How will our air cooled engines fare in 100° heat?

[majstevetrevor]

Being in DC, I’ve done plenty of riding in the high 80s and low to mid 90s, but rarely 100. Was planning a ride early next week of two days of about fours each, but I see a prediction of 100° on at least one of the days.  Assuming I can survive it, how do you all think the V7III engine would do?

[Turin]

I've been riding guzzi's in phoenix since 1991. I've used them as my daily driver since I've never owned a personal car with AC.
Guzzi's do fine in the heat. I've ridden at 120 degrees.

What guzzi? small block or big block?

[tonUPRacer]

bike should be fine as long as you're not in stop and go traffic. Personally I hate riding in the heat, I've just gotten soft I guess, if it's above 90, I'm in my vehicle.

[Ncdan]

If you are moving it will do fine. However in that heat range, sitting stationary is another subject.
Get moving ASAP.
I’ve been in situations where I had to take an exit and get  out a traffic jam or find another route,  due to motor starting to knock or ping. This is not good.

[moto-uno]

  Last summer I rode my 2018 Eldorado for hundreds of kilometers in 45 to 49 degrees celcius and
to be honest it ran like it was a walk in the park ! I couldn't say the same for myself . Plus I just returned
from the Broken Arrow meeting last week and for at least 6 hours of the 2 day 1500km ride there my
1980 Le Mans 2 ran in 42+degrees celcius just fine also . So yeah the bikes can handle it , less so us :) . Peter

[Huzo]

TonUP and Dan are spot on..
Australia gets into low 40’s (110) and regularly mid/high 30’s in summer. Pinging in slow traffic or stopped, is a thing.

[Griso8V]

Just got back from a trip from NorCal to SoCal.  We went from cold Bay Area foggy weather to 103+ degree heat down in the valley.  No problems at all even when we had to stop for road work; I did not bother to shut off the bike.  My bike is a 2010 Griso 8V, never a problem one. 
Tony C

[centauro]

All air cooled Guzzis (and old air head Beemers) receive more cooling air than just about any other air-cooled engine configuration.
In fact, during winter season, you may have to ride for at least 20 minutes for the oil to come up to high enough temp to prevent mayonnaise forming in the valve covers.
But I agree, 100 + heat is bad for the rider. If traffic comes to a halt, it is better to find a shady spot and wait it out. Your bike will thank you for that.

[JJ]

I've been riding guzzi's in phoenix since 1991. I've used them as my daily driver since I've never owned a personal car with AC.
Guzzi's do fine in the heat. I've ridden at 120 degrees.

What guzzi? small block or big block?

Agree with Turin 100%.  No issues in 100 degree heat...except the strain / exhaustion of the rider!!  

Have ridden both my air-cooled Centauro GT and Victory Vision in 100+ degree temperatures...but I can tell you...it is NOT pleasant!! 

[majstevetrevor]

Appreciate all the replies. This is about what I thought - as long as I can keep moving the motor should be fine.  But yeah, whether I'll be fine is another question.. Still trying to decide for sure if I want to do the ride in that heat.

[Dirk_S]

Note that riding in temperatures hotter than the surface of your skin is actually working against you, so make sure you're very considerate of your hydration and type of gear you'll be wearing (as I'm sure our arid Southwest Guzzi owners are quite aware).

Maybe bring a few cold packs to stuff into your internal pockets :)

[willowstreetguzziguy]

As far as your body, Hydration vests are cheap and work great in temps above 90 degrees. I bought two.

[Huzo]

Appreciate all the replies. This is about what I thought - as long as I can keep moving the motor should be fine.  But yeah, whether I'll be fine is another question.. Still trying to decide for sure if I want to do the ride in that heat.

I don’t know what level of experience you have, so please excuse me if I appear patronising.
If you believe you are in an environment that may approach pinging conditions, the thing to do is keep your rpm up a bit more than you normally would, in conjunction with lower throttle openings when under medium/high load.

An example might be.
Up in the mountains and you have decelerated down a long hill then rounded a bend and are pulling away back up the grade. You may allow your muscle memory to let the bike rev out to maybe 3,500-4,500 revs at half throttle setting.
Better to apply less throttle and allow the engine to spin up 1,000 revs higher.
The lower cylinder pressure will delay or remove the possible tendency to ping.
Anyway…Here we go….

[Vagrant]

I worked for Stihl for 37 years. About 20 years ago they showed us a slow motion film of an engine with a camera cutout. Every time the plug fired there was a heat wave (for lack of a better term) that went out from the center of the piston through the rings then cylinder wall to the fins and right to the edge of them. So even when sitting still an air cooled engine is still cooling.

[Dirk_S]

I worked for Stihl for 37 years. About 20 years ago they showed us a slow motion film of an engine with a camera cutout. Every time the plug fired there was a heat wave (for lack of a better term) that went out from the center of the piston through the rings then cylinder wall to the fins and right to the edge of them. So even when sitting still an air cooled engine is still cooling.

Still cooling, sure, but when it's moving, the radiated heat is dissipated from the source quicker, aiding in the cooling.

This is where the collective voice says, "Yes, Dirk. We all know how that works."

[PeteS]

I am guessing most are thinking of how well the engine oil stands up to high ambient temps but consider electrical items as well. Air cooled Guzzis and BMWs do pretty well going down the road but put a full fairing on them and it makes it harder for those circuit boards survive. I and many others have had diode boards melt. Solder melts at around 360F to give you an idea how warm it gets around the engine. At least Guzzi mounts their diode boards away from the motor. What was BMW thinking?

Pete

[wymple]

Don't run low octane gas in high heat & the Guzzi will be fine. I do avoid a lot of stop & go & sitting idling.

[Tkelly]

We just rode 1700 miles home from Idaho in that heat in 3 days.We survived by guzzling Gatorade and soaking t shirts at every gas stop.My Stelvio ran fine on regular gas,no traffic jams.

[rocker59]

The 2011 Guzzi National in Iowa and the 2012 Guzzi National in Virginia were very hot.

In 2011 we rode 2-up and pulling a trailer with my V11 LeMans Nero Corsa.

In 2012 we rode 2-up and pulling a trailer with my California Bassa.

Premium fuel and no problems on either trip with the motorcycles. 

But, the 80-degree dew points and 100-degree temperatures just weren't real comfortable for us.

[Alfetta]

What was BMW thinking?

Our vay is da best way, if das motobiken goes kaput, das dealer do fixenupen, you no finger poken in das springin workin !

[Murray]

In very heavy stop start traffic it will start lean idling (idling faster than normal), other than that it won't really care.

[majstevetrevor]

We just rode 1700 miles home from Idaho in that heat in 3 days.We survived by guzzling Gatorade and soaking t shirts at every gas stop.My Stelvio ran fine on regular gas,no traffic jams.

Wow, eight hours a day or so? That’s a lot of hot.. 🥵

[Beowulf]

I commute to Houston and I live 60 miles from where I work the temps can exceed 100 degrees frequently. I’ve used the recommended oil weight religiously and have had no problems stop and go traffic or cruising at eighty. If it’s a long time in traffic exceeding 10 minutes I shut it off after getting out of the way out finds way to keep moving. No issues so far. I always use premium so I imagine that helps. I like the purple yak fat……

[Huzo]

In very heavy stop start traffic it will start lean idling (idling faster than normal), other than that it won't really care.

Ahhh….!
Takes me back to the “why is my bike doing this ?” thread, so it IS just air that’s adjusted via the stepper and not air/fuel to stabilise the idle ?

[LowRyter]

My Bandit detonated severely at Bikeweek.  Bike has an advancer and it was really muggy and in slow slow traffic.  I got better gas and stayed out of traffic and rode on side streets or took the long way around.  Only time it's ever happened from any of my years of riding.

[Stephen]

I have ridden my 2003 18 to 118, no problem.

[Road Rocket]

If old Triumphs built with 1930's technolog that are full warmed up by the end of you driveway can survive south western USA heat, then a Guzzi should have no problem..Ride according, do not load a hot engine, down shift for more rpm and less load on the engine. Use a higher octane if available..

[inditx]

And burp that hot gas tank every so often...
inditx

[Gwilliam]

I have read this thread with interest as I have been experiencing rough running issues with my 2001 California Stone at low speeds in hot weather.
Trying to drive in queuing town traffic with on\off small throttle opening, results in spitting back through the inlet and misfiring.
In cooler weather or on the open road with the engine temperature lower, things are much better. It seems to me that the fuel mixture it too lean and the elevated temperatures aggravate the condition. During the warm up from cold I believe that the ambient air and engine temperature sensors richen the mixture and solve the problem. However, on a hot day with a loaded bike if I hit traffic entering a town the spluttering becomes a nuisance.

This condition began a couple of years ago and became very bad leading me to try swapping plugs, leads, coils, injectors, rubber manifolds etc from a second bike. The bike got to the point that it only ran on one cylinder at low revs and was backfiring badly enough through the intake that it would blow off the vacuum gauges that I had attached.
Eventually, Vagrant suggested that I swap the TPS, despite the fact that only one cylinder was affected. He had experienced various inexplicable symptoms with TPS failures in the past.
He was proved right, when replacing the unit resolved the problem.

I still have this hot running glitch but it may be down to the changes in the fuel chemistry over the last few years. Lead has been removed, octane ratings have changed, ethanol has been added, etc.
I should add that my Stone runs a cut down airbox with a K&N filter, an H pipe to replace the centre crossover muffler and Lafranconi Competizioni exhausts. It has a Power Commander 3usb with a map appropriate to the modifications.

The Power Commander has a useful feature allowing me to adjust the lower third of the the rev range in 2% increments with a button push, without altering the map generally. As we have recently experienced the first ever 40°C temperature in England I have used this feature to richen the 0 - 2700 rpm by 6% which seems to have improved the condition.
It is good to know that there are other owners out there "fighting the good fight" though!

[majstevetrevor]

Update: I bailed! I think the bike would’ve been fine, but just too hot for me. Postponing the trip for a couple of weeks probably.  but it’s nice to have these responses and some anecdotal evidence both ways.