Now then, Tamburinios, my 996 seems to indicate a healthy temp most of the time - rarely above 180F (mid-scale), unless town riding, and often a bit below if I'm, er...making progress, but the headers are kicking off a hell of a lot of heat, so much that the 2 big relays under the seat, and the alarm unit, are getting almost too hot to touch. It's had 50mm carbon termis and chip since I bought it but I don't remember feeling this amount of heat a few years ago. My right ankle never used to get grilled. Is it normal for the relays to get that hot? Can't be doing them much good. Coolant is Motul Motocool organic stuff, and I've checked water pump, thermostat etc. And as I say, indicated temp seems ok. I have noticed some coolant mist/drops around top of fork area, so looks like I have a slight leak and maybe loss of pressure. Bike runs great, except when running really hot in town, when it gets grumpy and starts misfiring, causing me to get grumpy in turn. Any ideas?
The leak around the front is probably from the plastic header tank. A lot of them do fail. Don’t know what it is but sometimes I get a proper toasting and other days it feels fine, spirited riding or just around town.
just a hunch - when was the last time you took off your carbon cans/inspected them? I'm sure you know that they don't last as long as their aluminium or titanium clad counterparts and can deteriorate pretty quickly. First place to suffer is the area that is arguably the hottest, roughly half way along and between the tubes where you can't see it happening. Starting with a discolouration that becomes a darker and darker shade of brown until brittle and finally perforated when fully "baked". Even half-way through this ageing process, the surface temperature of the casing is higher than when new, so could explain what's happening. other than that, I know you said indicated temp seems the same but have you changed the Eprom/chip/ or bike running leaner for some reason?
As another alternative, if you think the exhaust is making a lot more heat than before it may need a tune. If it's running too lean the exhaust gas will be a lot hotter
I've never bothered/never had the chance due to shells failing first as above plus the removable baffles count for quite a high percentage of their overall silencing efficiency anyway I believe.
I haven't inspected the pipes/shells but will definitely do so now. Thanks for the tip Chris. Got me worried about my carbon cans now . The bike was re-chipped for the pipes before I bought it, and it ran great and until recently seemed fine, heat-wise. I've been wondering about it running lean so will get it checked out. I've checked for air leaks on inlets etc but found nothing. The only thing I did do was fit Pipercross filters, but that was a few years ago.
Have you changed your leather trousers from fully leathered to ones with stretchy elasticated panels? If so, that's the change in heat sensitivity. My 916 has full 50's and it gets warm and char grilly when its hot ambient and slow riding. Not a patch on an 1198 or a 1299 though which is like riding lava naked. My relays and RR get toasted too. Daft place to put them, but thats Ducati for you.
I say, I'm not discussing my elasticated trollies on a public forum. Again. Good point though. But no, I haven't changed them. I just turn 'em inside out.
