FZ6 Overheats, Tiny Pebble is to Blame, Radiator fan toast?

drewbie

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Hi, I had the same problem but my bike was out of waranty. I priced a new fan, A$700. I am from OZ so parts seem to be dearer here. They said you had to replace whole fan unit not just the motor. I pulled the fan off and seperated the motor from the blades. I then took motor apart and found plate (these motors have plates instead of windings) had burns and solid stuff like slag on it. Cleaned and scraped it all off. Then one brush was seized in so forced it out, sanded it down abit, then resolderd it in. Put it all back together and it worked. I know I was lucky as it had not been jammed for a long time so the shorting out was minimal. This might help someone who like me does not have alot of ready cash to spend on over priced and poorly designed spares.
 

TownsendsFJR1300

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Electrically wise, I wonder if it would be worth trying to put in a lighter fuse or an in-line fuse right before the fan.

If a rock got caught up and locked up the fan, the fuse would blow immediatly. You'd notice the bike overheating and investigate (to find the blown fuse and rock jammed up). Remove the rock, replace the fuse, then be on your way... You just have to carry a spare fuse...

Of course a gaurd at the base of the radiator/fan would help too..
 

RJ2112

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Electrically wise, I wonder if it would be worth trying to put in a lighter fuse or an in-line fuse right before the fan.

If a rock got caught up and locked up the fan, the fuse would blow immediatly. You'd notice the bike overheating and investigate (to find the blown fuse and rock jammed up). Remove the rock, replace the fuse, then be on your way... You just have to carry a spare fuse...

Of course a gaurd at the base of the radiator/fan would help too..

Start up current is probably double what the 'running' current is...... that's why fuses don't do a very good job of protecting fan motors.

Make it sensitive enough to protect the fan, and it 'pops' when you first start the fan.... It's a very thin line to balance on.
 

alanrim

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Just had my fan replaced under warranty (bike nearly two years old so only just sneaked under wire :) )

Yamaha have now added a stone guard that fits to the lower two fan mounts and fills the space between the bottom edge of the radiator and the exhaust headers.
 

Norbert

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Just had my fan replaced under warranty (bike nearly two years old so only just sneaked under wire :) )

Yamaha have now added a stone guard that fits to the lower two fan mounts and fills the space between the bottom edge of the radiator and the exhaust headers.

Cool. Could you post some pics of the stone guard?
 

Botch

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This whole failure scenario is one that Yamaha should be addressing another way. Adding a guard to prevent the debris from locking the rotor is treating the symptom. (Darn good solution, but it doesn't address what's really wrong.)

It is incredibly short sighted of Yamaha to use a fan that does not have locked rotor protection built into it. Every high availability server built for the IT industry, as well as the Telecommunicaitons industry uses DC fans very similar to what is being used here.

Most of the fans used, have a self healing fuse that will 'pop' if the rotor is locked for some reason.... and will 'heal' when the unit cools off. It's a very common feature. Buying a fan wholesale at the volumes that Yamaha purchases at..... it would add less than 0.10 USD to the cost of the fan. That's small change, compared to $500 to replace the entire fan and bracket assembly, and possibly replacing an overheated motor as well.....
Correct. This happened to me too last summer, fan motor burned up before the fuze did its job, which is a bad design.
This is the only problem I've had in 22,000 miles, so I guess I shouldn't complain too much, but I'm wary of fresh gravel now... :(
 

mongol777

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We need part number for this plate or does it come as part of fan assembly?
I emailed Yamaha Canada - please email too so we generate the volume.
I will also email Yamaha NA as soon as we get part#
 

alanrim

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We need part number for this plate or does it come as part of fan assembly?
I emailed Yamaha Canada - please email too so we generate the volume.
I will also email Yamaha NA as soon as we get part#

Haven't got a clue on part number, I assume it came as part of the fan kit.
 

Sherpa

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Hello everybody
I found this chat room as I was inquiring about a problem I thought it was exclusive to my self.
I have a FZ6-N S2 (2007), which was damaged by a stone causing the radiator fan to burn.
In Spain, I was asked for 600€ for repair it (which is a rip off). Surfing the net I found a page which I mention underneath, where the same fan cost 202$ plus shipping. At last I have the fan with me for just 200€.
As I can read from this chat room, our problem is that the fan is unprotected. Here is what I have done to solve the problem...
With an aluminium net, I made a circle with a radio of 8.5 cmts. Then I added a frame of 5.5 cmts around it. Finally I place it over the fan using 3 lifters of 0.9 cmts.
I hope it can help somebody.




4S8-12405-00-00 YAMAHA BLOWER ASSY $202.32
 
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mrphotoman

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go to lowes, purchase a piece of gutter guard for around $3.00.

Paint it black (most of them are raw aluminum mesh) then trim to fit with a pair of scissors

zip tie in place.

pics of gutter guard:

gutter-guard-screen.jpg



gutter-guard_10481129_250x250.jpg


this is what our local lowes sells, any hardware store has it for cheap

gutter-guard-on-a-slate-roof.jpg


i am going to do mine tomorrow.
 

heath_AU

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Hello everyone,

Well I was idling in front of my driveway after a long cruise and I look down to see that the coolant temp was 233F. I shut off the bike and the temps goes rising up to 254 and starts blinking. I noticed that I did NOT hear the fan running. So I turn on and turn off the bike. Nada. So then I look at the radiator fan and try to spin it. When I did this, it did not want to move. With a closer look I saw this:

pebble1.jpg


I removed it and started the engine. Still no fan. Well the pebble must have overloaded the fuse. Sure enough after removing panel "D" the fuse was blown.

pebble3.jpg


So I replace it with the spare 20A fuse. I thought this would fix it, but after letting the engine warm up to a temperature of 225, I guess I was wrong. I'm afraid the fan might be toast, but I'm pretty sure there is more stuff between fuse and the fan motor that I havent yet checked... My FZ6 only has 1500 miles. Can anyone please help me out?

Beware of the pebbles. They are evil...

pebble2.jpg
I had this exact same thing happen to my 2008 FZ6N in the first month I owned it.
When the dealership told me it was not considered a design flaw so a new one wouldn't be covered under warranty that was the last time I ever set foot in that dealership.
I just wish I had the time to research the issue more deeply before giving it to them as I recall finding evidence on forums that Yamaha in USA were fitting a different model fan (one that includes a shroud I suspect )
I found a decent generic thermo fan ok eBay for around $50 AUD
It's still running well almost 200000km or just over 10 years on
 

TownsendsFJR1300

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I just wish I had the time to research the issue more deeply before giving it to them as I recall finding evidence on forums that Yamaha in USA were fitting a different model fan (one that includes a shroud I suspect )

The pebble can still get up into the fan and kill it, even with the shroud installed

I made up this do dad which bolts to the lower radiator mount (out of aluminum). It
closes off ALL the space behind the radiator and the fan.

Not installed:



Installed:




.
 
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