Non-monster (GSXR600 '03) Cooling fan not spinning

[erkishhorde]

My neighbor friend just got an '03 GSXR600 and the bike seems to run well but the cooling fan doesn't seem to turn on. The thermo on the gauge reads up to 160-170 and the fan still doesn't come on. Once the bike hits temps these high the bike starts to run a bit rough as well. Is there really something wrong with the fan? I would imagine the fan should be on at these temps but I'm not really sure. If there is something wrong, any ideas what?

Other things of note but don't think they should matter for this problem:
Too much oil in the bike (sight glass is totally full) and the bike has a salvage title. There's also a slight sign of an oil leak where one of the exhausts meet the header.

[meano_lover]

start with checking fuses, make sure you have power to the fans (when it's hot, of course), and if all else fails, try running a straight power wire through it to make sure they do, indeed, work. if they do, the you've got it narrowed down to a wiring/power supply problem. if they don't, you've mostl likely got a fan problem. good luck!

[bigiain]

The thermo on the gauge reads up to 160-170 and the fan still doesn't come on.

That's barely up to temp if it's actually measuring water temps. I wouldn't expect the fans to come on till it gets up close to 100C or a bit over 210F.

big

[erkishhorde]

start with checking fuses, make sure you have power to the fans (when it's hot, of course), and if all else fails, try running a straight power wire through it to make sure they do, indeed, work. if they do, the you've got it narrowed down to a wiring/power supply problem. if they don't, you've mostl likely got a fan problem. good luck!

That's what I was thinking of doing. Fuses are OK. He's bringing a multimeter back from work today to test the wiring.

That's barely up to temp if it's actually measuring water temps. I wouldn't expect the fans to come on till it gets up close to 100C or a bit over 210F.

Ah, good to know. I have no idea what operating temp is on this bike. ACtually I don't even know what operating temp is on my m900 either .  I'm not really sure what the temp gauge is measuring either. It's just numbers on the HUD to me. 

[ellingly]

The fan on my 2003 GSXR750 wouldn't come on until water temps of 100°C, so 212F for you lot. I would imagine the GSXR600 would be particularly similar . It turned off again once it cooled to 93°C.

[bigiain]

The fan on my 2003 GSXR750 wouldn't come on until water temps of 100°C, so 212F for you lot. I would imagine the GSXR600 would be particularly similar . It turned off again once it cooled to 93°C.

There you go - 93C = 199F, and that's the lowest temp the fan should run at as measured by whatever Suzuki use on their dashboard. I guess there's still the "bike seems to run rough" problem from the original post, but while probably temp related it's almost certainly not due to excessive running temps. (in fact,  have a vague suspicioun it may be the other way around, I wonder if the thermostat is faulty, and keeping the motor cool enough that the FI is still running in the rich "choke" mode?)

big

[erkishhorde]

Hmmm.... So he ran the bike, it got up to 210, no fan. Temperature light goes on and then the bike starts running poorly. I know for a fact that he's got too much oil in it. There was also a knocking noise this time. Tch, he's just gonna take it to the dealer and have them check it out. Thanks for the help.