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00 R1100RT Fairing "Toasted"

deweybr1920

New member
I've just noticed on my new to me RT that the fair shields on the backside of the fairing by the exhaust manifolds are brown and toasted, plus I have a blister the size of a half dollar on the left exhaust fairing. I felt the plastic after a short 5 mile ride I take to work, some stop and go but not a lot of sitting in traffic and even on a cool morning that plastic gets hot! Is this really normal or am I missing something engine wise. I'm near my 24k maint and the previous owner did valves and sync at 13k. I did put fresh NGK plugs in at 21k and changed to oil to 20/50 amsoil full syn.

I just don't want to damage the fairing any further and catch fire! :violin

<<Brian>>
 
either you or previous owner let the bike sit and warm up. totally unnecessary action- just start the bike and go; less than 30 seconds idling is plenty of warm up time.
unless you get stuck in stopped traffic on a hot day for an extended amount of time (in which case, shut the engine down while sitting and waiting for movement to resume), there should be no issue with overheating to the point of damaging fairing or engine.
 
Yea my 99RT did the same thing. I purchased a package of header wrap from the local parts store. It takes some time to do it right, but if you follow the instructions carefully, it will turn out very nice. I did mine all the way to just in front of the catolic converter. Heat problem solved!!! :thumb
 
Start and go

Yes, I've learned in the past month start and go is the way to go and I do so every time. Put I never really let it sit more than a minute or two the first week or two I had the bike. I just want to make sure I don't have any other issues.
 
non-ethanol fuel

Adjust your valves. Also run non-ethanol fuel; it runs much cooler.

I will do the valve adjustment, but the non-ethanol fuel use its almost impossible here to get it. I have put it in once but the long rides I like to do really can't find it much. I wish that was not the case...
 
And set the valves a bit on the loose side: instead of .006 and .012, use .007-.008 and .014. The extra coupla picoseconds of "closed" time lets the valve (especially the exhaust) transfer heat from the face to the head.

Make sure the oil cooler is clean - no buggers clogging up the fins.
 
Adjust your valves. Also run non-ethanol fuel; it runs much cooler.

Ethanol requires 2.64 times as much heat to evaporate, cooling the charge (2378 BTU per Gal/900 BTU per Gal) and contains only 66% as much energy to turn into heat (76,330 BTU per Gal/116,000 BTU per Gal).
Where does the heat come from?
 
The heat

Ethanol requires 2.64 times as much heat to evaporate, cooling the charge (2378 BTU per Gal/900 BTU per Gal) and contains only 66% as much energy to turn into heat (76,330 BTU per Gal/116,000 BTU per Gal).
Where does the heat come from?

The heat comes from the engine running lean because it is not a "flex" engine.

Non flex engines may burn lean with high ethanol blends such as E85 as the injectors run out of capacity at WOT conditions or such when engine controls pushed into temporary open loop feedback and assume gasoline is the fuel. Small engines, not adjusted may run lean, similarly, even with low ethanol blends. Lean burn conditions would increase combustion temperature within an ethanol burn.

I had this occur while at Daytona this year. I filled up at a station that had not sold much premium [my stupidity for stopping a a small convenience store] and the fuel has separated giving me a high alcohol level.

I have toasted "shark fins" on my R1100RT to drive the point home.
 
The heat comes from the engine running lean because it is not a "flex" engine.

Non flex engines may burn lean with high ethanol blends such as E85 as the injectors run out of capacity at WOT conditions or such when engine controls pushed into temporary open loop feedback and assume gasoline is the fuel. Small engines, not adjusted may run lean, similarly, even with low ethanol blends. Lean burn conditions would increase combustion temperature within an ethanol burn.

I had this occur while at Daytona this year. I filled up at a station that had not sold much premium [my stupidity for stopping a a small convenience store] and the fuel has separated giving me a high alcohol level.

I have toasted "shark fins" on my R1100RT to drive the point home.

Thanx for the detailed info. There is so much mis-information floating around, I like to check and see if the poster knows what he's talking about. Sounds like you do.
 
It's normal. It is due to the engine running hot, not necessarily due to ethanol, and the single wall pipe combined with the close tolerance from the pipe to the plastic, and the airflow. One of mine has a blister. I have managed to buy some replacement shark fins. One off ebay, and one for the other side off Beemer Boneyard.
I've thought about the exhaust wrap before.
 
"Normal"??? :scratch

Hell no. It's a sign of overheating and/or insufficient air flow.

If it was "normal", we'd see it on 'most every older RT. Not the case, guys.
 
"Normal"??? :scratch

Hell no. It's a sign of overheating and/or insufficient air flow.

If it was "normal", we'd see it on 'most every older RT. Not the case, guys.

Hi Paul!
I agree it's an airflow issue.
But...
Hell yeah!
It's normal and common, any 1100 rt will melt itself to the ground if it sits and idles with the fairing on.
Most bikes can idle at a stop with no ill effects. The 1100rt's could do it too if you remove the fairings from around the exhaust.
It's a common occurrence with the rt. The reason that it doesn't happen more often is because most owners know this, or they find out soon enough.
 
OK, I don't want to discuss what's "normal" or not (moi??)...
But I will say:
If I want to get out of the Los Angeles area, in any direction (except west), I cross a desert (the Mohave). Granted there is airflow, but ambient temps are often over 90.
I often sit in beach traffic, freeway traffic (yes I do whiteline), and downtown L.A. traffic. This is the land of uneducated idiots and unlicensed drunkards.
My 1100RT had over 60,000 miles when I sold it - no blisters.
My 1150RT has over 65,000 miles right now - no blisters.
I have friends with mild Harleys who can't sit and idle in hot traffic.
I have a good friend with LOTS of airhead knowledge whose R90S will overheat if stuck in traffic; he refuses to get a larger oil pan or do anything else non-stock; too bad. My two R75's and two R100's never overheated, but those were mild motors. My K75 never had a problem; my K100LT was uncomfortable...
Watch your temp gauge and let it cool down before damage occurs.
Ever check your ignition timing? There are how-to articles on this forum & ADVRider. While the slots on the HES are pretty small and don't give a lot of room for change, if it's slammed all the way over to one side or the other, it's probably wrong. Worth a look if one has an overheating issue.
End of rant...
:usa
 
:bow

I am also south of LA. More than you, I believe. Have you ever run Ortega hwy? I did it about 30 years ago, before the walls went up, and lowsided about 6 ft from cliff, have not been back, lol.
I'm waiting for the heat to go away.
I get cranky.

I know that I've read about a lot of 1100's that cannot idle due to melting the plastic. Mine seems to do ok in traffic, I can feel the heat pouring off it, though, and mine cannot idle without doing damage to the fairing.
Both my fins have blisters. I do not know if it was due to me idling the bike when I first bought it, or if they came to me that way. I do not remember smelling burning plastic. It is an rt-p, though. So maybe it sat somewhere before I got it. I don't know if the fan is operable. I've never tried to make it activate, I've never seen or heard it either.
Didn't they change the fairing clearance-to-exhaust on the 1150?
 
My 99 RT - P had about 54K on it when I picked it up in LA and had blisters all over the bottom chin fairing. I suspected it was from sitting around idling with lights flashing. The shark fins were cut off and I've never had them and I don't even worry about it. The bike looks fine without them, easier to work on - I can take the front belt cover off without taking any tupperware off so it's a bonus!
 
Dunno about any change in the clearances around the exhaust & tupperware between the 1100's & 1150's... Looking at mine, it seems to be the same as I recall for my ol' 1100.
I did stick a scale down there on the left side (the right side is against the wall at the moment), and in two places - pipe to fin, and pipe to outer plastic - the clearance is pretty close, only about 1".

Yeah, I know Ortega pretty well; I'm fortunate to live about in the middle between Ortega/Angeles Crest/Mulholland. Ortega is also where the friend I sold my K100LT to wrecked it, grrr...

Interesting note about cutting the fins - I thought that maybe they were part of Ze Holy Factory's airflow guidance... But I have to pull the bolt from my lower shock mount (since the Ohlins spring is much fatter than the stock unit) to pull the belt cover, so that wouldn't really a big help in my case. I have actually had quantities of gravel get trapped in the insides of the fins, and "fixed" an annoying rattle by turning the fairing sections upside down & rapping on them!
 
The previous owner of my '96 RT blistered the tupperware. I initially worried about more damage when stuck in slow traffic and high temperatures... I decided to remove the tupperware, clean it well, and then put DEI's high temperature aluminum tape on the surfaces closest to the exhaust pipes, reflecting away heat. I have had not a problem, even in 100 degree temps in very slow moving traffic.
 
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