I had installed a Texas Ranger sidecar on our 2003 Kawasaki 1500 Vulcan Nomad and now experience an overheating problem with the engine after about a 40 minute run in the heat with the bike very difficult to shift and ultimately shutting down. Anyone else experience this problem and have any suggestions? Thanks so much.
That model had a recall on it.
http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/motorcycle_recalls/49/2003/kawasaki/vulcan/41890.html
Insufficient oiling could cause the problems you describe.
is your fan working? plus they run lean. i had 2001 nomad and the fan would go on and off all the time. I put a cobra fuel injection module fi 2000 and it richen it up were it ran cooler. not saying that will fix your problem but on the other hand I put 117,000 miles on it in 4 year never had a problem. change oil every 3,000 miles filter every 6,000. not synthetic. plan old Castrol motorcycle oil. ran as good with 117,000 as it did when new.
didn't read your post right. is it when your running down the road air blowing in your rad? make sure rad fins are clean and has enough water. I sure wouldn't drive it if it was shutting down with a over heating problem.
You might check your thermostat, and it probably wouldn't hurt to flush and change the coolant.
Even with such a big engine you should think about to gear down the final drive for the sidecar. You lug it => you kill the engine...
keep it free spinning and don't shift up too early.
At least that together with a fat mixture helped me with the Ural on our Oregon-Alaska-Oregon trip in July and August.
For Costa Rica´s high mountain range I prepared a high volume oil pump, oil cooler, electronic ignition and a full set of jets to fine tune the carbs even on the go if needed.
And if I see it getting bad I will again mount 2 heavy duty fans in front of the cylinders, just as I had on the Jawa rig.
Although i am not a friend of synthetic oil myself, I see in the hot US states it does have its right to exist. The day I changed to synthetic 2 stroker oil i saw a big improvement in the Jawa.
But I do not like it in the Ural as it steels the engine breaking when going downhill.
Wait. you cannot shift, that tells You have trouble in the clutch or gearbox or final drive (as I had). something is fretting and doesn't permit play for to slip the pinions!
investigate. I found it helpfull to have a infrared heat sensor gun (some 45-65$ at Napa) it helped me too to keep the carb´s adjustment fat enough. (with the original carbs and jets I would have been in deep trouble)
Another trouble I had, was the stupid ethanol story. 10% alcohol is too much, but some of the non ethanol gas was junk too. so at the end I used mainly Chevron Premium with Ballistol (german gun oil) as anti knocking, water absorbant and "top oil" (1 bottle cap per 2 1/2 gal)
I hope these ideas to search do help for something.
Sven
Thank you for all the replies. I took the bike to a really good Kawasaki dealer in Ocala, Florida and the problem turned out to be the clutch friction plates. We are replacing everything now and with the sidecar he suggests that we ride with the rpms up to take wear off the clutch plates.
