- Looking for ways to keep your engine temps down?
Well, I am Chase here at Rocky Mountain ATV MC
and these are my top five tips
to keep your engine running cooler in hot weather.
So we all know that heat
is a silent killer for any motorcycle or ATV's engine,
especially if you ride in a hot climate
or if you do a lot of slower technical riding.
So today, I want to share with you my top five tips
and accessories that are gonna help
keep your engine temperature cooler
and help prevent your motor from overheating.
Now, the first one I wanna share with you
is a digital radiator fan kit coming from Trail Tech.
Now, these are especially important
for riders that do a lot of slow and technical riding.
The reason I say that, because at slower speed,
you have less air passing through your radiators,
so they're not gonna be able to dissipate heat as well.
So the radiator fan kit from Trail Tech
combats that by mounting to the back of your radiator.
Now we offer these as machine specific kits
or there is a universal fan that they have as well.
And it mounts to the back of the radiator
and what's nice is you can actually program these
to turn on at different temperatures.
So when you do reach that temperature that you set it to,
the fan will kick on.
It's gonna pull more air through your radiator
and it's gonna help promote better cooling.
And one feature that we love about these
is you have a digital temp display that you can see.
You can actually monitor your engine operating temperature,
so that's gonna give you a good indicator
of whether or not your bike or your ATV may overheat.
The way it works is really simple.
You're just gonna have a thermal sensor
that goes between your cooling pins on the back.
Once you have it mounted up,
you are ready to rock and roll.
Now my second accessory,
great one to have on your bike or ATV,
is a recovery tank.
This the Motion Pro Coolant Recovery Tank that I have here.
So if you've ever seen a bike or ATV
when it gets too hot and starts to overheat,
you see coolant spewing out the bottom.
Well, this happens because your coolant is getting so hot
that it's starting to boil
and rather than blowing your radiator cap off,
there's an overspill on your radiator
to prevent that from happening.
The problem is is once your coolant starts to spill out,
it is gonna be a loss.
You're not gonna be able to get it back,
unless you happen to have some coolant nearby.
But once you lose it, it's gone
and now your coolant temperature
or your coolant levels could be low.
So what's great about these is they have a hose
that connects the coolant recovery tank to your radiator,
so if that were to happen,
if your coolant starts to boil over,
it will actually be caught by this recovery tank,
and then, as it cools off,
it will actually recycle it back into your radiator,
so you're not gonna lose that coolant.
So, that's a really great accessory to have
that's gonna prevent you from losing coolant
if your bike or ATV does overheat.
So, my third tip and my third accessory,
it's a really simple one, but very efficient
is our Tusk high pressure radiator cap.
So these are really inexpensive.
They just replace the stock radiator cap
that you have on your bike or ATV.
And what they do is they increase the operating pressure
of your cooling systems.
So they have a higher pressure rating than your OEM cap,
and what that higher pressure rating does
is it increases the boiling point of your coolant
and that's also gonna help you prevent losing your coolant.
Another great feature about these
is you can see on the front.
It has a temp display,
so you can actually see what your coolant temperatures are
and it's gonna help you monitor those.
So you gonna have them in a one point eight
for most of your Japanese bikes
and a two point zero for most of your European bikes.
So these don't necessarily make your engine run cooler,
but it helps you keep an eye on your coolant temps
and it's gonna help prevent you from losing coolant
if your bike or ATV does start to overheat.
So my fourth tip is gonna be all about lettin' it flow baby.
So the faster and more efficient
that your engine can circulate coolant,
well the cooler it is going to run.
So I've got a few tips and tricks
that are gonna help promote that.
The first one is an aftermarket water pump and impeller.
So we have a lot of these to choose from
on our website from different brands.
One of our most popular is gonna be the Boyesen brand.
Now, what these do to help with that
is the inside's gonna have a larger flow passage.
It's got a smooth surface,
but a lot of it is gonna be
in the impeller design that they have,
and that impeller design actually has less cavitation.
If you don't know what cavitation is,
it's those air bubbles that form
when the impeller tries to spin really fast,
and the less cavitation you have,
the more efficient your water pump is going to be.
Now, just to give you guys a good idea
of what I'm talking about here,
we recently installed one of these on YZ250.
So, this is the stock impeller
and you can see just how different the impeller
on the Boyesen is.
So, the impeller on the Boyesen
is gonna give you less cavitation.
So, those are great accessory to have
to help promote better coolant flow
through your radiator cooling system.
Now to go along with that,
aftermarket radiator hoses are a great update to do as well.
So, I've got the Tusk brand here on the table.
What's nice about these,
they have imbeded fibers in them,
so they're very strong.
They have a nice smooth surface on the inside
and they're thicker than your OEM tubes,
which actually gonna have a higher pressure tolerance
for your cooling system.
Now a tip that I have for ya' is with your radiators.
You wanna inspect your radiators periodically.
You wanna make sure there's no damage to them
because if you've had a crash or a tip-over
and you have a bent radiator,
that could be restricting the amount of coolant flow
that you're getting.
If you have restricted coolant flow,
it's gonna make your radiators less efficient.
Another thing you wanna be doing
is inspecting your radiator,
your cooling fins that you have here.
These cooling fins are very important.
These are actually what absorb the heat
from the coolant as they pass through the radiator
and dissipate it into the air.
So if you have any of these that are smashed or bent up,
it's a good idea to straighten those out.
I have seen guys use a flathead screw driver.
It's not something I would recommend.
A nice tool that makes it a little bit easier
is this radiator fin straightening tool from Helix Racing.
You can see on the outside,
you can have different size.
They almost look like combs.
You're gonna find the correct size for your cooling fins.
It's just gonna make it easier
to get those straightened out.
Now, my fifth and final tip
just might seem like a no brainer,
but it's just gonna be with your liquid levels.
You wanna make sure you're lookin' at your radiators,
check your coolant levels, make sure they are topped off
before you go out and ride.
And periodically, it is a good idea
to actually just flush out your old coolant
and get some fresh coolant in there.
Now, one brand that we really like
that we've had great success with over the years
is Engine Ice.
Never had any issues with our bikes overheating.
Now, oil isn't thought of too often
when it comes to keeping your engine temps down,
but I'm gonna tell you right now,
it plays a huge role.
So, your oil is gonna lubricate your engine,
so it's gonna help reduce friction,
and we all know that friction is what creates heat,
and it's gonna transfer that heat through the engine
and help dissipate it through the outer walls.
So, you wanna make sure you have the correct amount of oil
in your engine to keep it lubricated properly.
And on the flip side, if you have too much oil,
well, you can create too much pressure in the engine,
and it's gonna actually make it work harder,
which is gonna create more heat.
So, you wanna make sure, look at your owner's manual
and see just how much oil you have
and make sure that your levels are correct.
It's especially important if you have an air cooled motor.
If you have an air cooled engine,
you gotta make sure your engine levels, your oil levels
are right where they need to be.
It is absolutely crucial.
Now, another tip that I do have for you,
another thing, you always wanna look
at your owner's manual for this as well,
but if you are riding in hotter temperatures,
it's not a bad idea to go to a higher weight oil.
If you're in hot temperatures and your engine is hot,
if you have a lower weight, that can actually get too thin,
which is not gonna lubricate your engine
as well as it should be.
It's not a bad idea, in those hot conditions,
to go to a higher weight oil,
but again, look at your owner's manual
'cause they will give recommendations for that.
So, there they are!
Those are my top five tips and accessories
to help keep your engine running cooler
and to help prevent overheating.
And I would absolutely love it
if you guys would comment below.
Leave us your suggestions.
What do you guys like to do
to help keep your engine temps down and prevent overheating?
And then do yourself a favor.
Click on the link.
Head over to rockymountainatvmc.com.
Pick up all the parts and accessories we talked about today.
Click, subscribe to us on Youtube, and don't forget guys,
orders over $75 are always going to ship free.
I'm Chase here at Rocky Mountain
and we'll see you on the trail.