Fan replacement....

[Matt51F1]

Hello!
I'm a noob for the Super as I've been riding TDMs for years and love them. The Super Tenere (2010) is now my new favourite as I've not ridden anything else that is so fantastic.

Anyway: As I bought it used, I don't really trust when the last fluid changes occurred and have pulled it apart to add the usual things that someone might do.... wire in the GPS... add spotlights... work out why the headlights only shine 3 metres in front of the bike and nowhere else.... add an additional brake light.... add a speedo healer.... etc.

One of the things was to swap over the coolant to the Evans Waterless as I think it's great and my bike HATES the traffic and gets hot very quickly. I noticed that when I ran it up to ensure that there were no leaks and to check when the fan came on, the flow of air behind the fan seemed to be absolutely pathetic. In looking at the blades of the fan, they're really average for creating airflow so I'm looking to change it over.

One thought was that I noticed that Thermaltake do something they call a Tough Fan which is for computers and they HAVE to suck air away super efficiently and FAST as computer gear will fry a lot quicker than a motor.
I'm thinking of replacing the main fan with 2x 140mm tough fans and wiring in a switchover relay that will allow for the main power to come through from the ECU when the temp gets up there but will also allow me to wire in a switch to turn on the fans before it gets there.

Has anyone tried this yet?
Success? Failure?

For the sake of argument, I'm also considering changing the fan blades over depending on what size replacement blade I can get to go in there.... (also depending on what people have tried and comment).
I've not been a fan of Davies Craig as they're straight blades and are noisy but they say they've done tests and what they have is more efficient and better for moving air than the curved blades.

Thermaltake Tough: https://www.thermaltake.com/toughfan-14-high-static-pressure-radiator-fan-2-fan-pack.html
Davies Craig: https://daviescraig.com.au/product/fan-blade-8-10328/fan-blade-8-part-no-10328

 

[Jlq1969]

Before making modifications, check that the radiator panel is free of insects and dirt. The radiator, and the oem fan, are absolutely efficient to control the temperature, proof of this is that while driving, the working temperature is close to the thermostat opening... and in the city, the temperature remains within the preset range (105c -99c)…..The noise of the fan is related to its “revolutions”, and if you compare the size of the radiator, you will see that it is similar to a KTM 1290….The material of the radiator….copper has practically the same rate of heat transfer than aluminum, or better….
when you modify the fan, you have to keep in mind that the fan has to let the air through while you drive. When you drive, and from a certain speed, the frontal airflow that the radiator receives is greater than the one that the fan itself can generate... "but" if the fan is designed to work "permanently"... its blade design It can be efficient to work permanently, but it can hinder the air flow, when the air flow according to the speed of the motorcycle is greater than that generated by the fan itself (the blades too close together make you a wall for the air flow external and does not allow this external flow to circulate at maximum speed through the radiator)

 

[Matt51F1]

Before making modifications, check that the radiator panel is free of insects and dirt. The radiator, and the oem fan, are absolutely efficient to control the temperature, proof of this is that while driving, the working temperature is close to the thermostat opening... and in the city, the temperature remains within the preset range (105c -99c)…..The noise of the fan is related to its “revolutions”, and if you compare the size of the radiator, you will see that it is similar to a KTM 1290….The material of the radiator….copper has practically the same rate of heat transfer than aluminum, or better….
when you modify the fan, you have to keep in mind that the fan has to let the air through while you drive. When you drive, and from a certain speed, the frontal airflow that the radiator receives is greater than the one that the fan itself can generate... "but" if the fan is designed to work "permanently"... its blade design It can be efficient to work permanently, but it can hinder the air flow, when the air flow according to the speed of the motorcycle is greater than that generated by the fan itself (the blades too close together make you a wall for the air flow external and does not allow this external flow to circulate at maximum speed through the radiator)

Thank you for your reply. I like it a LOT when people get technical as it means that there is always more for me to learn
Everything you say is perfectly valid and my idea certainly requires more thought to go into it. I hadn't considered the fan becoming a wall should the airflow be greater than the blades of the fan/s will allow. My thinking is that, with the radiator being sideways, the flow through it isn't great to start with as I don't recall seeing any veins in the fairing to redirect air from the inlet to go through the radiator. I'm more inclined to work with that angle first before replacing the fan with other kinds (such as the Thermaltake) but, considering the lack of air I felt coming off the fan when I had the side cover off and running it up to temp with the change to Evans Waterless Coolant, I do want to replace the fan (blade section) itself with that which comes from Craig Davies. Noise isn't an issue since I replaced the exhaust with a full Arrow setup (and, just on that point.... it sounds crap with the dB Killer still in the pipe and 1000x better when removed )

My faithful TDM with 265,000+ km on the clock is back to being my preferred bike for commuting and filtering between cars when things are down to a crawl as the bars aren't as wide and the bike isn't as heavy.

 

[Jlq1969]

Check that all the air deflectors are in place… the lack of any of them will cause the air flow not to pass through the radiator.
In the link that you put about the fans, there is an interesting data “CFM”…(cubic feet of air per minute)…..I don't know the values of the fan of the S10….but if you want to improve the flow, you should be able to improve the oem fan CFM

 

[Matt51F1]

Thanks for the pics. I’m definitely going to have to have a look as I don’t recall seeing any vanes for redirecting air into the radiator. I might have to make some….


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[Jlq1969]

Thanks for the pics. I’m definitely going to have to have a look as I don’t recall seeing any vanes for redirecting air into the radiator. I might have to make some….


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This piece was missing from a forum user, due to which he had temperature problems

 

[Matt51F1]

I’ve got the funny feeling that it’s missing from mine as well…
I’ll know when I get home and manage to have a look (I’ve got 140 meters of fence to put in first… to stop the new dog getting out)
It’ll take a couple of days


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[WJBertrand]

I had the fan temperature range lowered when I had the ECU reflashed. It now comes on at 205°F and turns back off at 195°F (96°C-90.5°C) but the fan itself moves plenty of air when it’s running. It handles 100°F+ weather here in the southwest just fine. I’ve never felt the need to look for a different fan.

It does sound like you’re missing some of the factory ducting. There at a few posts where folks didn’t understand the inside-to-outside air flow direction, or thought they knew better than Yamaha about the ducting and ended up making the cooling system less efficient.


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[Boris]

Thanks for the pics. I’m definitely going to have to have a look as I don’t recall seeing any vanes for redirecting air into the radiator. I might have to make some….


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I too have a gen1 bike and had never noticed them, so just checked. They are there, but are concave, not convex as they appeared at first glance in the above photo.

 

[Matt51F1]

I too have a gen1 bike and had never noticed them, so just checked. They are there, but are concave, not convex as they appeared at first glance in the above photo.

Sounds like I’ll need to raid my plastics bin And find something to shape into a vane to better direct the air…


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[WJBertrand]

Sounds like I’ll need to raid my plastics bin And find something to shape into a vane to better direct the air…


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Why not just return/repair the system to stock if it is missing pieces? The cooling system on these bikes really works pretty well. Most of us aren’t going to outdo the factory computational fluid dynamics engineers.


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[Matt51F1]

Why not just return/repair the system to stock if it is missing pieces? The cooling system on these bikes really works pretty well. Most of us aren’t going to outdo the factory computational fluid dynamics engineers.


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That is a great idea but…. This is Australia and parts can be difficult to find if you don’t want to pay stupid amounts of money for them.
I’ll certainly take your advice and have a look around and I’ll look overseas as well as there are times when the postage is cheaper from O/S than in this country.
I just never discount the options


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[Matt51F1]

Then again, I haven’t looked yet And the bits could all be there and it may be not performing the way —I— like it (And yes, I understand the crime of second guessing Japanese engineers )
I use the theory that it’s the first model and ideas were used that would have been improved in time.


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[Matt51F1]

I’ve just checked out the bike and the panels are there and apparently complete.
I’m inclined now to make up some small, curved vanes to go inside the radiator pocket to direct air up through the radiator a little sooner than at the end of the pocket and through the last section of the radiator.
This should create a more overall cooling effect rather than at the back of the radiator.
I’m still thinking very seriously about changing the fan itself for the Davies Craig variant for a more efficient movement of air.
At this stage, it’s going to be more about experimentation…


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[bimota]

strange,

i have a gen 1 had it 9 yrs now mine arn,t there at all but strange thing is if you have the carbon panels that radiator panel in carbon you can,t fit anything to it any way no mounting holes etc

very strange

rob

 

[Jlq1969]

I’ve just checked out the bike and the panels are there and apparently complete.
I’m inclined now to make up some small, curved vanes to go inside the radiator pocket to direct air up through the radiator a little sooner than at the end of the pocket and through the last section of the radiator.
This should create a more overall cooling effect rather than at the back of the radiator.
I’m still thinking very seriously about changing the fan itself for the Davies Craig variant for a more efficient movement of air.
At this stage, it’s going to be more about experimentation…


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In the cooling system, there were no changes between GEN1 and GEN2…everything is the same (radiator, fan, setting of temperature values)……You said that your S10 hates traffic because it heats up quickly…..but it is that It is precisely normal .(reach working temperature as quickly as possible), .the important thing is that once the fan (105c) is turned on, it quickly drops to 99c….if the bike does this….the cooling system is working perfectly…..

 

[WJBertrand]

Reflashing the ECU to lower the fan activation temperature might buy you some piece of mind. The cost might be similar to what you’re contemplating doing and you’d reap the additional benefits of improved drivability/performance.


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[Checkswrecks]

Hello!
I'm a noob for the Super as I've been riding TDMs for years and love them. The Super Tenere (2010) is now my new favourite as I've not ridden anything else that is so fantastic.

Anyway: As I bought it used, I don't really trust when the last fluid changes occurred and have pulled it apart to add the usual things that someone might do.... wire in the GPS... add spotlights... work out why the headlights only shine 3 metres in front of the bike and nowhere else.... add an additional brake light.... add a speedo healer.... etc.

One of the things was to swap over the coolant to the Evans Waterless as I think it's great and my bike HATES the traffic and gets hot very quickly. I noticed that when I ran it up to ensure that there were no leaks and to check when the fan came on, the flow of air behind the fan seemed to be absolutely pathetic. In looking at the blades of the fan, they're really average for creating airflow so I'm looking to change it over.

One thought was that I noticed that Thermaltake do something they call a Tough Fan which is for computers and they HAVE to suck air away super efficiently and FAST as computer gear will fry a lot quicker than a motor.
I'm thinking of replacing the main fan with 2x 140mm tough fans and wiring in a switchover relay that will allow for the main power to come through from the ECU when the temp gets up there but will also allow me to wire in a switch to turn on the fans before it gets there.

Has anyone tried this yet?
Success? Failure?

For the sake of argument, I'm also considering changing the fan blades over depending on what size replacement blade I can get to go in there.... (also depending on what people have tried and comment).
I've not been a fan of Davies Craig as they're straight blades and are noisy but they say they've done tests and what they have is more efficient and better for moving air than the curved blades.

Thermaltake Tough: https://www.thermaltake.com/toughfan-14-high-static-pressure-radiator-fan-2-fan-pack.html
Davies Craig: https://daviescraig.com.au/product/fan-blade-8-10328/fan-blade-8-part-no-10328

People have been running these bikes in deserts for over 12 years and the cooling system has never been an issue once you realize it normally runs quite hot.
I'd not fix what isn't broke.

 

[RCinNC]

When you say it gets HOT, what does that really mean, temperature wise? My bike's cooling system is bone stock, with Zerex coolant. The fan kicks on at 220 F, and shuts off again at (I think) 212 F. In summer months in NC, if I end up stuck at a traffic light or stuck in traffic, the fan comes on pretty quickly. If I'm stuck for a while, the fan cycles on and off until I'm up and running again, at which point the temps go back down to around the 170 F area. That's pretty much normal for these bikes.

I would only get concerned if your fan was coming on too late, or the engine wasn't cooling down enough for the thermostat to shut the fan off automatically.

Maybe the first gen bikes had different fan parameters than mine, but even if they did, as long as the engine was operating within those parameters (even if the parameters seem really hot), is it worth the effort to try and "correct" it?

 

[Matt51F1]

Going in what people are saying, the fan and the cooling system is working perfectly. I guess I’m just one of those types who looks to potentially make things better if I can

The other issue is- And I don’t know if this is something that been corrected by Yamaha with this bike- is that many manufacturers, Jap/Brit/etc, continue to use stators as they did back in the 80’s. when you start adding injection and fans and chargers and GPS etc etc etc, it puts additional draw on the electrical system.

This is something told me by a bloke who has been rewiring stators for decades and he’s seeing Kwaka’s and Triumphs burning through stators in something like 6 months from new.

I figure that if I can slow down the regularity of the fan coming on - especially in summer - it’ll be another part where I can extend the longevity of it.

I prefer to be riding the bike rather than fixing it


2010 Super Tenere
2008 TDM
2005 TDM
1984 GPZ900R