Anyone know of an engine temp gauge, aside from the full vapor one? Don't need all the bells and whistles, just a basic, accurate gauge, preferably digital, that is easily mountable?

Thanks1

 

They make them for cars all day long. Get a cup mount. A four stroke is a four stroke, they are supposed to operate in the same ranges. Should work fine.

 

Finding a lot of round water temp gauges, or oil, but want something smaller and easier to mount, both on the bars (or around there) and easy to mount on cylinder to keep an eye on it.

 

Something like this maybe?

Digital Motorcycle MotoBike Volt OIl/Water temp Gauge Meter LED Waterproof 3in1

If you search "Top Gauge digital motorcycle gauge", there's another model that's just the temp and voltage.

Just realized the company is local to me. Selling for about $25 here.

I'm trying to figure out if that temp sensor would be a simple plug and play thing or if I'd need to splice a hose or something? One of their pics looks like that. Some type of inline metal piece with the sensor in it.

 

You could consider seeing if you can chop down the larger round digital models. I'm betting it is a small chunk inside that big shell. Get some ABS plastic and some plumbing pipe cement for ABS and glue up a box. Broken street bike body parts are ABS plastic.

FWIW

This reminds me of the recent answer Cycle World's tech editor had to say to a Triumph rider who was all about putting a fan on his bike's oil cooler to keep it cool, his oil temp gauge he installed read up to 220°! The tech editor told him he should take the gauge off the bike, considering it has been an extremely reliable model for years, Triumph has no problem with regular oil temps upward around 250°, and just ride it.

Then there was that thing back in the late 80s with the ZX600 Ninjas that "ran hot", the gauge indicated high readings. The fix - a resistor spliced into the wire to drop the gauge reading. Seems Kawasaki didn't see anything wrong with water temps up as high as 260° in hard running and constant temp around 220-230.

There is a reason thermostats can be as high as 195° are used and fans don't run constantly. The manufacturers feel a good base level for temps would be around 195° as a minimum. Clearly the maximum would be a fair amount above this since there would be a range where the vehicle will run without the fan running.

The KLX has been around in 250 and 300 form since 1994. It has no history of overheating. If you feel the heat it is because there is a real internal combustion engine between your legs, plus a hot exhaust header pipe running the length on the right. Then there are the radiators that, per their name, radiate the heat to keep things good. Clearly it must work since they have had the design for two decades. I am not sure if the early 250 or any of the 300 off road models actually had fans on them like the dual sport street legal models. I know most of the KLX650R off road models didn't run fans.

I don't think the fan has ever come on in all the time I've ridden my 250, at least that I've noticed. My KLX650 running dual radiators like the 250, but a shade bigger will have the fan run if the bike sits for five or so minutes in 80+ degree weather or in really tight woods riding if I stop for a minute or two in slow riding. It shuts off within a minute or so, apparently doing the job.

I'm thinking you'll get bored looking at a temp gauge. But hey, that's just my opinion. A slight play on the original - YTMV.

 

Klx678,

You're probably right, just me being paranoid... I was just wondering about it because after the 351 and pumper, after riding for about 30 street minutes, my handheld temp read the cylinder at about 195 degrees F. While this is not too worrying, this was on a cool, 50F day....kinda wondering what tight single track will do to her lol...

When I installed the BB, I noticed that the cylinder gasket pre cut holes didn't exactly line up with the coolant routes/holes in the cylinder itself. I asked Bill about this, and he said not every gasket is perfect and it's fine.

Again, me being paranoid lol... More for my own piece of mind I guess...


And if you make the cam chain tensioner, I gotta order one...

 

The klx is certainly known for not overheating, but that doesn't mean it isn't possible. Thinking of the recent thread where the guy forgot to add oil. Not sure if a temp gauge would have made any real difference to the end result, but one could have set off the alarm bells in his head before catastrophic failure, depending where the sensor was located...

Living in Canada and the US it probably wouldn't matter for the most part. You guys are lucky. Where I live my fan is on a LOT. My playground is the mountains. It's HOT and very humid here in summer. (most the year) On the mountain rides I'm hitting steep switchback after switchback, often several in a row. The fan never shuts off.

I'm also heavy for this bike and have a good amount of gear weight. This just adds to the engine stress. I wish I had a heat gauge for these rides. Everything may be fine, but it wouldn't hurt to know if I'm pushing the temps too high for too long. Can shut her down for a bit.

The city riding's no better at times. Hot enough as it is...then add 100 scooters surrounding me, all giving off their own heat. Even when my bike was 100% stock I had a couple overheating lights in traffic.

I'm prob a special case, I know. (my wife keeps telling me this. hahaha...) These things are cheap, so why not? I figure it would be like bringing a PLB, like a SPOT. You'll likely never use it, but if something happens you'll be glad you had it.

Only question is, where is the best spot to mount the gauge? Oil plug, coolant hose, or cylinder head?

 

I was more about it not being hypercritical or whatever. On the other hand, it is a thing to do. I was actually coming back to cut out part of my comments since they did seem a tad derogatory and negative.

When it comes to some hot rod spirit you got it. So I did a quick search and found this Trail Tech temp gauge:



Quick fit in a hose with peel and stick backing, only $43 bucks! There is a spark plug version too. It actually looks kind of cool, so why not!

Now for another bit to cure the paranoid... my brother really wasn't paranoid, but figured the science made sense and I followed suit. We both got the Thermobob from the Wattman. The whole concept of a bypass allowing coolant flow in the cylinder area while the thermostat is closed makes total sense - especially considering cars have run a bypass system for decades. The coolant circulation creates a more uniform coolant temperature range around the cylinder when the thermostat is not open or partially open. Uniform coolant temp around the cylinder made sense to me. He has a Canadian distributor too, so less shipping cost.

To add a tad of relief to the paranoia, I would venture to guess that since Kawasaki primarily made the 250 for the Asian market at a facility in Thailand, that they heavily tested it in hot areas where it would be sold. One other thing in comparison. The KLX has two radiators where Honda only used one, I'm thinking it has more cooling fin area.

But hey, it's always fun to add something interesting. I find it interesting that some riders want to add thermometers, thinking hey, I know when it's cold and when it's not. But they want one so have at it.

I will say there is one thing missing off the digital gauge set up on the 09 and later bike that I never thought I would actually want on a bike - a gear indicator, the one on my Nighthawk S was superfluous for me. The notchiness of the shifting makes it so I am not always certain if I am in first, especially if I have to downshift at a stop. Never needed one before, but it seems I'm for ever in second or third on this bike riding the road when coming to a stop. Otherwise all I need is a speedo with a trip meter to keep track of miles on the tank of gas. All else is eye candy.

Side note on gaskets. Sometimes the factory gaskets don't conform either. At times it may be intentional. Honda did that with an oil feed on their CBR600F-F2 cam chain tensioners. They went from a paper gasket with the early model to a metal gasket having the feed hole restricted to about 1/8 the size of the previous one. That and the head/cylinder castings may vary some amount too causing overlap. In that situation if you were really concerned you could trim the gasket if it really bugged you.

Oh, I do still make the tensioners should yours go bad. No noise no problem, but replace the OEM when it does go bad.

 

Lol, funny thing is, I didn't find it derogatory at all, maybe I don't get *** hurt as quickly as others

Wondering if it's better to get a water temp, or a cylinder head temp? I also found these:

https://www.rockymountainatvmc.com/p...ature-Stickers

Not as in your face as a readout, but much cheaper, and apparently easy to take a quick look at. Racers use them on rads and cylinders.


From what I understwnd about the thermobob, all it does it keeps the temp at 185 as opposed to say 160. Does this keep it cooler? If it rises to 200 does the fan come on sooner? Again, all I see it doing, and it is good, is keeping everything a uniform operating temp of 185.

Funny I can't even find a cheap China temp sensor... They make everything lol

 

Although my opinion is you don't need to worry about temps, but seems like you have your mind made up. If you can deal without having a mounted gauge reading, maybe just get a lazer point temp gun. Base of plug, exhaust pipe at cylinder port, etc. They work great and cheap.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VUZQKS0..._HHIpwbVFNRG7C