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I think I have an overheating issue.
I have a recently purchased 2017 Gunner with 2200 miles. It appears to be all stock with the exception of the Bassani side vent pipes. Originally, the bike ran sluggish and had a horrible decel pop. I replaced the stock air filter with a K&N high flow. I added a Power Commander 6. Changed the oil with a Victory 20/40 semi synthetic kit and sent it to the dyno tuner. He tuned the bike and was able to get 89HP and 106ft of torque. He was not able to get out all of the decel pop. He said the pipes were sucking in too much air and mixing with the unburnt fuel in the pipes. The bike pulls well and I’m super happy with the power and torque.
We went out riding this weekend. After about 90 miles we stopped to do some shopping. The bike was off for about 30 minutes. When we left the bike was difficult to shift, had a loud clunking noise from the primary area and seemed really hot. A few miles down the road everything smoothed out and went back to normal. I had no issues on the ride out. The next morning I cleaned, lubed and adjusted the clutch cable. I took it out for a 10 minute ride and it shifted smoothy when cold, but as the engine warmed up it became a little bit fussy to shift. I sprayed carb cleaner around the intake and throttle body thinking I might have had an air leak. I did not notice any difference in rpm. I also smoke tested the exhaust and didn’t see any issues there either. I’m not sure if there’s not an air leak somewhere causing the bike to run hot or perhaps I need better quality oil. I was looking at the Motul 10W/60 synthetic. Anyone have any thoughts. I’m kinda stuck here.
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2 Replies
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You’re not giving me much to go off of here. I think your complaint is: “When we left the bike was difficult to shift, had a loud clunking noise from the primary area and seemed really hot.”
I’m going to be completely honest here. It does not seem like there is anything wrong with the bike. This seems like a classic case of “I just bough a new-to-me bike, then had it modified, and now I’m super picky and hyper-vigilant about even the smallest thing.
Victory was never known for their buttery smooth, flawless transmissions.
Victory was never known for their quiet engines, transmissions, and primary drive.
It’s an air cooled engine.
So, you tell me: Is this worth pursuing? I just talked to a guy the other day that completely took his engine apart (and broke some stuff in the process that is no longer available) only to find that there was nothing wrong and he had misdiagnosed the problem completely. So the last thing I want to do is send you on a trip that will lead to heartache. Start “fixing” a bike that isn’t broken.
I know that is not what you want to hear, so think long and hard about it before you attempt to work on this bike. But the customer is always right, so:
For the shifting I recommend replacing the shifter pawl.
There is no issue with your primary.
If you think the bike is overheating you’ll need to rig up an oil temp gauge to start data logging the engine temp. There is no oil I recommend that will “make the bike run cooler”.
I personally think all of these are bad ideas and that you should give yourself more time to determine what is “normal” on this bike.
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Hey Rylan and good afternoon. I agree with most of what you have said. I haven’t really done any modifications to the bike myself other than changing out the stock filter for a K&N high flow unit. This filter being the simple remove and replace with the stock airbox. The Bassani pipes were on it when I purchased the machine. I personally would never have made that mod. I had several hundred miles on the bike when this event happened. I really have no desire to tear into the bike for the specific reasons you have outlined. I just don’t want to make the situation worse by riding a bike that has a problem. For now the clutch adjustment (which didn’t seem out of spec) and the Belray 20/50 semi synthetic oil have noticeably improved the shifting. Today is a much warmer day here in Florida so I plan on taking a much longer ride. I’ll drop you a note if I notice an issue. I’m 65 years old and have wrenched on my bikes since I was a teenager. We have 5 bike in our garage at present and I do most of the wrenching on them. We have a couple Harley’s, a couple Vic’s and an anniversary Scout. I really love this Gunner. In my opinion it’s a far superior machine than the new POS Indian Chief they have put out. I have never had a bike that’s been this easy to work on. It’s a shame that Polaris dropped the Victory brand. So I’ll take you’re advice and put some miles on the bike. There certainly is a power curve with learning how to ride a new bike I totally get that. I appreciate you taking the time to help me sort this out. I also appreciate you’re passion with keeping these bikes on the road. The wife is looking at a Cory Ness JP that’s for sale here locally. We may be adding another to the herd soon. LOL. Thanks again. sam