Fan not working

[George]

Hello
I have a ZXR 400 L9 (2001).
Whenever I am stuck at traffic lights or have been moving along at very slow speeds the engine temperature is creeping up and eventaully the bike stalls. I have not been hearing the fan kick in at all and suspect that this might be why it is overheating. I am planning on testing the thermostat and also linking the fan up to a battery to see if it runs.
Any help or advice would be much appreciated.

[banner001]

sounds like a plan to me, the manual has a good guide to sorting out cooling issues, it will show you how to check the thermostats are working correctly etc...

i would also flush the cooling system with a hosepipe, then refill with 50% aluminium-radiator coolant, 50% distilled water and top-up to see if that helps...so start with the easiest things first.

how far up the dial does the needle go before it stalls? my fan kicks in when the needle has moved just over halfway around the dial.

[George]

Thanks for the advice. The needle is slightly above the half way point before it stalls.

[RedexRobB]

That could be an electrical fault. its funny it cuts out just as the fan would normally kick in so might be worth thinking about.

[George]

Thanks for the feeedback.

Finaly got round to checking the thermostat and fan. The fan works fine, the thermostat doesn't, had it up to 95 degrees and it still wouldn't register.

Any ideas on where would be the best place for purchasing a new thermostat is.

Was also wandering how I go about topping up the radiator, i assume this cannot be done through the expansion chamber.

[banner001]

Thanks for the feeedback.

Finaly got round to checking the thermostat and fan. The fan works fine, the thermostat doesn't, had it up to 95 degrees and it still wouldn't register.

Any ideas on where would be the best place for purchasing a new thermostat is.

Was also wandering how I go about topping up the radiator, i assume this cannot be done through the expansion chamber.

if L9 is the same placement as my L4, the radiator cap is on the right hand side of the bike, under a black plastic guard, thats where you top up, expansion chanber is just for that, a chamber for hot coolant to possibly expand into, as well as a reservoir to draw extra coolant from during cooldown.

cradley kawasaki will sell you a new thermostat, or ebay for second/third/fourth...-hand.

i find best way to flush the system is to remove the radiator pipe on the left hand side of the bike next to the water pump and let all the coolant drain from the radiator, then open the two engine drain bolts near to the headers and drain the last bit of old coolant from the engine block. then to flush i put a hosepipe in the top of the radiator and let it run for a few minutes to flush out everything from there. Then i remove the radiator pipe that attaches to the top of the radiator, next to the radiator cap, put the hosepipe in there and flush with more water, that effectively cleans the whole system.

refill with fresh coolant, leave the rad cap off, idle the bike for 2-3 seconds, turn engine off, top up coolant, refit rad cap, top up expansion chamber to just under MAX and you are good to go!

[George]

Nice One, thanks for all the help.

Hopefully that will see an end to the problems.

[Tirpitz]

i find best way to flush the system is to remove the radiator pipe on the left hand side of the bike next to the water pump and let all the coolant drain from the radiator, ...........

An even easier way is to simply remove the drain bolt on the water pump, no need to remove the hose.

For flushing just put the hosepipe in the radiator filler, no need to remove the coolant hose there either.

If you top up the expansion tank to near max you will find that it overflows slightly via the breather during hard riding and lean angles. Only a trickle but it's there. And getting coolant on the bike isn't great. Much better to fill it to half way. The manual does say fill it to max as Banner says but I don't recommend it.