engine heat - Harley Forum

t-ryker · #1 08-09-2009, 09:41 AM

good morning. i just purchased a 2001 glide yesterday. while riding it home the heat from the engine on may legs was almost unbearable. is this normal? thanks for any help.

unclepsycho · #2 08-09-2009, 10:57 AM

Welcome to the forum.
I suppose you could wrap the upper portion of the exhaust to help. I onl;y notice extreme heat on my '06 in the summer, when stopped. do you have too much heat all the time? if so maybe an oil cooler would be in order, to drop the temps a bit. I have not yet installed a cooler on mine, so I will wait for someone that has, and let them suggest which one works best for them.

frisco-rigid · #3 08-09-2009, 04:58 PM

Hi T

Is it your first HD.?
They do get hot.. No offense but "almost unbearable" to you might be just fine to others..

If it is getting much more than just normally hot it could be from poor tuning, lugging in the wrong gear, dragging brakes, poor maintenance, etc. etc. etc.,,,, then add Super Summertime heat and the motor will get very hot..
How hot is your area.?

How much do you know about this sickle and motor.?
Has it been maintained correctly.? Tuned correctly.??

If there are NO probs and it is indeed in good tune, an oil cooler will help keep the oil cooler, which is a good thing, but won't do That much to keep radiated heat down..

clif02 · #4 08-09-2009, 05:12 PM

I too have a 2001 Electra Glide but heat is seldom an issue. Like Frisco said, you have to keep it well tuned. I do have an oil cooler on mine but the engine heat only bothers me if I'm sitting stuck in traffic for a long time when it is really hot out. While moving at any speed above 10 mph radiant heat from the engine is pretty much no issue. I live in Tennessee where it gets pretty hot and very humid. Good luck and I hope things cool down for you. Clif

Spade5 · #5 08-09-2009, 06:48 PM

If you do not know the maintenance history on the bike, I would suggest a fluid change in all three holes and a new set of plugs. You can get a fair idea of how an engine is running by looking at the color of the plugs, but if they haven't been changed in awhile it would be best to start fresh. If it seems to run good and you don't get any coughing or stumbling you are probably OK. The lubricant is the life blood of these air cooled engines and the plugs are a window to the actual combustion mixture. Just my opinion.