Oil Temp

[BA80]

Nate, normal operating temp is somewhere between 150F - 250F. Your guage may be reading a bit high. Depending on where the sensor is mounted you will get different readings. If you are using a dipstick type sensor, right next to the clutch pack, you may be getting a false reading off of the clutch.

Most of the reading I have done about that points to the fact that an oil temp guage is just another of stress when riding. Something else your paying attention to rather than concentrating on riding. Get rid of it.

If you are using a good quality MOTORCYCLE OIL it shouldn't be a problem because those oils are good up to about 325º and some of the motorcycle racing oils are good to over 400º before they start breaking down.

[natemoen]

Well, I found an extra 23 ohms resistance from the oil pan to the battery. I am guessing this could be a big part of the problem of the misreading gauge. Correct me If I am wrong.

[GLoweVA]

Well, I found an extra 23 ohms resistance from the oil pan to the battery. I am guessing this could be a big part of the problem of the misreading gauge. Correct me If I am wrong.

23! That's huge when talking about a 12volt system.
Glad you found the problem.

[natemoen]

23! That's huge when talking about a 12volt system.
Glad you found the problem.

Well I don't know if it is THE problem yet cause I haven't done anything to fix it yet.

[skids]

From the oil pan to the battery? Isn't this a discontinuous path for electricity beacuse of the gasket? I suppose that oil may be somewhat conductive...

[natemoen]

From the oil pan to the battery? Isn't this a discontinuous path for electricity because of the gasket? I suppose that oil may be somewhat conductive...

The bolts should negate the gaskets.

I put a wire from the oil pan to the battery ground strap and only got it down to 5.3 ohms. When driving down the road though I now get varying readings. It sort of varies depending on RPM but even that is not a consistent thing. I think I may have to go through and add better grounding all over the place and try and get rid of some stray gremlins to solve this problem.

[skids]

The bolts should negate the gaskets.

Ha! Good point. If I was an electrician by trade, I'd be dead by now. In fact, I wonder how I survived all of those shocks in my lifetime.

[GLoweVA]

If it varies by rpm then it might be related to the alternator output.
As we all know the XS11's alt output varies with rpm, so maybe that might 'add' to your problem. ie. maybe these aftermarket gauges like a steady 12V like it would see from a car alternator. (just a thought).

[Dragon Tamer]

Nate,
If you don't have the thing grounded correctly the gauge will show variations along with the alternator output, ground it directly to the battery negative and try that.

I used to have an oil temp gauge on the Dragon but mine was installed into a "tee" in the line going to the oil cooler. During warm temperatures in the summer the temps would run as high as 270 degrees during high speed runs down 29. Return temps from the cooler usually ran about 50 degrees above ambient temps.

Mine was an aircraft gauge and is no longer there because I failed to realize that a gauge for an aircraft instrument panel is not waterproof and after a few rain storms it failed completely.

I do believe that an oil cooler is a very important thing for these bikes. A few years ago one of the oil lines going to my cooler started to leak and I had to disconnect the cooler and bypass it to get home. I noticed immediatly that the engine was running hotter than I am used to as I could feel an increased amount of heat coming up from the engine. They do remove a large amount of heat from the engine.

I am thinking of adding a small fan to the system connected to a thermostat so it will come on at stop lights etc. Several of the Suzuki atv's use a fan on an oil cooler for their main means of cooling the engine. A friend of mine has one of those atv's and although it is an air cooled engine it can sit idling for a LONG time without overheating!

[natemoen]

Upon second look, grounding is not the issue anymore. My meter leads were bad. Now after rechecking I have no resistance from the sender to the batt and nothing from the gauge neg to the batt.

Any other ideas?

[Dragon Tamer]

Nate,
If it is grounded properly it should work OK, there still may be some small fluctuation due to alternator output but that should even out above 2500rpm or so.

I might try running the bike up to temp and then quickly get it on the center stand and insert a candy thermometer through the fill cap into the oil (with the engine off of course) and see what the actual temp difference between the two thermometers is.

Your temps do seem high but I never tried to measure mine without an oil cooler in the system. I have seen head temps measured with an IR thermometer well above 300 degrees so I don't see why the oil temps would not approach those levels on a hard run.

[Yahman]

After installing my digital temp gauge with the sending unit located in the oil pan, I can report that the temp is usually around 185, give or take a little. On the hottest day we've had here (65 degrees), running in stop and go traffic, it reached 205 degrees.

Ride safe,
Larry

[motoman]

Hi Nate,


One thing to keep in mind was that the US spec bikes didn't come fitted with oil coolers due to the blanket 55mph speed limit that was in force at the time of release. All the other versions I know of were fitted with them due to them being allowed to run at sustained higher speeds and Yamaha deemed them necessary after further testing.
Still doesn't explain why your gauge reads that hot!

Being in Aussie land, how about an XS education, U.S. style? The 81 Venturer, which came in 'full dress form only' from the factory also came stock WITH and oil cooler. Hence, aside from the Standard having different sized metering rods than the Specials, which accounts for the the 2step difference in main jetting, it also had the inner two carbs jetted 2steps richer from factory since the inner two cyls. run leaner and hotter. Some of that frontal air flow was blocked up high having the cooler plus it was surmised the dresser model would be hauling heavier loads. The Specials for 80-81 had 110mains across for factory main jetting(lean'n'mean) The Venturer also had progressive springs in front and of course air valves, along with heavier sprung shocks WITH 5position dampening in rear. Front and rear were the KYB variety and the Specials had Showia(spelling likely sucks) front and rear. Those visual(cept for jetting) differences were on the 81models ONLY!