K1100LT almost overheated - HELP

[wb1hsnp]

All,

this morning on my way to work, I got stuck in major traffic and to my horror, the fan never kicked on. Luckily I got moving just before the temp gauge went all the way into the "red". The red "temperature light" in the cockpit came on for about 20secs, but then went out as soon as I got moving. What controls for the fan to come on? Could it be a bad thermostat? Bad fan? Where would you start to troubleshoot this. Bike is a '97 K1100LT with about 43k miles.

Thanks in advance,
Andy

[jdiaz]

Its usually the fan. You can remove the right knee pad from the fairing (two screws up by the fairing pocket, and one down at the bottom), then reach in there and see if you can spin the fan by hand. If its hard to move, then it probably seized on the shaft and melted the contacts.

And it blew the fuse. Check and make sure your horns work.....if they don't, the fan died and the fuse blew.

[wb1hsnp]

Jon,

thank you for replying. I went out for lunch and checked on the horn, it still works, so I presume the fuse to the fan should still be good. Hopefully this evening I will check to see if I can move the fan by hand. What if I can, what should I check next?

Andy

[jdiaz]

Hmm, if the fuse is ok, and the fan turns out to spin easily, then maybe its just a dead fan relay under the tank. Replacement of that is quite simple.

[wb1hsnp]

Jon,

I took your advice to see if I could spin the fan by hand, much to my surprise I found that the fan is simply dangling there, inside the fan housing. It is as if it came off the shaft?????? I wonder if I should order a new fan assembly, I understand that you have to buy the entire unit, or if I can just remove it and see if I could reattach the fan? Not quite sure if it is bolted on from the factory or what. I have noticed an increased vibration through the handlebars (makes my throttle hand tingle after just 10 miles or so, so I wonder if that caused the fan bolt to back out?) All fuses are fine.

Andy

[sportridertex]

A friend of mine has a 1998 K1200RS, he had a similar problem, bike started running, Hot and blew the fan fuses, turns out the the left cooling fan had seized up and the blades had actually come off the shaft.

Replaced the left fan , problem fixed.

[jdiaz]

I took your advice to see if I could spin the fan by hand, much to my surprise I found that the fan is simply dangling there, inside the fan housing. It is as if it came off the shaft?????? I wonder if I should order a new fan assembly, I understand that you have to buy the entire unit, or if I can just remove it and see if I could reattach the fan? Not quite sure if it is bolted on from the factory or what.

WOW! I've heard about this happening, but usually it results in the motor shaft drilling a hole in the radiator. Looks like you caught it in time, but you gotta take the bike apart to fix it. Its not a terrible job....the lowers have to come off, drain the cooling system, and sometimes you can get away with just removing the top hose and tipping the radiator down.

New fans are available from Beemer Boneyard for $135.