(following applies to my 1995 zx-6r)

For reasons beyond my control, I tried to drive my Bike (without any of the plastics on it)to work (75 miles round trip) this morning. I let the bike warm up for about 8 minutes, then hopped on and decided to go... About 10 minutes into the ride I noticed that the temperature gauge was very abnormaly low (like 1/16 of the way up)... The bike was running rough (snapping/popping) so it seemed like it was running crazy rich..

I got off the interstate and decided to head back home and swap vehicles.. As I pulled off the interstate and sat at the redlight, the temp gauge went up to just below the half way mark (like it usually is)..... Pulling back onto the interstate (while up to temperature) the bike ran great, no hesitations, popping ect...... Well as soon as i got up to interstate speeds it went to driving like crap and the temp was down to nothing again...

What would cause this? Would having the body off cause this condition?? Any help appreciated.

 

Huh.. well i put the body back on to check it out, but it is supposed to rain today... anyone have any insight?

 

just guessing here but it sounds electrical. did you take a water hose to it?

 

Not this year.. It has been stored.. The weird thing is that it does fine with the body on... I drove it yesterday and it ran great..

 

thermostat sticking open will do that

 

don't take the body off

 

The fairing helps retain the heat around the radiator & engine to let the thermostat regulate it. Without the bodywork, all the heat is dissipated from the radiator tanks and around the engine like an aircooled motor. Also the Ram-Air effect is gone without the fairings and that could cause less air to be pushed in the airbox (maybe even causing a vacuum) causing a richer mixture.

 

+1
I agree.. you know, they design fairings they way they do for a reason ;]

 

I am having the same problem on my 05 636. i just changed the thermostat and it did not fix it so I will try one more thermostat and see if i got a defective one. after that I am at a loss. Mine is not runing rough but i know it is not in the most efficient mode until it hits the correct temp (180+) so i am down on power and that is not good for a race bike.