The following is what I have done since March 2011 to get my Tri-Glide cooled down.

I wish I had a TG that did not get overly warm like some have, but that is not the case.

One thing to note, I have never been bothered physically by the heat, my primary concerns were the engine was running to hot for its own good, and my wife was bothered by the heat as a passenger.

The first list below is my experience between when I purchased it and July of 2012 (copied from a previous post).

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Below is a list of what I did to lower my engine temps.

All the dealers in my area say oil temps of 300+ degrees are normal and there is nothing they can do to lower them, I took it into my own hands to get them lower.

Note: I do very little city riding, mostly interstate or country roads. When I first installed my oil temp gauge I was regularly seeing 300+ oil temps at highway riding of 70-80 mph.

1. Removed Lowers the day I got it...just don't like them. When it is too cold I have a pair of soft lowers I use. Since I did this day one I don't know what it would have been like temp wise if I had left them on.

2. Installed a 1.5" Tank Lift with a deluxe option. This is good for up to 20* lower cylinder temps. (I did not have an oil temp gauge at the time, so don't know what/if any affect it had on oil temp, but with the infra red temp gun it showed rear cylinder 20* cooler after 30 minutes on the interstate at 70 mph)

3. Got the oil temp gauge and then got serious about reducing oil temps.

4. Replaced the stock oil cooler with a Jagg fan assisted oil cooler. This was good for a solid 20* drop in oil temps.

5. Removed the cat from the stock headpipe. No lowering of oil temp, but much less heat on the passenger. (If I had it to do over again I would get the fuelmoto catless headpipes)

6. Installed Rush Slip-ons, OUTLAW HiFlow Air Cleaner and PCV with a map from Jamie at Fuelmoto. This was good for another 30*. So now I was done to 250-270*, but that is still too hot and it was not even summer yet.

About this time I thought maybe the ACR's were sticking open a little and had the dealer do a leak down test. Well the ACR's were fine, but the heat had fried the cylinders, heads, rings and valves. All were replaced under warranty.

It should be noted, the bike was running fine, not using/burning oil, my guess is there are a lot of TG's out there in the same condition because of the heat they are subjected to. The degradation in power was over a period of time, so it was not noticed until I got it back with a fresh top end.

7. When I got it back I broke it in and made sure the oil temps never got over 230* (no easy task at this point, and no fun either).

I had about given up on my quest to get the oil temps down without a cam and TTS or Powervision with some serious tuning, but I gave Jamie a call and he suggested a second oil cooler...one that was in the wind instead of tucked behind the front wheel where there is relatively little wind.

So I called over to Jagg and got a downtube mounted 10 row oil cooler and installed it in tandem with the oil cooler I already had in the stock position. A solid 30* drop in oil temps! Now I was getting close to what I considered acceptable.

8. I spent a few hours fine tuning the map on the PCV and got another 10* drop.

9. I relocated my cowbell horn to under the frame that sits under the passenger seat. I rarely use the horn, maybe 1-2 times a year, and it is NOT as loud there. But the reason I did that is because even though the oil temps were down, the rear cylinder head was still reading 30-40* hotter and no amount of mapping I was doing could get it better.

With more air now going over the rear cylinder I got the rear CHT down another 10-15*.

10. I got a K&P oil filter, I cannot say how much it lowered the oil temp because I installed just a day before leaving on the trip, but I am saving money on oil filters and I believe it works better also.

I now have 13k miles on the bike since all the changes listed above, 25k miles total. Depending on the ambient temps I see 180-210 oil temps, with it going to 230 on hot days (95+ degrees). Have only had it spike to 235-240 a couple of times and that was when it was 100+ degrees into a headwind. Those couple of times I slowed down to 68 mph and the oil temp dropped to 220.

The few times I have been in stop and go traffic at high ambient temps my oil temp has NOT gone up, BUT my EITMS has kicked in a few times. If this were any kind of a regular occurrence I would get some sort of parade fan.

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Fast Forward to May of 2013-

While I was happy with the lowered oil temps made from the list above, I was still not completely satisfied -

Having to slow down in high ambient temps to keep the oil temp below 230*

Having the EITMS kick in when in traffic

These two things motivated me to do some more work.

I got the Wards Parts Werks FCS. After installing that I was able to move my horn back to the stock location, and NO MORE EITMS kicking in. There is plenty written about this system, and I found it all to be true...it is amazing how well it cools down the engine.

I went from the PCV tuner to a Power Vision with the basic auto tune.

Using the Power Vision allowed me to get a better tune than I could with the PCV (without any dyno work), and it also gave me real time data on the engine temp (front CHT) and a variety of other things. Net result is the bike runs stronger, cooler AND my mpg went up.

I removed the left side heat shield. As I mentioned before the heat (even when it was stock and oil temps were 300*+) never physically bothered me. In removing the left side heat shield, I did feel more heat on my left thigh, but it was not uncomfortable. The reason I did this was to give a better flow of air around the back of the rear cylinder.

With the right side shield still in place, it acts like an air scoop pulling air into the space behind the cylinder...but with the left side removed, that air can now exit easily. With both installed, they are essentially two scoops that push air from both sides to collide and swirl, with no real good place for the air to exit.

The bike now has just shy of 50k miles on it...38k on the rebuilt. It is running as strong as ever, and the heat is a total non-issue now.

What I learned in the Process, and what I would do differently-

1. Oil only gets hot because the engine gets hot. Now, I do not focus on oil temps so much as Cylinder Heat Temp. The CHT is the source of the heat, the oil is a result of the heat...and the oil temp changes MUCH more slowly than the Engine temp.

This seems elementary, but I was so focused on oil temp before. Now, with the Power Vision I am able to monitor the source of the heat (CHT) and keep it under control. I still don't want to see oil temps above 230*, but more than that, I really don't want to see CHT above 260*, and by keeping the CHT good, the oil will be fine.

2. Before changing out the stock oil cooler, and certainly before adding the second oil cooler, I would get the Wards Parts Werks FCS fans, and only change the oil cooler set-up if it was needed.

3. I would get the Power Vision first.

4. There is no one magic bullet, it is a combination of a lot of little changes that add up to make the difference.

ie. Just by using the an external breather system that does not feed hot oily air into the intake, this obviously makes for a stronger & cooler running engine, plus one that does not get carbon build up on the pistons which causes more heat and pinging down the road.

The cumulative result is that I am VERY happy with the TG, and can ride it how I want with no concerns of any heat issues.

Now if the crank will just hold up and not twist under the hard riding I do, I'll get a couple hundred thousand miles out of this bike.

 

Thanks, that was a very informative article. I guess I'm lucky in that heat was never a deal breaking problem. I don't have a oil temp gauge (on my list), but I think the Powervision is the single best investment I've bought for my TG. I just wish I knew more about how to use it. Anyway thanks for a great write up.

 

Kevin,
Nice write up! Pretty much same as the mods show in my signature with the addition of the cams and FCS fans. Pretty much in the ballpark seeing the same oil temps you are. Only difference really is I'm TTS tuned vs your powervision and have the Fuelmoto header. Thanks again for taking the time to do the write up and for your fantastic Alaska adventure.

Best Regards,
Buddy...

 

Nice write-up, Kevin. Before it was even brought to Charleston from the Columbia, TN H-D dealership, was to change the oils to synthetic. Second step was to eliminate the cat and did a Stage One install with a ThunderMax TBW ECM. What a difference, not only in engine temps, but also in performance! Good luck in your endeavors and keep us updated. Ride safe!

 

Thanks for the info, Kevin. Gail and I took a 7 week run out to the Western States pulling a trailer this summer. The heat and power didn't seem to be much of an issue until we started to gain elevation just east of Rapid City. By the time we got into Wyoming, I couldn't stay on cruise control on the highway, I kept needing to downshift. I'm pretty sure that the engine just couldn't breathe. By the time we got to Salt Lake City, the engine heat had been so bad, the horn and the ham can were actually fogged over enough (discolored) that I thought I had an exhaust leak. Salt Lake H-D got me in first thing in the morning to check it over, and told me that everything was good but it must have been run hot. ( By the way, Thanks for the great service at Salt Lake City H-D). It seemed like once we got up over 4000 feet the bike pinged constantly even though I added octane booster with every tankful. It never stopped pinging until we got into Missouri and lower elevations. Based on what you've said, I think I'm going to make some major changes this winter. I love the trike and I'd hate to get rid of it if I can fix the problems. So, I know that the engine can't breathe, it is burning too lean, and the cat has got to go. I also liked your idea about adding a fan and or another oil cooler. A friend has also recommended changing cams, although I really do not want to get into that. Have any of you had any experience with fuel control modules from Dobeck Techlusion?

 

Kevin, Will the 1.5 inch tank lift fit the 2014 model,

Thanks Graham

 

I really like the Power Vision also. There are a lot of things it does that I have not fully explored yet either. The nice thing is there are more than a few youtubes that you can watch that show how to use its' different features.

Hey Buddy! I have the FCS fans also! Amazingly good product!

I have heard many good things about the ThunderMax. It is one of the few mainstream fuel management options that I have not used on any bikes. Glad you are enjoying your TG!!!

I have no experience with the Dobeck products.

Before I started doing things to cool it down, I also experienced the "fogging" of the chrome on my pushrod tubes.

Dealer said they had never seen that before. They called corporate and were told that it was some bad chrome. lol

I was able to clean them and then when I cooled it down, never had that problem again.

It is unfortunate that some of us have to spend time, energy and money to get our TG's cooled down, but I am very happy with how it is running now.

I would do the FCS fans first, before any changes to the oil cooler...you may get enough cooling with the fans and a few other mods like a tuner and some less expensive mods, that you may not need to spend the $ on modifying the oil cooler.

 

Yes, it will fit. Just need to make sure there are no clearance issues with your handlebar adjustment, just like all other models.



1. With bike on kickstand, take the bolt out of the front of your tank.

2. Loosen (do not remove) the bolt at the rear of your tank.

3. Turn your handlebars all the way to the left and raise the tank up your desired lift height to check for clearance issues.

4. Turn your handlebars all the way to the right and raise the tank up your desired lift height to check for clearance issues.

 

Changing out cams would allow you to give some more oomph in various RPM ranges depending upon the choice of cam. But, the increase in HP, particularly from higher compression, will likely add more heat. As my experience with the 255 CAms, gave me the oomph I wanted at the lower end, but negated all the stage 1 improvements as far as heat reduction.

I just received my FCS fans, and can't wait to install them.

 

When choosing a cam take into consideration your compression and gas quality.