Does anyone know what would be a acceptable operating temp for both front and rear cylinders. Say on a 80 degree day at idle.

 

Suggest you post what you are seeing. Chances are its fine. Thats the problem with gauges, they cause needless obsessive fretting.

 

What model and year bike, Any tuning mods that may affect heat?

 

Oh Ya, 2008 ULTRA SE A/C. SE STREET CANNONS V&H FUELPAK

 

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Since your asking question about engine temp in general chk this out because it will benefit any air cooled HD touring bike.

I have an 09 ultra ,used to loose noticeable power/trq in 80+ deg temp ,valvre woule get nosier,motor would detonate ,more heat was coming off motor making it more uncomfortable to ride,etc.

I installed an ultra cool oil cooler with dual thermostatically controlled cooling fans (an oil cooler without cooling fans to cool the oil is useless when it's needed most in traffic due to lack of airflow esp sitting still @ stoplights) along with Wards cooling fans that best targets cooling heads & upper cyls both @ the same time resulting in the following big improvements right off the bat.

* OIL TEMP WAS REDUCED 50+ DEG PER STOCK HD OIL TEMP GAUGE.

* VALVETRAIN REMAINS QUIET WHEN MOTORS HOT.

* OIL PRESSURE WITHOUT COOLING MODS IN WARMER TEMP USED TO BE 8PSI @ IDLE & 32-35ISH @ CRUISE ON HOT DAYS,POST INSTALLING THE 2 COOLING MODS HOT OIL PRESSURE IS 18PSI+ & IS 45-48PSI @ CRUISE.

* MOTOR STOPPED DETONATING ON HD'S REC 91 OCTANE FUEL FOR THE 9.2 COMPRESSION 96" MOTOR MY BIKE HAS.

* NOW THAT THE MOTOR & INTAKE RUNNING A BIT COOLER IT ALLOWS THE MOTOR TO RETAIN MORE OF THE PWR/TRQ & CRISP THROTTLE RESPONSE IT USED TO LOOSE WHEN IT GOT ALL HEAT SOAKED BEFORE I INSTALLED THE 2 COOLING MODS.

* MOTOR STARTS/TURNS OVER EASIER & FASTER LIKE POST FUELING UP ON A HOT DAY BECAUSE THE STARTER & BATTERY ARENT AS HEAT SOAKED ANYMORE.

* OIL RUNNING 50+ DEG COOLER MEANS LESS HEAT IS HITTING THE RIDER/S.

* IT'S THE OIL'S JOB TO LUBE & COOL THE MOTOR SO OIL TEMP BEING REDUCED 50+ DEG ALSO REDUCED ENGINE TEMP X-AMOUNT, BUT JUST HOW MUCH OVERALL ENGINE TEMP WAS REDUCED ALONG WITH THE 50DEG REDUCTION IN OIL TEMP I DONT KNOW BECAUSE I DONT HAVE ENGINE/CYL/HEAD TEMP GAUGE OR A TUNER TO GET PRE/POST ENGINE TEMP DATA.

I have had quite a lot of negative feedback when posting on this topic in the past that i know many other HD owners could benefit from like i stated above & the the bottom line is even though many long time HD riders & wrenches may tell you here in hdforums air cooled HD's dont need & or cant benefit much from installing the 2 cooling mods like i did are totally misinformed & dont know what they are talking about.

I say that because they have never done exactly what i did installing the same exact 2 cooling mods 2 the same time like i did on my bike to actually experience/feel/and see the results for themselves 1st hand on their bikes in 80+ deg summer heat in traffic ect like i did when i installed the 2 cooling mods on my bike.

Anyone that says all the benefits that i gained from keeping oil & engine temp much better in control on an air cooled HD " isnt beneficial " after reading all the great improvements in engine perf & overall riding comfort i got that any other air cooled HD touring bike motor & rider can also benefit from is totally misinformed & closed minded.

I go by results & facts and the fact is i got multiple great results reducing oil temp 50+ deg on hot days and all the guys that say its not needed or beneficial are totally MISINFORMED/WRONG because i have results that prove/show otherwise & they have noting other then saying their bikes still running decent @ 60-70-80-90-100k miles which is nice but still doesnt mean those guys & their bikes couldnt have benefited from oil running 50+ deg cooler in summer heat like my bike has.

Well what i say to that is just think about this ,if you had reduced your bikes oil temp 50deg+ you could have had a cooler bike to ride that also ran/performed better with more power & trq,less valve noise with better oil pressure & less tendency to detonate etc over the past 60-70-80-90-100k miles & multiple yrs of riding your bikesand you say its not beneficial?

Well thats just being a stubborn cementhead IMHO!/LOL!!!

And thats not to mention the oil running 50+ deg cooler also has other benefits like for example not stressing overheating the gaskets & seals in the motor extending their srv'c life x-amount.

And that also includes the oil running 50deg+ cooler not overheating/stressing the plastic and or tefflon material as much that the rubbing blocks the cam & prim chain tensioners are made of that in some cases results in them splitting & or cracking to pieces (prematurely failing) sending all that contamination into the motor & oiling system possibly trashing the motor itself & or trashing components within the prim case too.

It's a known fact that excessive heat over time & miles can degrade plastic & or tefflon materials in an engine so oil running 50+deg cooler in summer heat has to help extend srvc life of the plastic/tefflon material the rubbing blocks are made of on cam & prim chain tensioners in HD motors.

And after all that some guys will still say/fell its not beneficial? (WTHeck are they thinking!/LOL!!!

Enough Said.

Happy motoring.

Scott

 

Hey Scott thanks for the reply. I agree the cooler the engine the better it runs .And I commend you for adding those mods to your scoot. The thing is all I'm looking for here is a temperature to reference. I have access to a laser temperature gun at work so I thought I'd borrow it this weekend and check it out.I'll post my findings and maybe someone will chime in then.

 

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Trust me when i tell you your's & anyone else's air cooled HD can & will benefit a lot from doing what i did to my HD.

And thanks for the reminder on the hand held IR/lase type temp gun because i bought a one last summer to help me when doing diagnostic work on 60's-70's muscle cars i work on/maintain for other people that brought them to me when experiencing running hot issues and i plain forgot i could have also used the temp gun to get pre/post engine & head temp readings before & after installing the 2 cooling mods to get a rough idea of what the temp deltas were in those areas pre & post installing the 2 cooling mods vs the already known 50deg+ reduction in oil temp my bike experienced post installing the 2 cooling mods.

Guess i could turn off the wards fans along with covering the oil cooler & disabling the cooling fans too on a hot summer day to let the poor motor roast to get cyl & head temp readings without any additional cooling.

Then after that remove the cover & re-enable the cooling fans on the oil cooler along with turning on the wards fans & then go riding @ same approx speed in same approx cond in same outside temp and when the motor/bike are up to max operating temp take temp readings again on the cyls and heads in the same places/positions i did with both cooling system disabled to see what the diff is if i want to bother taking the time to do both tests including roasting the poor motor again !!!/LOL!!.

Happy Motoring!

Scott

 

On my 120r, i try to keep operating temp above 212 as measured by the HD temp gauge and below 250. Typically, this means im running about 230. The head temp as measured by my pv will show a higher value, so i have wards fans installed and based on Jason's thermal switch, they keep that number around 250 to 255 even when im pushing triple digit speeds.

I have a 10 row jagg vertical non fan assisted oil cooler and the 1.5 extra capacity SE oil pan.

My issue is not so much heat, but trying to stay in a tight range as that is where i get the best performance.

I have seen 290 head temps on the pv but that was 100+ temps in vegas in traffic with everything i have installed. In those cases, i just stop and hydrate myself as the body will overheat much quicker than my bike even will.

My thoughts

 

My 103 in my '12 TriGlide doesn't overheat now that my POS digital dipstick died. I believe it was reading at least 30 degrees hot. This is based upon the results I now have withbthecin fairing oil temp guage...that I have calibrated.

I never thought of calibrating the POSDD.

 

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They dont have to overheat to benefit from running cooler,my 09 i posted wasnt truly overheating ,Hd states 230 deg is normal op temp for oil at cruise which was approx where my bike was at cruising in warmer summer heat and would pretty quickly get up to 250+ in moderate avg moderate traffic cond & 260-270ish deg in bad traffic.

Even when oil temp was lower like 230-240 deg reducing the oil temp approx 50deg f from 230-240 degf to 180-190ish @ cruise which is when i got all the benefits i posted prior in this thread.

So the point is an air cooled HD doesnt have to be formally overheated by any means with a high oil temp like 250-260-270 deg f to get all the great positive benefits/improvements in perf & riding comfort i did because i got all those benefits reducing the oil temp 50deg f starting from the 230-235ish deg range thats considered an acceptable norm op temp for oil in an air cooled hd v-twin in warmer summer temp per my HD factory srv'c manual.

does that mean guys not running cooling system with oil temp in 230-250-260 deg range are gona have thier motor coma apprt any time soon,absolutley not!

Does it mean their bikes without for example the 2 cooling systems i am running that reduce oil temp 50+ deg in summer heat could have more issues related to A hotter running oil & motor reducing engine perf & rider comfort like i already posted in this thread,ABSOLUTELY!

And thats not addressing the additional stress hotter oil & motor places on all the gaskets & seals in the motor along with plastic & or teflon material the rubbing blocks the cam & prim chain tensioners are made of that are aged quicker due to the additional heat over enough time/miles causing premature failure when they split & crack to pieces in the motor sometimes trashing the motor or parts in the primary depending on which rubbing blocks let go prematurely doe to being exposed to excessive heat for long period of time.

I have been wrenching car & bike motors for 45+ yrs and have seen 1st hand what excessive heat (higher oil & engine temp) can do to gaskets/rubber seals/plastic & or teflon type parts in motors i have had to do srv'c work on or rblt that had issues with running a hotter then was optimal that weren't really overheating ,just were running hotter then what was best.

As for me,i am lovin the better perf with motor retaining more of its pwr & trq when hot/quieter valves/higher oil pressure/ less heat hitting me from the motor/faster easier hot starts post fueling up/no more detonation etc post installing the 2 cooling systems that reduced oil temp 50deg+ f on my bike in summer heat.

I guess i am the only guy experiencing all those issues with root cause being the excessive heat generated by the avg large disp air cooled HD motor,NOT!

That must be why nobody seems to either believe or plain old isnt interested in making their HD motor perf better and or their bike more pleasurable to ride esp in summer heat!/LOL!!!

" You can lead a horse to water but can't make it drink! "

Happy Motoring!

Scott