Motorcycle Repair: Overheating..Oil Cooled Bike, bandit 1200cc, rush hour traffic

Question
I have a 2000 Suzuki Bandit 1200cc Standard Sports Touring Motorcycle. On a hot summer day (90 degrees plus) my motorcycle kept dying in "stop and go" rush hour traffic. It is oil cooled. When it dies, it won't start back up for a good 10 min or so then...I have about 5-10 min before it dies again. Why? Overheating? (these models don't have a temp gauge)

Answer
Hi Michael, I believe your experiencing a fuel problem. What
I think is happening is the fuel in your float bowls is boiling. Whens a 90 degree day not a 90 degree day? When your in rush hour traffic. The ambient temp is much higher in that situation due to the asphalt, concrete or pavement repelling heat up from below as well as the vehicles around you dispelling/radiating engine heat, so know your 90 degree day is more like 105 degrees or higher. Your engine ideally should run at around 190 degrees and exchange heat to the ambient air efficiently. When the ambient air temp is high then the engine losses it's ability to exchange heat and the rising heat cooks the float bowl and boils the fuel. Boiling fuel cannot be atomized in the carburator venturi and ends up running into the combustion chamber as raw fuel droplets effectively flooding the engine until it stalls. The engine hot soakes for several minutes, evaporates the fuel in the combustion chamber and cools off in the float bowls, it then starts and runs again. The fix would be to avoid these conditions or install a heat shield for the carb bank..thank you for asking and I hope this helps.



Randy