aux thermostat ground lost?

[richardb, austin]

My bud applied the auxilliary thermostat ground-fix with good success. As a matter of fact his temp gauge was capable of reading quite high on the return trip from DeGray. Now rather suddenly, his temp gauge is barely moving off cold (& it's still hot in TX). We both guess that his add-on ground wire may've come loose. But it's so hard to get in there to see it/ check it, that I thought I'd seek input on other possibilities first. Is there anything else that might cause the temp gauge to practically quit? BTW & probably not related, his gas mileage has gone bad. He improved that a little by blowing it out - max allowed RPMs going thru the 1st three gears, now up to 37 mpg - still 3mpg below his normal.

[doug of so fla]

The ground wire or the other wire with the butt connector sometimes comes loose at the bottom of the sensor. The air cleaner is a good possibility for bad mileage, They may look clean but if they are over 3 or 4years old they will restrict air flow, the paper media goes bad. If when he ran it up high did anyone notice any black smoke from exhaust, that is a good sign of air flow problem..

[suzib6sw]

I would agree that the Bullet connector either on the actual sensor has stretched as it was on my 94 OR if you follow that yellow/white wire out to the RIGHT side of the bike (when sat on it) it joins another bullet connector just inside the right fairing upper. That may be stretched or broken too..
the only other reason short of a meter loom ground fail (black/yellow) would be a lack of coolant level . May be coolant in the system but it has to cover that sensor..

Gas mileage.. Air filter, bad gas, use Seafoam or better still, Marvel mystery oil in the gas for a couple of tanks. Check all pipes for splits too..

Pete

[Nathan (South Carolina)]

As far as gas mileage, I just returned from a trip to Louisiana and then Virginia and experienced the same problem. When I left South Carolina, I was averaging 36 mpg. I thought that something must have been wrong with my bike. After I filled up in Mississippi, I started getting 42 mpg. The same held true for Louisiana. When I left Louisiana, I averaged 42 mpg until I filled up in Alabama where my gas mileage fell back to around 37 mpg which persisted throughout my ride along the east coast. Yesterday, I rode to Savannah, GA and averaged 40 mpg. My assumptions are that there is a good deal of weak gas around due to the ethanol being added. It hasn't affected the performance of my bike so it is not noticeable except for low gas mileage. Another factor may have been the extreme high weather temperatures during my trip.

[richardb, austin]

Thanks for all the input. My bullet connector needed squeezing on my thermostat when I was in there also, but I'd forgotten about that - and didn't know about the 2nd more-outboard connector. We bought gas from DeGray to here & probably quality varied. I wasn't present when he blew it out - I'll ask him about the smoke issue. Also BTW, I outpowered him & out-mileaged him - even with me pulling a trailer the trailer. I'll share all this with him. Thanks again. And yes, out-mileaged is a perfectly cromulent word.

[richardb, austin]

It turned out to be the O.E. thermostat wire connection. Female half needed crimping. Now his temp gauge works better than mine (again), but I still out-mileage him. Even though he's up to 37 mpg after "blowing 'er out". Thanks again