Hey all!
I have finally after several months working with the previous owner acquired my machine. Rode her 35+ some-odd miles home over the mountains from his shop. Much work had to be done before that ride was possible, much rebuilt in the shop, but that's another story.
On the way back the coolant reservoir overflowed after much riding and finally meeting city traffic. With only about 8 miles of inner-city rush hour traffic to go i endeavored on until finally she died and battery wouldn't kick her over. Pulled over and we both cooled off for about 20 minutes, started her back up, head home, and took a look at her this morning. Battery problem was obvious, the shop has a "genius" mechanic. One of the cells was bone dry, another was about half way up the wall, the others were fine. Replaced the battery with an ETX15L AGM. With that problem solved, i refilled the coolant, restarted, let her get warm, shut her down and she sucked up a full reservoir of coolant. Refilled, that's all fine now too.
Talking to my friend, the shop owner on the phone, he was asking about the fan. And sure enough, as far as i know the fan hasn't yet turned. So, i have read all of the various troubleshooting articles about fans in this section of the forums, and it will be tomorrow before there is enough light to ground the fan-switch, etc. I combed through the maintenance manual, etc. as well and i still have one question i simply cannot find the answer...
What is the temperature ( on gauge or otherwise ) where the fan should turn itself on? Should it just turn on after the bike is more or less idled warm? Does it turn on only when it's sensing extreme heat? I am tempted to just go ahead and put in a ground toggle to bypass the switch as several have suggested ( as well as the shop owner ) but since this is my first VN750, i still haven't a clue when i would turn the switch on myself. If it runs constantly on a switch while the engine is turning, is that going to pull down the electrical system... lose battery life? Is the fan loud enough to hear while out in typical traffic? On the flip side of the coin is a very wise anecdote: if it ain't broke fix something else, like my ears.
Other than that, she simply howls... she has a lot of minor problems, but most of them are cosmetic or broken items and she needs TLC. So this fan question is basically the only thing standing between riding on "reliable" and "worry". Know what i mean?
I have finally after several months working with the previous owner acquired my machine. Rode her 35+ some-odd miles home over the mountains from his shop. Much work had to be done before that ride was possible, much rebuilt in the shop, but that's another story.
On the way back the coolant reservoir overflowed after much riding and finally meeting city traffic. With only about 8 miles of inner-city rush hour traffic to go i endeavored on until finally she died and battery wouldn't kick her over. Pulled over and we both cooled off for about 20 minutes, started her back up, head home, and took a look at her this morning. Battery problem was obvious, the shop has a "genius" mechanic. One of the cells was bone dry, another was about half way up the wall, the others were fine. Replaced the battery with an ETX15L AGM. With that problem solved, i refilled the coolant, restarted, let her get warm, shut her down and she sucked up a full reservoir of coolant. Refilled, that's all fine now too.
Talking to my friend, the shop owner on the phone, he was asking about the fan. And sure enough, as far as i know the fan hasn't yet turned. So, i have read all of the various troubleshooting articles about fans in this section of the forums, and it will be tomorrow before there is enough light to ground the fan-switch, etc. I combed through the maintenance manual, etc. as well and i still have one question i simply cannot find the answer...
What is the temperature ( on gauge or otherwise ) where the fan should turn itself on? Should it just turn on after the bike is more or less idled warm? Does it turn on only when it's sensing extreme heat? I am tempted to just go ahead and put in a ground toggle to bypass the switch as several have suggested ( as well as the shop owner ) but since this is my first VN750, i still haven't a clue when i would turn the switch on myself. If it runs constantly on a switch while the engine is turning, is that going to pull down the electrical system... lose battery life? Is the fan loud enough to hear while out in typical traffic? On the flip side of the coin is a very wise anecdote: if it ain't broke fix something else, like my ears.
Other than that, she simply howls... she has a lot of minor problems, but most of them are cosmetic or broken items and she needs TLC. So this fan question is basically the only thing standing between riding on "reliable" and "worry". Know what i mean?