G650 gs overheating

Since the MOA as deleted the 674 threads from the F and G thumpers forum I can not do a search, so I must ask the members to help out in a problem.

A female club member rides a 2014 G650 GS. As the weather warmed up in St. Louis the bike has become uncomfortable to ride. The temperature coming out the radiator vent on the right side of the bike exceeds 140 F and has burned her leg on a recent ride. The plastic on the bike also exceeds 140 F which is a temperature you can not hold your hand on.

The dealer checked out the bike under warranty and says everything is working. BMW NA says "its not right" and will look into it.

The question is how many of you thumper riders have burnt your leg while riding your bike. And how many of you ride a bike without a "heat" problem?

If the cooling system is indeed working, is running a lean mixture causing the problem.

Thanks for all your reply's.

Hey Dave,
Sorry you are having issues with a search. With the various forum upgrades thru the years, some issues arose.
Kurt put together this "sticky" in New Members to help. There are some workarounds.

http://forums.bmwmoa.org/showthread.php?77843-Tips-on-Searching-the-MOA-Forum

Also, check at bottom of Thumper page to the View panel, you can change how far back threads are presented...from a month to years

As far as overheating...when that fan comes on in summer it is quite hot. Ours is a bear if in traffic. H has often thought she was being scalded. If the thermostat is good ( have seen two with cracked spring retainers and a wide open condition)and the fan working, hard to say what else could be wonky. The thermostat opens around 185 F , the fan comes on around 225...HOT

Here is a link to F650 forum FAQ on the issue

http://faq.f650.com/FAQs/Overheating_FAQ.htm

DAVIS2X1 said:

The question is how many of you thumper riders have burnt your leg while riding your bike. And how many of you ride a bike without a "heat" problem?

Click to expand...

I have a 2014 G650GS also. I ride a lot and in good old Mississippi heat and have never had an issue with overheating to the extreme. If I get caught in stopped traffic for a significant length of time, the fan will come on, but I haven't had any problems like you mentioned.

When your Hot your Hot......

I have a 2013 G650GS with 36K on it and a 2007 G650 X with a lot fewer miles.

The 2013 has been used for everything from Alaska to Key West to Michigan ORV trails, and the 2007 has seen light road riding and Michigan ORV trails.

The fan runs more than a little at times.

Never burnt my leg or more precisely never burnt the riding gear or long pants I was wearing.

Wayne Koppa
Grayling, MI
#71,449

DAVIS2X1 said:

Since the MOA as deleted the 674 threads from the F and G thumpers forum I can not do a search, so I must ask the members to help out in a problem.

Click to expand...

Kinda harsh there buddy.

From a thread in Clubhouse where a Member was having a similar issue-

Omega Man said:

You need to scroll to the bottom of the page and use the Thread Display Options.

Thread Display Options
Show threads from the...

Sort threads by:

Order threads in...
Ascending Order

Descending Order


No purging here unless there was some bad sushi

OM

Click to expand...

Iffin' you have a problem, just ask.

Gary

Thanks for all the help. Can now see all threads in the thumper forum.
Cooling system appears to be removing heat from engine.
Now looking at lean burning i.e. air leak or plugged fuel injector.

BMW Responds to fan discharge burning leg issue...with...wait for it...

"It must be the type of pants she is wearing... suggest getting different riding pants." Now, as my wife has a $1200 BMW riding suit not sure how that should be factored into the "German Engineering Technical Solution to 200 plus degrees of radiator exhaust heat blowing on my wifes calf to the point of burning through the suit and the undergear? Is it me or if that is considered normal ops they should put the disclaimer in the bike specs. To experience what she feels through her BMW suit you would need to take a hot air gun at 200 plus and hold it a few inches away from you until it burns.

Not really impressed.

david.anderson said:

"It must be the type of pants she is wearing... suggest getting different riding pants." Now, as my wife has a $1200 BMW riding suit not sure how that should be factored into the "German Engineering Technical Solution to 200 plus degrees of radiator exhaust heat blowing on my wifes calf to the point of burning through the suit and the undergear? Is it me or if that is considered normal ops they should put the disclaimer in the bike specs. To experience what she feels through her BMW suit you would need to take a hot air gun at 200 plus and hold it a few inches away from you until it burns.

Not really impressed.

Click to expand...

I can't believe someone told you that...they should be fired. My suit is the BMW GS DRY for what it's worth. Clearly, something is really wrong with the bike, and the person who told you that!

I have an '03 F650GS and I recently noticed that the right side gets a little hot, hotter than I remember it getting last summer. Not hot enough to burn my leg, but hot enough to make it uncomfortable to ride with my knees tight to to the tupperware. It may have been my imagination, but the heat seemed to be cooler if I was riding into the wind versus accross/with the wind.

The right side of the radiator is furthest from the lines and the pump. Maybe most of the heat is being dissipated there? Is the right side also the exhaust valve side? Those hot gasses could be adding additional heat.

I'm going to try gently spraying water through the radiator fins, the way the air conditioner service guy does with the condenser unit, to clean out all the bugs and dirt that have accumulated over the season. If this helps I'll update here.

DAVIS2X1 said:

Since the MOA as deleted the 674 threads from the F and G thumpers forum I can not do a search, so I must ask the members to help out in a problem.

A female club member rides a 2014 G650 GS. As the weather warmed up in St. Louis the bike has become uncomfortable to ride. The temperature coming out the radiator vent on the right side of the bike exceeds 140 F and has burned her leg on a recent ride. The plastic on the bike also exceeds 140 F which is a temperature you can not hold your hand on.

The dealer checked out the bike under warranty and says everything is working. BMW NA says "its not right" and will look into it.

The question is how many of you thumper riders have burnt your leg while riding your bike. And how many of you ride a bike without a "heat" problem?

If the cooling system is indeed working, is running a lean mixture causing the problem.

Thanks for all your reply's.

Click to expand...

No heat problem. The fan will come on after a few minutes of slow, stop and go, but never had the light come on or felt my leg was getting burnt.


I also had the fan come on after about an hour in the mud. I checked the radiators, both were completely covered in mud. I washed off about 2 square inches of one side and continued the ride. Fan came back on about 50 miles later, repeat. Washed it when I hit town.
I'm impressed with the toughness of the bike.

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

I met the rider in question at the Hamburg Rally and the problem persists. We're discussing it on f650.com as well.

The fan on the new G bikes is much improved over the F bikes, and there's no question that the cooling system on her bike is doing its job. A quick peek below the right faux tank panel confirmed that the fan is clearly visible. On my '05 F, the fan is more hidden by the right panel.

The question still remains - what is generating all that heat?

It's just...too hot!

Hi everyone, I am the owner of the G650GS in question. I rode it up to the Hamburg rally and back with a heat guard on my right leg (to cover below and above my knee), sewn by the original poster of this thread! (many thanks to him!) It's made of a double layer of Nomex cloth, with insulation in between, but that kinda cuts down on the breathability of the BMW touring shell pants.

On some legs of our trip I left the guard off to verify the heat. For example, one night we went to dinner in Hamburg, about 5 miles away, and even this short trip generated heat.

On our last day home, we travelled 440 miles, averaging about 70 mph. Lots of wind from both sides of the bike, and into the wind as well. I was noticing the bike was at about 4500 rpm for 70 mph and 5000 rpm for 75 mph.

It felt like I had heated electric gear on my right leg. At times I couldn't keep my leg in the normal riding position touching the faux tank; holding my knee at 45 degrees gave me relief. At the higher speeds, the heat is felt more above the knee/lower thigh; at lower speeds, such as around city streets or after exiting the freeway, the heat is felt between the top of the BMW all round boots and my knee.

When we arrived home after that long day of riding, I felt the right side of the faux tank and the center part: both were hot. But what surprised me even more was that the left side of the faux tank was hotter that the right has ever been! Come to think of it, during that long ride I was noticing that the seat felt heated, and even the left leg at times.

Many have suggested that the heat is coming from the radiator fan, which directs its exhaust onto the rider's right leg, but perhaps with all the winds and hot temperatures, it's doing more than that, or something else is going on? The left side has the oil, and below it, antifreeze.

At the rally I spoke to a woman who has a 2009 G650GS, but the faux tank design and radiator fan are different on her bike.

After getting the bike, a couple rides later I remember asking my husband, is this normal to feel this much heat (on the motocycle and on me)? That's when we had the dealer check it out, then at their suggestion, calling BMW customer service.

Appreciate your ideas and input. Many thanks.

fauster said:

I met the rider in question at the Hamburg Rally and the problem persists. We're discussing it on f650.com as well.

The fan on the new G bikes is much improved over the F bikes, and there's no question that the cooling system on her bike is doing its job. A quick peek below the right faux tank panel confirmed that the fan is clearly visible. On my '05 F, the fan is more hidden by the right panel.

The question still remains - what is generating all that heat?

Click to expand...

Many thanks Fauster for posting on the f650.com site as well!

Have not visited the f650 site...any resolution?
Does the fan run all the time?
I haven't ridden ours enough to notice a lot of heat, H says sometimes it's an issue but not skin burning hot.
Our newest addition KTM Thumper I have been wringin out cycles the fan and only sitting in traffic did I notice some blowing heat...but it was 102 degrees as well

G650GS Overheating

Thanks so much for raising this discussion. I thought I was turning soft or going mad. I ride in town a lot (sad) and when the fan turns on it's a blow torch on my leg.
The service guy says it's not a design flaw, just the way it is. It's kind of unbearable to ride. Has anyone successfully redirected the fan or, even better, received a suggestion from BMW? Thanks a lot.
d

rightoskipper said:

Thanks so much for raising this discussion. I thought I was turning soft or going mad. I ride in town a lot (sad) and when the fan turns on it's a blow torch on my leg.
The service guy says it's not a design flaw, just the way it is. It's kind of unbearable to ride. Has anyone successfully redirected the fan or, even better, received a suggestion from BMW? Thanks a lot.
d

Click to expand...

Welcome to the forum!
Good luck with your issue.
Gary

Any updates

After adding another brand Thumper recently and working on a few F650 singles, sure seems body position and leg length has a causal factor on heat transfer.

I have put about 900 miles on the newer bike and only noticed a bit of heat stuck in traffic. H rode it on open roads at 70 mph and said her right leg was pretty hot, opposite the fan but close to the header.

Same on her 650GS, she feels the heat more than I do, though I feel the air movement when the fan kicks on.

Not saying their are not mechanical causes as well, but where your knees hit sure seems to affect the airflow of heat.

Its ok to say KTM

Omega Man said:

Its ok to say KTM

Click to expand...

You sure?