Cooling fan wont come on.

OK guys. Only intelligent respones, OK?
I have an 06 1300C with 14500 miles. I bought it with 12000 on it. I noticed the cooling fan never came on. And the engine clatters like a typewriter when rolling on the gas. I checked out the fan by grounding the wire connected to the thermostatic switch at the bottom of the radiator, the fan works fine.
Then I replaced the thermostatic switch with a new one at a cost of about $40. Still the fan wont come on when riding on a hot day.
So I checked continuity from the engine to the thermostatic switch and it's ok. But I installed an additional ground wire from the radiator to the frame. Still, no fan. Then I installed a small switch from the on the left switch housing to the wire leading to the T-stat switch. The fan works fine when I switch it on.
I'd like for the damn thing to work. My buddies fan on his 07 works fine. I believe the previous owner didnt know anything about this and therefore didnt correct the problem. As a result of running extra warm it has caused extra wear upon the valve train.
The bike runs great, gets 49-50 miles per gallon. I could leave it alone but I wont.
Anyone with experience in this matter with a solution?

I have an 06 1300C and I have never had a problem with the fan ,, BUT i could check the wires and tell you the wires color and the resistance on them if you have a meter. just let me know.

Thanx but the wiring checks out.

Check all engine grounds,they can check to have continuity but not be connected good enough (or dirty inbetween contact surfaces) to carry amperage when systems are operating and fan tries to come online. Good Luck

As I said above, I performed a continuity check and it checks out. But, just to be sure I added an additional ground wire.
No to sound stuffy but electronics are my thing, but, sometimes something slips by me. I am an Air Conditioning Contractor. Most of my work is about electrical trouble shooting. Honda may have sold me a bad thermostatic switch unintentionally. Either way I have it in control manually.

To test the wiring for the fan.
Remove the wire from the T-switch from the bottom of the radiator. Connect a spare wire to the T-switch wire. Touch the other end to the engine as to make a good ground. Turn on the ignition. The fan should be operating now. This will not test the T-switch.

Take the switch back ask to talk to the tech in charge and tell him what you told us and see if he has a test for the new switch and come back here and let us know what it is , so we all will know.
Thank you.
Horse

Check for a loose ground on the battery terminal.


...................bobby


.

Battery terminals tight.

Your guessing.

I have to tell you Im not completely happy with the 1300. I only paid $5000 for the bike. If I had paid alot of money for this machine I would be pisssed alot. Plastic parts all over it. No fuel gauge. Undergeared. Best looking cruiser though.
The primary thing that bothers me about the bike is it's geared to damn low. I like getting on the highway and covering alot of ground some times. This bike doesnt cut it. The motors way too busy and it's gobbling up extra fuel. Absolutely no damn reason for Honda to make this kinda mistake. Maybe they are part owners in the gas industriy, lol.
I had hoped that by putting the 16" rear wheel and tire it might even improve it's touring capacity but it's not enough.
Recently, I rode to Austin for a big bike rally. 8 bikes in the group. I had the only Honda. 6 other Harleys. We typicall rode 80 everywhere we went because thier bikes are geared that way. It sucked, I was wanting to shift up constantly. As it stands I have a bike only suited for cruising in the speed range any 500cc motorcycle would be suited for. I'm doin a little searching to see if the ring and pinion gears are interchangeable from the goldwing or the St1300. If I dont make any headway I'll probably dump the bike and look to a BMW motorcycle. Those guys know how to build bikes.

I had an Intruder 800 with the same problem. It was a sensor up in my speedo.

M50 wrote:I had an Intruder 800 with the same problem. It was a sensor up in my speedo.

ouch that must have hurt, when i ride i use blue jeans.

starider wrote:Battery terminals tight.

Your guessing.

I have to tell you Im not completely happy with the 1300. I only paid $5000 for the bike. If I had paid alot of money for this machine I would be pisssed alot. Plastic parts all over it. No fuel gauge. Undergeared. Best looking cruiser though.
The primary thing that bothers me about the bike is it's geared to damn low. I like getting on the highway and covering alot of ground some times. This bike doesnt cut it. The motors way too busy and it's gobbling up extra fuel. Absolutely no damn reason for Honda to make this kinda mistake. Maybe they are part owners in the gas industriy, lol.
I had hoped that by putting the 16" rear wheel and tire it might even improve it's touring capacity but it's not enough.
Recently, I rode to Austin for a big bike rally. 8 bikes in the group. I had the only Honda. 6 other Harleys. We typicall rode 80 everywhere we went because thier bikes are geared that way. It sucked, I was wanting to shift up constantly. As it stands I have a bike only suited for cruising in the speed range any 500cc motorcycle would be suited for. I'm doin a little searching to see if the ring and pinion gears are interchangeable from the goldwing or the St1300. If I dont make any headway I'll probably dump the bike and look to a BMW motorcycle. Those guys know how to build bikes.

I have to guess..... I am not there to be able to check this stuff myself!..... Product of elimination to find the NOT so obvious.
You are dead on...Honda could have made the best bike on the planet with a little fore thought! But with that being said...I wouldn't trade my 1300C for any other motorcycle!

.....................bobby

.

Yeah, I love looking at the thing. And putting aroud the area. Seems a waste of good CC's.

Well I added an additional ground wire to the ground next to the fan mount and today it's 100 out. My son and I rode into the city and to my suprise the fan was running all by itself. I sat here about a minit with the engine off and ignition and it turned itself off after about 15 seconds. It sure gets mighty hot before it goes on. I read somewhere it comes on about 213-217. Man thats close to boiling point of water.

The coolant has antifreeze in it which raises the boiling point. Thats the same temperature that cars run.

if you want to check the thermostat hook up an ohm meter to it, put it in a pan of water on the stove with a thermomoter in the water also and see what temperature the switch closes as the water heats.

How many Ohm's will it read at 215 degrees?

It should be less then 20 Ohms but it should be higher temperature like 217-220 to get the full close 1-8 Ohms.
All thermistor switches never really go totally to 0 Ohms, but that was a good idea about putting in hot water with a meter on it.
good luck,
Horse

It is ery rare for these fans to come on. The only time mine has ever came on was last summer sitting in dead stop traffic with the heat from the raod burning me up. It came on just until I started moving then it shut right back off. They run hot as hell but that is a good thing as the fan is not blowing the heat back at me.

Water boils at something like 100C or 112F . H2O
Ethylene glycol boils at about 198 C or 388F . H-HCOH-HCOH-H

I know, a very late reaction to this post.
I'm riding in the tropics, 90-98 degrees all year long. In the beginning I
was anxious since the fan didn't seem to turn on. In fact it didn't, only
when I had to stop for a traffic light or so.
Seems that this the way it works as explained in earlier posts regarding
the collant and riding wind.
So, no worries, all is great. The X and especially yhe 1300 is a great bike.