1977 GL1000 Overheating?

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heli_madken
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1977 GL1000 Overheating?

#1

Post by heli_madken »

Hi Everyone,

Since I bought my bike last January I have always suspected that it is overheating, just recently the problem seems to have got worse and on a warm day like today working my way through traffic I can feel the bike starting to struggle moving away from a lovely smooth idle in cool conditions to rough idle and a misfire when pulling away. Also if I stop the bike and try to restart the starter struggles to get the engine to turn over initially. Another symptom is that even though I have been home over an hour and the bike is in the shade I cannot touch the engine as it is monstrously hot, 62'C with my digital thermometer.

Here is the thing though, temperature gauge never gets past the thick white portion and in moving traffic the gauge drops readily, in cool conditions it stays midway though the travel. In addition the fan appears to work as it should and seems strong.

Trying to track the problem down I examined the water pump for play which it doesnt have, its a metal finned pump and looks to be not too old. I have changed the coolant and until recently it didnt appear to be losing any but I can see some overflow from the drain tonight. There are no airlocks that I can detect.

There are no leaks, it has a new Radiator cap, new hoses and a new temperature sender unit.

My gut feeling is that the thermostat isnt opening as it should but would the temperature gauge reflect this.

Any ideas please?
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rcmatt007
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Re: 1977 GL1000 Overheating?

#2

Post by rcmatt007 »

on my 1200 I had exactly that problem. the thermostat was only opening partially. I may have missed this, but is the fan coming on? Are you loosing coolant?

A partially opening thermostat may even "look okay" if you put it into a pan of boiling water. But it will be really obvious comparing it to one which all the way open
-Rodger-
all it takes for evil to prosper is the want of a few good men to do nothing-Edmund Burke
The question is not how much time do you have, it is what you do with the time that you have Gandalf
"One of the greatest dignities of humankind is that each successive generation is invested in the welfare of each new generation." Fred Rodgers
"it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert" ancient saying
78 constantly modified/customized since 1978, BOTM June 2015 de-evolving this very moment viewtopic.php?f=30&t=65511
76 Ltd "cookies bike" ALMOST DONE
79 project, finished, FOR SALE
'86 1200 (Beth's)(FOR SALE) with motorvation sidecar (sidecar sold) , July 2017 BOTM
'17 HD Road king and 08 HD Heritage softail (Beth's) (FOR SALE). I guess you can say we have MBS
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rcmatt007
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Re: 1977 GL1000 Overheating?

#3

Post by rcmatt007 »

therm.JPG
therm.JPG (60.89 KiB) Viewed 182 times
-Rodger-
all it takes for evil to prosper is the want of a few good men to do nothing-Edmund Burke
The question is not how much time do you have, it is what you do with the time that you have Gandalf
"One of the greatest dignities of humankind is that each successive generation is invested in the welfare of each new generation." Fred Rodgers
"it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert" ancient saying
78 constantly modified/customized since 1978, BOTM June 2015 de-evolving this very moment viewtopic.php?f=30&t=65511
76 Ltd "cookies bike" ALMOST DONE
79 project, finished, FOR SALE
'86 1200 (Beth's)(FOR SALE) with motorvation sidecar (sidecar sold) , July 2017 BOTM
'17 HD Road king and 08 HD Heritage softail (Beth's) (FOR SALE). I guess you can say we have MBS
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Oldewing
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Re: 1977 GL1000 Overheating?

#4

Post by Oldewing »

I too think that you have a faulty Thermostat, cheap fix.
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heli_madken
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Re: 1977 GL1000 Overheating?

#5

Post by heli_madken »

I think it is supposed to open at least a little in boiling water?

The bike was rebuilt about 2.5k miles ago but this looks like the original thermostat
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desertrefugee
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Re: 1977 GL1000 Overheating?

#6

Post by desertrefugee »

Yeah, that thermostat looks pretty mature. Not that expensive. I would sure pick one up.
- Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass. It's about learning to ride in the rain.
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rcmatt007
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Re: 1977 GL1000 Overheating?

#7

Post by rcmatt007 »

make sure the little hole is mounted to the top, it allows the burps out of the system
-Rodger-
all it takes for evil to prosper is the want of a few good men to do nothing-Edmund Burke
The question is not how much time do you have, it is what you do with the time that you have Gandalf
"One of the greatest dignities of humankind is that each successive generation is invested in the welfare of each new generation." Fred Rodgers
"it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert" ancient saying
78 constantly modified/customized since 1978, BOTM June 2015 de-evolving this very moment viewtopic.php?f=30&t=65511
76 Ltd "cookies bike" ALMOST DONE
79 project, finished, FOR SALE
'86 1200 (Beth's)(FOR SALE) with motorvation sidecar (sidecar sold) , July 2017 BOTM
'17 HD Road king and 08 HD Heritage softail (Beth's) (FOR SALE). I guess you can say we have MBS
ob1quixote
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Re: 1977 GL1000 Overheating?

#8

Post by ob1quixote »

62C = 143F

Check your 7V regulator
1979 GL1000
2001 DRZ400
1983 CR480
And a few late '60's - early '70's British thumpers
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