Coolant issue

[Hillbilly]

Hello everyone, so I need your advice yet again. As some of you know I'm putting my bike back together. I started it up to see how it would run before I got too far into it with the fairings and such and noticed that the temp gauge wasn't moving. I could feel the engine getting warmer but not even the fan was kicking on. I shut it down, engine is fairly warm and the radiator is cool. So I switched out the thermostat for a new one. Started it once again and the same thing.
Engine block is warm/hot to the touch, radiator is cool and so is the water pump. Would the water pump not allow coolant to flow if it was not working?
What are your thoughts and thank you again .

[triton28]

One way to tell if the coolant is circulating is: with the radiator cap removed and the engine operating, the coolant level will rise and fall as you rev the engine and then let the rpm drop to idle.
Sometimes the Yellow/White wire is making a bad connection to the thermostat housing so check the brass terminal on the thermo housing for cleanliness and the bullet connector on the wire for cleanliness and a good fit to the brass terminal.
Also try grounding the thermo housing using a jumper cable with alligator clips to ensure the thermo housing is getting a good ground to earth.
You can also check the radiator fan for operation by grounding the Yellow wire which goes to the sensor located at the bottom front of the radiator-the fan should come on when you ground that wire.

[cushman eagle]

Hello,Hillbilly,The radiator ,nor the waterpump should be showing heat until the thermostat opens at about 175 degrees.
At that point the water would start to circulate to keep the engine at the temperature the thermostat is designed for.
A great tool to have is a heat gun that you can point at something and find what the tempurature is.
We use one quite often in our farm repair shop.

[Nails]

Not really related (just piling on):

check the brass terminal on the thermo housing for cleanliness and the bullet connector on the wire for cleanliness and a good fit to the brass terminal.
Also try grounding the thermo housing

Since you're in there, also check the connector for the temp gage sensor. This notoriously gets loose and causes the gage to read low and wonky. Note that the fan uses a separate temp sensor on the bottom of the radiator. (When my gage sensor got loose -- of course far from home -- I relied on the fan coming on to tell me if the bike was getting hot.)

[Hillbilly]

Thank you again for your advice. I will try all these things this weekend and keep you posted.

[Hillbilly]

Hey everyone, I wanted to give you an update on how things are going. After using your advice and digging into this issue a little more, here's where I'm at. First, I let the bike idle a little more, the thermostat did open and the radiator got hot to the touch,however the temp gauge on the dash didn't move. I shut the bike down and let it cool so I could work. I started with test leads at the sensor at the bottom of the radiator. Grounded the wire and the fan cam on, tested the wire at a couple of other places in the harness and it worked. Then I went behind the dash and grounded right to the back of the gauge, it worked. Went to the temp sensor in the thermostat housing and unplugged it. It worked,temp gauge on the dash moved. Is it possible that both are bad at the same time, just seems like too much of a coincidence.
I did take out the fan sensor in the bottom of the radiator and try and check for resistance but I'm having a hard time. I end up heating it in water and putting it on the bench to test it and my multi meter is at the highest setting and it's nowhere near the range they say in the manual. Any ideas?
I'm trying to avoid buying a new one 115.00 on partzilla.

[triton28]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/RADIATOR-COOLI ... P7&vxp=mtr

I haven't tried one of these but the price is right so long as they are reliable and of the same temperature settings.

[Nails]

With the fan apparently working fine, you can give the sensor at the bottom of the radiator a rest. It has absolutely nothing to do with the gage. I'm pretty sure this sending unit is on-off, unlike the gage sending unit.

(Since we're here ... I added a dash light for when the fan comes on. That would be significant if going at speed, when I couldn't hear the fan. And that actually came up for me once -- of course far from home -- when I had a leak and lost most of my radiator fluid. I like that light. I could repair the leak on the side of the road and then filled my radiator with Dansani to get me home.)

Went to the temp sensor in the thermostat housing and unplugged it. It worked,temp gauge on the dash moved. Is it possible that both are bad at the same time, just seems like too much of a coincidence.

Focusing on the gage (evidently the only problem you're dealing with):

Did you add that auxiliary ground wire for the gage, described in other posts here? It's a common problem -- I had it. (Honestly, I think I've had ALL the problems posted here.)

Did the gage peg when you grounded that sensor? (Disclaimer: doing that can damage some gages.)

[Hillbilly]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/RADIATOR-COOLI ... P7&vxp=mtr

I haven't tried one of these but the price is right so long as they are reliable and of the same temperature settings.

Thanks, that's way better than 115.00

[Hillbilly]

With the fan apparently working fine, you can give the sensor at the bottom of the radiator a rest. It has absolutely nothing to do with the gage. I'm pretty sure this sending unit is on-off, unlike the gage sending unit.

(Since we're here ... I added a dash light for when the fan comes on. That would be significant if going at speed, when I couldn't hear the fan. And that actually came up for me once -- of course far from home -- when I had a leak and lost most of my radiator fluid. I like that light. I could repair the leak on the side of the road and then filled my radiator with Dansani to get me home.)

Went to the temp sensor in the thermostat housing and unplugged it. It worked,temp gauge on the dash moved. Is it possible that both are bad at the same time, just seems like too much of a coincidence.

Focusing on the gage (evidently the only problem you're dealing with):

Did you add that auxiliary ground wire for the gage, described in other posts here? It's a common problem -- I had it. (Honestly, I think I've had ALL the problems posted here.)

Did the gage peg when you grounded that sensor? (Disclaimer: doing that can damage some gages.)

Thank you, I'll dig around some posts here to see what I can find. I made sure not to peg it each time I tested it, just got it to move up and down.