Okay, my testing leads me to believe it is the thermostat stuck closed, but I'd like a sanity check... I warmed the bike up, without riding so there was no airflow through the rads. When it reached the point where there was steam coming out of the overflow, the fan had not come on. Normally, the fan has worked fine. This leads me to believe it's the thermostat because the thermostat being closed would prevent the coolant from flowing up to the fan temperature sensor and turning on the fan. Does that sound reasonable? Given that, I will probably order the Pro Factory hoses, as they sound like the best fit. In the meantime, has anyone attempted to remove the thermostat from the housing as a temporary fix? Is it possible to disassemble the housing?
Pvduke used AN fittings to delete his thermostat on a TE300, never seen this done on a 310, but I'm sure it's possible.
Leave the cap off and see when coolant begins to flow. You'll know if the thermostat is opening. I have seen the thermostat open with fan not running. The fan is like prior to the danger level. The thermostat should open at normal operating levels. In my analysis. As well... Since running ZipTy XF+ my fan does not run. Thermostat opens (now gone), but never gets to fan temps. Very effective juice.
I did try that (leaving the cap off) and seemed to see some bubbling up with steam, but no flow. After a while, I replaced the cap and tried to check it like a car, where you could squeeze the hose and feel the coolant flowing, but it really just felt pressurized, and I couldn't feel any flow.
Tough call. Run it longer or blame the thermostat. In any case a change of the hoses and change of coolant will get you where you want to be for not much. I'd do the hoses instead of plugging or splicing stock.
I'm definitely doing the hoses. I asked about the temporary solution as I was hoping to get out this weekend. There's no chance of receiving the hoses before then. I doubt I'd even get the materials to make what PVDuke did (thanks for that suggestion, Tinken!), so I've pretty much resolved myself to missing another weekend.
Unfortunately, it'd never make it to Canada in time. Their website only shows free shipping, even when I enter my Canadian address. I did find an ebay seller that offered express shipping, but it still listed 4-6 business days, for $35 US.
Well, I received the Pro Factory hoses yesterday, and put them on the bike. It was too late to ride, so I just made sure everything fit. Had a small leak from the hose at the bottom of the left rad. Removed the clamp and reinstalled it and it seems to hold now. Had a chance to ride tonight, but just took it on the road. I basically followed the route I take to the trails so I could approximate the distance. Last time, the FI light started flashing just as I got to them. This time, I got there, but since I didn't have all my gear on, I only did a very short bit of trail. I then rode straight home, so there was no time for the bike to cool down. No FI light at all, so hopefully, this was the issue. I'll give it a real ride, hopefully on the weekend, to know for sure. I also have to cut the hose open and splice in the fan temperature sensor. Definitely need the fan for the single track stuff. Regarding the blinking code, my dealer didn't have any documentation as to what it may have represented, and would've had to hook it up to the HST to find out. I should also mention, I tried pouring boiling water in the thermostat to see if it was functioning. The thermostat opened enough for water to flow through, but only about 2 mm, so it did seem faulty. Thanks again for the suggestions people offered. It is appreciated.
Well, finally got a full ride in with loads of tight single track. No problems! I also found my fan switch was shot, so I wired in a manual switch. Regardless, I think I'll still splice in a thermo switch.
Glad it worked for you as well. As an update : I've been riding single track on a weekly basis in 90+ degree heat without skipping a beat. I spliced In the thermo switch and it works great. Without the stat there are only 3 hoses where 6 used to be. To this day I've never found any documented reason why the FI light would blink for an over heat condition. Kind of glad it did though. Last thing: I did change to the Zip Ty coolant. The fan will run during tight single track but not as much as it did before
