how long can you leave the bike idling
Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2023 2:35 pm
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?
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?