how long can you leave the bike idling

[jfaith15]

i didn’t know that a liquid cooled bike shouldn’t idle for very long because i had an air cooled bike before. my battery had died in the cold so i had to jump my bike. i let it idle while i went inside to get my gear because i didn’t want it to die again. i think i was inside for 15-20 mins (got stuck in conversation on my way out). when i came outside, the radiator fan was on, but nothing else seemed amiss. when i tried to leave, it wouldnt accelerate in first or second gear (a tiny bit but nowhere near normal), as if it were in neutral.

i got worried so i cut the engine and let it cool until it was cold to the touch. while i was waiting for it to cool off, i looked for a diagnosis online and found that the engine may have been overheating and that can cause severe engine damage in a short amount of time. that said, other people online also said that it would probably be fine if it wasn’t spitting out coolant — i changed the coolant recently and didn’t see anything spilling out.

thankfully, when i turned on the engine the bike ran almost normally- although every so often, it would kind of stutter when i accelerated. i also needed to pull the choke and rev the engine almost every time i started it. i don’t know if this is normal for the intruder — this was my first day riding it (shitty first day) — or if this could be engine damage, or if it is because i was very low on gas and ran out very soon after.

based on all of this, should i be worried?

[hillsy v2]

A water cooled engine should not be affected by idling for indefinite periods.....assuming everything is working properly. Did you check the coolant level afterwards? Maybe a coolant flush would be a good idea.

[sgtcall]

Take the battery to an auto parts store and have them load test the battery. The test is free and some of what you are describing can be caused by a dead cell. My other question is how did you jump the bike? Was it from a car? Was the car running when you jumped it?

Hillsy, didn't Nav mention something about air in the radiator or in a coolant line that can cause the bike to over heat?

[hillsy v2]

Hillsy, didn't Nav mention something about air in the radiator or in a coolant line that can cause the bike to over heat?

Yeah that's why I said assuming everything is in order.

From memory they run the coolant through one of the frame tubes and getting it "burped" can be difficult.

[Lechy]

The air bleeder screw is located on the frame under the left neck cover. They are usually rusted in place and can easily shear when being removed, engine out to drill and re-tap.