Superbike owners share valuable engine cooling hacks

Other jugaad trick is to remove the thermostat valve from the system that starts circulation of coolant straightway (I won’t risk that).

BHPian drsureshmohan recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

Over the years, riding big bikes in India and living in a hot city, I found a few effective tricks that work well to reduce engine temperature and increase comfort.

We have two types of coolant - the more popular ethylene glycol and less popular methylene glycol sold as engine ice, de-ionised water and water wetter. The properties of the glycols are anti corrosive, anti freeze and they increase the boiling point of water eg. 50:50 coolant:water - 106C from 100C and 60:40 coolant:water to 125C. Ethylene glycol is highly poisonous to our eyes. Methylene glycol is not harmful and pet friendly. The downside of coolants is heat transfer property.

De-ionised water is the safest and best, that too if used with water wetter, has the ultimate cooling efficiency which is used on racetracks and for racing due to its higher specific heat and due to the dangers of coolant spill that causes slipperiness on the track. The downside of using only de-ionised water + water wetter is that you have to change every year vs three.

The most effective coolant I’ve found in South India is de-ionised water + water wetter (max heat conductivity) next only de-ionised water. Next is water 70% and coolant 30% and the least is engine ice (pet friendly, expensive and doesn’t do well in South India's hot weather).

Please note: I’m not a sponsor for any coolant company.

Other jugaad trick is to remove the thermostat valve from the system that starts circulation of coolant straightway (I won’t risk that).

I will be glad to learn more from the group.

Here's what BHPian CrAzY dRiVeR had to say on the matter:

Regular checks and cleanliness of the radiator plays a good role. Most bikes will have a ton of slush thrown from the front tyres and sticking to the radiator fins. This reduced surface area for heat dissipation will really make the system work harder!

And then - there are folks who put large grills which have UK flags and such designs for the radiator guard, severely restricting airflow. A small mesh is the max you would need!

Here's what BHPian krishnaprasadgg had to say on the matter:

I'd like to add a few points as well.

1) Firstly regarding the coolant choices. Whenever changing between coolants, please do yourself a favor and do a thorough and proper flushing using distilled water.
No matter how many flushes you do you can never fully remove all the old coolant particles and gooey deposits from all the coolant channels but a couple of proper flushes help take out most of it, if not when you mix the new type of coolant it will invariably mix and get contaminated with the old coolant (may times they don't mix well too) and reduce the cooling efficiency from the get-go.

2) Next would be to stay on top of the coolant hose replacement timeline, rubber hoses get hard and brittle overtime, and that can cause small leaks and with the coolant system being a pressurized system, can cause sudden failures in the form of ruptured hoses, which can be catastrophic.

3) Change your coolant religiously, coolant much like any fluid breaks down after a certain number of heat cycles, the manufacturer might say to change once every 2 or 3 years, but if you live in a very demanding area weather-wise or you like to run the bike very hard or do a lot of city commutes, your coolant goes through a lot of prolonged heat and heat cycles, in that cases the given timelines don't hold good. So be mindful of that. An additional point to notice is when coolants break down(other than distilled water) they form a slimy gooey deposit and this either forms a deposit at the bottom of the radiator or at the overflow tank, which means it will travel through your coolant channels in the engine, which if gone unchecked can clog coolant pathways and is a sure shot way to have an expensive paperweight or coffee table base ideas come to fruition, so that's another reason why changing coolant religiously before it starts breaking down is a good idea.

4)This is optional but a very worthwhile step although it's expensive, ditch the rubber hoses and go for silicone hoses, multiple reasons for this, rubber hoses have an expiry and a limited number of heatcycles it can take before it starts to wear out and reduce its efficiency in flowing fluid smoothly while silicone hoses usually outlive the rider themselves.

Why do I say about coolant flowing smoothly? because it plays a big deal in how well your cooling system operates, the internal of rubber hoses are not smooth as compared to silicone hoses so when hot coolant is gushing through the hose(remember it is a pressurized system) it can form cavitations and air pockets within the flow and this passing through the radiator can reduce the efficiency in which, with silicone hoses, they promote a smooth flow of coolant thereby causing no cavitation or air pockets which inturn makes sure you are not sapping away at the cooling efficiency.

Another point for silicone hoses is they can withstand much much higher pressure than a rubber hose without rupturing. The levels they can withstand are much higher than the pressure build-up that's possible in most cases for motorcycle usage.

5) Also keep an eye on your coolant level, coolant just live water can also evaporate, and in many bikes, the coolant overflow tank is kept in locations that are inaccessible to have a quick look, running a bike with low coolant also is a big reason why you bike is running hotter than it needs to be and this also puts more stress and wear and tear on your cooling system and also your engine internals, remember a modern engine has much tighter tolerances and uncontrolled or unwanted heat expansions is not something they are designed to take.

6) While removing the thermostat is not advisable, what a lot of people do(usually when getting an ECU flash) is to set the trigger point for the radiator fans at a lower temperature setting than whats set by the manufacturer, while there is a case to say that it might reduce the life of the radiator fan, I feel its a fair compromise if you have to replace a fan in 5 years when ideally it might have run 7 years.

Read BHPian comments for more insights and information.