there is limited space for a larger radiator. Since the radiator is too small, the fan needs to be more protected from a tip over because you "could" be totally screwed if you had a tipover while off-roading that disabled the fan. Although the side mounted radiator seems like a good idea, the fan appears to be the Achilles heel.

I don't think the fan comes on more often than typical. Perhaps the fan should be more robust or protected, but all water-cooled bikes these days require cooling fans that run in all low-speed situations.... it wouldn't be feasible to put a large-enough radiator on the bike where a cooling fan wouldn't be required.

- Mark

 

[scott123007]

I don't think the fan comes on more often than typical. Perhaps the fan should be more robust or protected, but all water-cooled bikes these days require cooling fans that run in all low-speed situations.... it wouldn't be feasible to put a large-enough radiator on the bike where a cooling fan wouldn't be required.

- Mark

You have obviously never owned a V=Strom

 

[markjenn]

You have obviously never owned a V=Strom

Actually I have, a Wee. It ran its fan quite a bit also, maybe not as much as our S10's, but putting the radiator in the frontal location doesn't require as much help from the fan at low- to moderate-speeds as the side-mounted design. My point was that the bike doesn't need a larger radiator - it needs a more robust fan.

- Mark

 

[Koinz]

I don't think the fan comes on more often than typical. Perhaps the fan should be more robust or protected, but all water-cooled bikes these days require cooling fans that run in all low-speed situations.... it wouldn't be feasible to put a large-enough radiator on the bike where a cooling fan wouldn't be required.

- Mark

You ever see the radiator on a Rocket III. Ginormous. Puts out a lot of heat too. I think that's the trade off. Re-directing the heat from a smaller radiator vs. a large radiator that's radiating that heat all over the rider. All water cooled bikes will feel like they run hotter because they're thermostically controlled. I'm glad the s10 has fantastic heat management and I don't care if the fan comes on frequently in slow/city riding as long as the engine is happy. It never comes on at speeds over 30mph.

 

[Geekay]

in 23years of biking i can probably count on two hands the times i have heard a fan come on on any of my bikes (mostly 600cc inline 4's) until i bought a super tenere - and now its a regular event!

I assumed it was the position of the radiator, but it is indeed a small radiator.

 

[Don in Lodi]

Radiator front and center on the Royal Star. Fan was a regular thing in stop and go.

 

[scott123007]

Actually I have, a Wee. It ran its fan quite a bit also, maybe not as much as our S10's, but putting the radiator in the frontal location doesn't require as much help from the fan at low- to moderate-speeds as the side-mounted design. My point was that the bike doesn't need a larger radiator - it needs a more robust fan.

- Mark

I don't want to turn this into a pissing match, but you're not giving enough credit to the "majority" of water cooled bikes. First off, I should have said V-Strom 1000. Maybe it is different than a wee in terms of cooling, but I don't remember it being an issue on the Wee either. It's a MAJOR event for the fan to come on with a V-1000 as well as MANY other water cooled bikes. Virtually all offroad only watercooled bikes don't have fans at all and almost any movement at all will keep them from boiling over. Christ, I have a Turbo Busa with the intercooler mounted in FRONT of the radiator that the fan only comes on when stopped in traffic for minutes at a time. Never, while traveling slowly or a normal traffic light, and that is in South Florida! Regardless, the S-10 fan may be in need of some extra protection, but the main problem is how vital it is because of the sub par radiator.

 

[Skimo]

Well mine is still in the shop, drop off Monday morning waited, not a word from them at all, stopped by shop on the way home from work yesterday to inquiry status. Said part was ordered Wednesday afternoon and would be covered under warranty like that was suppose to be consoling. So the bike sat there for three days before it was look at and part ordered. Hell I even troubleshot it and told them it was the fan, not the rest of the coolant system. But I know they have to do their thing and warranty work to the rear of the bus. Plus everyone wants their dam wave runner fixed by july 4 weekend. Whatever happened to the shops that did all their troubleshooting on Monday so parts could be ordered Monday pm and Friday was boot them out the door day? So no bike this weekend :'(

I was surprised how small the radiator is after I got the left side panel off. I think the radiator on my former 2010 KLR was bigger and the engine has half the displacement. As long as you are moving above about 30mph it's fine. Problem last weekend was the fan quit when I was riding some two track with light sand. So no high than third gear and lots of standing. I had to stop a couple of times too let it cool down. Once I hit the pavement it was smooth sailing.

Fan coming on does not bother me if it need to cool the motor. My concern is if you're going to make the radiator marginal in size the fan needs to be rock solid. I'm hoping it's just bad fan from factory as the bike has NOT been dropped or the fan jammed up in any way.

 

[markjenn]

You ever see the radiator on a Rocket III. Ginormous. Puts out a lot of heat too. I think that's the trade off. Re-directing the heat from a smaller radiator vs. a large radiator that's radiating that heat all over the rider. All water cooled bikes will feel like they run hotter because they're thermostically controlled. I'm glad the s10 has fantastic heat management and I don't care if the fan comes on frequently in slow/city riding as long as the engine is happy. It never comes on at speeds over 30mph.

And correct me if I'm wrong, but the Rocket III still requires a "ginormous" cooling fan, despite the size of the radiator.

As I said before, I don't think you can put a big enough radiator on a bike that you can get by without a cooling fan and once you are required to put a cooling fan on, you might as well downsize the radiator to the smallest size that will do the job at high speeds and steep grades. I think that is the engineering process involved: First, size the radiator to handle the "worst case" expected heat load at speed where the cooling fan can't help much (probably a very warm day, climbing a grade at speed); second, size the cooling fan to pull enough air through this radiator to cool the bike in worst-case slow-speed situations. This gives you the smallest/lightest system. I doubt there is any consideration to make the radiator bigger to have the fan run less often.

The single side-mounted radiator/fan is definitely a tradeoff. It results in a cooler cockpit than a front-mounted one, allows the engine to be mounted further forward, and opens up space for electrics on the left side of the bike; but it is susceptible to tipover damage, albeit only left-side tipovers. I like the tradeoff, but I'm not much to be tackling super-rough terrain on a 650-lb bike. For someone who rides the bike in the deep woods and crashes often, I could see it being a problem.

- Mark

 

[Glenn C]

I cleaned up the melted residue on the bottom side of the cover, and it spins freely now. About to test it...

oKLRider,

Been meaning to post on this very subject for a while. You're poat kicked me into action. I suspect the reason why your cleaned and reassembled fan motor does nothing is because the carbon brushes are NOT springing out as they should. I had a similar problem where the fan would intermittently not come on when it should. I disassembled the fan motor (for those who haven't done so, it's really very easy - remove the plastic fan and the 2 halves of the motor can be separated. It's only the magnet that holds the 2 halves in place) and found that one of the brushes was stuck in and so not making reliable contact with the commutator. This caused a mix of no operation, slow operation or full operation of the fan!

Here are some photos I took at the time:
https://www.icloud.com/photostream/#A7GY8gBYJIDpy8

I managed to fix this with some silicone spray (to lub the brush) and by working it in and out several times. Seems to have fixed it as I did it over 12 months ago.

May not help your cause but could be of help to others...

Cheers
Glenn

 

[Koinz]

oKLRider,

Been meaning to post on this very subject for a while. You're poat kicked me into action. I suspect the reason why your cleaned and reassembled fan motor does nothing is because the carbon brushes are NOT springing out as they should. I had a similar problem where the fan would intermittently not come on when it should. I disassembled the fan motor (for those who haven't done so, it's really very easy - remove the plastic fan and the 2 halves of the motor can be separated. It's only the magnet that holds the 2 halves in place) and found that one of the brushes was stuck in and so not making reliable contact with the commutator. This caused a mix of no operation, slow operation or full operation of the fan!

Here are some photos I took at the time:
https://www.icloud.com/photostream/#A7GY8gBYJIDpy8

I managed to fix this with some silicone spray (to lub the brush) and by working it in and out several times. Seems to have fixed it as I did it over 12 months ago.

May not help your cause but could be of help to others...

Cheers
Glenn

Good check for future reference. ::008::

 

[oKLRider]

oKLRider,
...
Here are some photos I took at the time:
https://www.icloud.com/photostream/#A7GY8gBYJIDpy8

I managed to fix this with some silicone spray (to lub the brush) and by working it in and out several times. Seems to have fixed it as I did it over 12 months ago.
...

Thanks for the suggestion, and the pics! When I pulled mine apart, both brushes were sitting flush in the housing like this:

I'm expecting the new test fans to be here tomorrow, so I'll check the brushes once I tear back into it. ::008::

 

[oKLRider]

Update on this for anyone following...

Got the pair of fans in. Both tested to be working with some jumpers to power.

The overall OD of the FJR fans (these were from an 06-08) is a tad smaller than the Tenere's, but they spooled up fast and strong.

Raised the tank, pulled the air box, and found the fan power connector. It's the white one, left side:

Unfortunately the plugs between the two fans aren't the same. Tenere shown top:

I plan to add a quick disconnect, bullet or other, so I don't have to disassemble so much if I have to do this again. Probably overkill, but I had to snip the wires anyway.

The wire colors are the same, and I temp twisted them together for a test run.

Loosely reinstalled the air box, lowered the tank, and fired it up. Patiently wait for the magic number, and...PRESTO!

[Dammit, guess I can't upload the video through tapatalk?]

 

[oKLRider]

I'm starting to dislike Photobucket. ::007::