| Author | Message | ||
     Djohnk |
We took a short trip to South Padre Island this evening and saw someone with a Uly at a gas station. I did a U-turn and went back to say hello. It the first time I saw a fellow Uly rider down here in South Texas since I purchased my bike about a year ago. Anyway ... during our chat he informed me his fan quit working awhile back so he just removed it and threw it away without replacing it. I was quite surprised by that because today was a 100 degree day and I know he had ridden it at least 100 miles. I am not recommending doing that fan removal modification, but I guess our Uly's are tougher than we think! | ||
| Trojan |
We removed the fan assembly from our race bikes as it wasn't really required for short, fast blasts on track. if your friend spends any time sat in traffic or riding slowly he may well regret getting rid of it though  | ||
| Pons |
The R&D department saw a need for one so i say why take it off. That little motor gets pretty hot. | ||
| Etennuly |
I ran 600 miles in the dead of summer a few years ago when mine died. To aid the bike I shut it off and coasted into many stops, and shut it off in stopped traffic. That was over 20,000 miles ago and it is still good to go. I now run my fan manually, as soon as the engine warms up I turn it on, it stays on until I shut it off when shutting the engine off. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Barker's fan died when he was a long trip a few years back. He removed the fan to unrestrict the air flow until he could get home (which seemed to be a big help), but he installed a new fan as soon as he could. I expect this dude will be changing the rear rocker gaskets very soon. | ||
| Djohnk |
@Hughlysses your right, I asked him if he had any oil leaks and he did ... I told him the rear rocker gasket leak probably caused the fan failure, and that the oil leak sometimes worsens quickly. | ||
| Pons |
TO Etennuly................. How you do that? Put a switch in line? Let me know if you would I'd like to have that option | ||
| Buelldualsport |
Conceptually, you just need a power and ground source, a switch on either side of the two wires, and you would be set. In reality, it might be tougher. Details will be greatly appreciated! (Message edited by buelldualsport on June 25, 2012) | ||
| Hughlysses |
@Hughlysses your right, I asked him if he had any oil leaks and he did ... I told him the rear rocker gasket leak probably caused the fan failure, and that the oil leak sometimes worsens quickly. I think either problem can cause the other. Obviously oil from a rear rocker leak will foul up the fan which can lead to fan failure. I sort of experienced the reverse. When my #77 connector acted up, I had the bike die 3 different times at high speed (due to no charging which eventually killed the battery), which meant I had no cooling fan when the engine shut down. I fixed the connector, but within a couple of months I developed a rear rocker gasket leak. I'm convinced the rear head getting hot due to lack of the fan running caused that. | ||
| Etennuly |
The fan is hot all of the time. It's ground is controlled by the ECM. I cut the wire to the ECM ran a wire to a switch on the bars, and back to a good ground. I used a switch with a lighted toggle handle end. It is a green one that tells me the fan is on. | ||
| Buelldualsport |
Thanks for the update and details. Like the idea of a lighted handle. Cheers | ||
| Pons |
Etennulyvery good thanks  | ||
| Etennuly |
I only did the manual fan due to problems with the ECM controlling it. I am sure on hot summer days it would remind you to turn it on when it starts flashing the engine light and goes into run/skip safe mode. | ||
| Pons |
Back to the switch, you cut the wire to the ECM and didn't use it. You put in your own grounded switch which would be a two prong switch? One wire to fan from switch and one wire to ground from switch??????? | ||
| Danair |
One of the 07's I bought had the comfort kit installed at dealer who also flashed the eeprom for it. Behaves totally different from other 2. Runs way less. I would rather have it run more vs less. Al agrees. Any simple way to reverse this? | ||
| Uly_man |
"Runs way less. I would rather have it run more vs less. Al agrees. Any simple way to reverse this?" If it is like the later bikes the fan should run at low speed all the time from 12-15mph. So in fact it runs WAY MORE. You can hardly hear it and other fan functions are much the same. If the fan works and the engine is running cooler I would say its all good. I used to think that the fan running all the time past 12mph was a daft idea until I got my 2010 bike. It is in fact a very clever solution to cooling the rear cylinder if you think on it. It does not matter what you do, and I have tried, its very hard to cool that rear cylinder even on the move. Also a fan that is not running will act as a restriction IE blockage to the air flow. This in turn heats up the top end of the bike as well as the cylinders. It then gets further down the bike/engine so on a hot day and a good thrash a 06 bike is stupid hot for a air cooled engined bike. Remember an air cooled engine cooling system is nothing like a water cooled one. Sticking half the engine in an enclosed metal box was never the best idea. They did, in the end, manage to get it to work though. Its a shame it was so late in the day. | ||
| Etennuly |
I cut the wire that runs the fan about an inch out from the ECM. I think it is blue. From that point the ECM side is taped back, the other end is where my lead to my switch begins. The other pin on my switch goes to a good ground back on the frame. I run my fan all of the time after it warms up. It has never complained about being too cool. The fan will probably last longer, IMHO, because electric motors, once started, can run nearly for ever, but they have a limited number of start cycles. Mine starts one time per ride. I get to shut the fan off as I get off from the bike. I don't have to wait for a cool down that has been happening all day. I don't recommend this fan switching for everyone. There are two draw backs that I have found. One is you may run it too hot before remembering to turn it on, and the other is forgetting to turn it off. I have done this twice in a noisy, busy environment, ending in a dead battery needing a charge. | ||
| Uly_man |
I am with you 100% on this with a 06 bike ET. "There are two draw backs that I have found. One is you may run it too hot before remembering to turn it on, and the other is forgetting to turn it off. I have done this twice in a noisy, busy environment, ending in a dead battery needing a charge." This is an easy fix ET. I would recommend a slight variation of your system. A three way control switch which would be either full manual over ride, ECM control or local auto control via a thermostat of the correct range. The last one should fix all problems though. None of this is hard and it should be possible to develop a "plug in" kit for the bike. | ||
| Etennuly |
Ah heck, my set up even has a light on the switch. I just need to pay attention.  As far as not turning it on.....the seat will get hot, then it will go into run/skip like it did before I made this alteration. | ||
| Hoppalong |
Etennuly, With your fan's manual switch to ground, can the fan still run at different speeds? | ||
| Pons |
Thanks Ettenuly for the great instructions. | ||
| Etennuly |
Hopp, no it runs on the 'high' speed setting only. Pons, you are welcome, I hope it helps. Also I found it is important to convey the fan's operation to anyone else who might ride the bike. | ||
| Brijasher |
You could use a solid state relay and diode to dummy-proof it. Let the ECU trigger the relay to start the fan and the diode to keep the relay triggered until you shut the bike down. -Brinton | ||
| Brijasher |
Oh, and a 2nd diode to protect the ECU line.  | ||
| Etennuly |
    Engineers! Trying to mess up what a bodyman fixed! You go ahead and train your Uly to do the complicated task of turning the damn switch off(it could not handle the job before, and HD could not make it work). It does not need a Rube Goldberg treatment!(that is what it was) Me.....I will train MYSELF to remember it! Good gawwd! Another part of the human condition lost!  must remember to turn switch off.....ooooooh tough one!)   | ||
| Djohnk |
I want someone to us make us a little module that turns the fan on above certain speeds ... like the newer Ulys do. I would pay $30 to $40 for that. | ||
| Froggy |
Buy a DDFI3 ECM and made an adapter to fit your current harness. | ||
| Djohnk |
Good idea, if I do that I would add the front O2 sensor also. | ||
| Froggy |
That would be doable  |
