Oil Cooler Problem?

[Gauche Rider]

Sitting in traffic on last night's commute, I noticed quite a bit of smoke in front of the bike.

At first I thought it was coming from the exhaust of the car in front and being illuminated by my recently fitted HID's (thanks again, Les ), but I couldn't be sure.

Then I thought the lights might be melting their way through the the beak (or whatever and yes, I know they're cooler than standard, but paranoia was setting in!).

Needless to say it didn't happen again and I got home without bursting into flames. I left the engine running for a few minutes and all was well, but on checking around the front of the bike, noticed that the oil cooler was REALLY hot. Being a mechanical numpty, I'm not sure if this is normal and if I have a problem or not - the engine temperature was fine and the oil level just below full.

Thoughts please!

 

[cookie]

it's full of oil circulated up from the engine, so it gets pretty hot

 

[John Armstrong]

On some BM's IIRC the oil cooler is set to be of use at about 105 degrees C. So I'd guess the oil cooler is designed to get hot. On all my bikes I only rarely got above half way on the RID for the temperature and never saw "smoke" coming from it. Could you have spilt oil / WD40 / ACF 50 onto it, or got some gunge from the road.

BTW it couldn't have been steam could it? Caused by spray off the road

 

[harry]

When it's wet I get smoke/steam coming off hot front lens. Probably that.

 

[peterh]

Or if washed, you can get steam coming from the oil cooler once it has warmed up.

Looked dramatic first time I saw it. Of course, after washing (the bike) you could just ride the bike up to walking pace and jam the front brake on hard. On a dry road you might be surprised how much water spits out of the oil cooler area ...

 

[zerocool]

have you washed it recently?

Ive washed my 1150 before and water is obviosly sat in the cooler, first time it gets hot enough it turns to steam, ive had it so bad it steams up my screen when riding slow, nothing to worry about although worth a additionaly check to makes sure it is just water.

 

[Magwych]

Used to happen to me every time I packed my bike up from BMUU Park Lane Service Centre at Battersea. I could get as far as Kennington, then whenever I braked a pool of water from their pressure washing would get thrown onto the oil cooler, resulting in clouds of steam.

The first time it happened I killed the motor immediately and sat in the middle of the road scratchimg my head. Fortunately for me, they had closed by that time; thus preventing me from taking it back and embrassing myself big time

However, it would be wise to check before assuming you are in the same boat, just in case... Had you washed/rinsed it just prior o teh incident, or do you park outside - in the rain ?

 

[GSmonkey]

Hot bike in the wet = steam at a standstill. All quite normal.

 

[Gauche Rider]

Cheers Guys

The ACF50 day was a couple of weeks ago, so it's not that. And obviously I haven't washed it since.

As I recall, it was a little damp - it might be that it didn't look as dramatic in the previously inferior light!

Thanks for the reassurances, keep safe