Question for guys running full engine shrouds

[dooman92]

SteepNdeep, oil temps very important to longevity. i was very curious about oil temps given the case exposure to heat sucking environment. As kind of expected, oil temps are frequently lower than optimum. The only time oil temps get above 200 is when on trail. The highest I've seen is 250. That is with most of the case covered. With the oil temp info I can make changes as I ride to optimize oil temps and if oil temps stay up for most of a ride I don't worry about changing oil as often.
Regarding your 230 temps. Do you have a fan or heated bars. I have both and I think they both help when the heat load increases.
I'm happy with the Evans. Have not used engine ice. Temps might run a bit warmer with Evans but won't boil over. My fan kicks on at 200 so that helps reduce the 230 temps

 

[wwillf01]

I do a lot of reading on snowbikes, here and facebook and this is the first time I've seen someone mention oil temps. I've always wondered how our coolant temps compare to oil temps. The oil doesn't seem like it would get affected near as much as the coolant by power splashes. Props to you! Cool to hear.

Since you guys are talking about Evans, any of you used engine ice? I've been running it in the summers and seems to do well, spring I was still dealing with high coolant temps last season. Evans better for snowbiking than Engine Ice? I've seen 230 before snowbiking. Seems so hard to keep cool in the spring.

Evan's works great no cavitation so you can run it warmer and never loose your coolant... I run it in everything from our minis to the big bikes without issue... I have hit 275 on a 125 in a race for over 10 minutes... tore it apart for a top end later that year all good...

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

 

[needpowder]

I use engine ice in my bikes. Probably runs slightly cooler, but temps are still an issue in the spring. A tunnel cooler will solve the problem. I wouldreally like to try the Sellkirk set up but my bike doesn’t have e-start.

 

[SteepNdeep450]

SteepNdeep, oil temps very important to longevity. i was very curious about oil temps given the case exposure to heat sucking environment. As kind of expected, oil temps are frequently lower than optimum. The only time oil temps get above 200 is when on trail. The highest I've seen is 250. That is with most of the case covered. With the oil temp info I can make changes as I ride to optimize oil temps and if oil temps stay up for most of a ride I don't worry about changing oil as often.
Regarding your 230 temps. Do you have a fan or heated bars. I have both and I think they both help when the heat load increases.
I'm happy with the Evans. Have not used engine ice. Temps might run a bit warmer with Evans but won't boil over. My fan kicks on at 200 so that helps reduce the 230 temps

I have a kick bike so making the trail tech fan doesn't seem as easy as it could be with the e-start. I do not have heated bars, I've only tired them on a demo Timbersled bike last season and they got crazy hot for me. Regarding those temps, I've seen some coolant come out the overflow but not a full boil over I don't think? Not being able to boil over seems bad? Where do you guys feel like max coolant temps in the winter are? Oil temps would be nice to be able to monitor, I try and keep a close eye on my coolant temp looking down every so often.

I'm really interested to see how the selkirk setup treats guys this season. That thing seems so well built and clean. Looking forward to getting some feedback and maybe getting that with a new bike next season!

 

[dooman92]

Steep, yeah I can see how you could have overheat issues. Without my fan I would have issues too. Trouble with those small coolant losses you end up overheating cause you didn't realize coolant was low until temps spike or it smells hot. When low on coolant you can get hot spots in the engine that can cause damage. Even if not low regular coolant will surface boil on hot spots creating voids or cavitation. With Evans you might run a little warmer but if it never boils you don't lose coolant and you could run temps 20 degrees warmer with no issues. 220 all day long your bike will run forever. And as wwillf01 mentioned, the prolonged 275 didn't hurt his bike. But if that was regular coolant it would have been all boiled out and the engine seized.

 

[eric82930]

Keep in mind not all fancy race bike coolant is also antifreeze. I had some kind of purple coolant that came in a used bike and it froze at 40deg f it stripped the fins off the water pump. And There was a bottle of water sitting out next to it that didn't freeze at all.

 

[Michealmolach]

Does a guy have to empty coolant and pull a hose to get I/D for temp sensor or is there an other way to do it? I have an old rad off the bike and it measures 20mm where the hose goes with a 21mm shoulder (so the hose doesn't slip off) which puts my about half way between the 19mm and 22mm options that Trail Tech offers.

 

[dooman92]

Michealmolach, just in case your not aware of it, trail tech makes a 1/8 pipe thread temp sensor that fits in most thermostat housings. I'm assuming you have a section of hose where the sensor will fit. As I recall, finding a long enough section of straight hose on my bikes made that in line sensor a challenge. Fwiw.

 

[Michealmolach]

Answer to my question above - contact Trail Tech. They took a while to get back to me (e-mail) but they did tell me that the 2001 WR426 needs a 19mm sensor.