To Thermostat or Not ?

[Coastguard]

I was travelling home from work the other day and pulled over to adjust a clicker on the shock , leaving the DRZ idling for a short time .

Upon remounting and riding away the DRZ seem to suddenly have an abundance of acceleration , almost arm lengthening .

Could this be because of a increase in engine temperature / thermal efficency ?

The 07E has no thermostat according to Suzuki parts list .

Has anybody installed a thermostat in the 2007 DRZ 400E and found this to improve performance ?

Perhaps in for winter out for summer ?

P.S. Easy 'E' clip removal on FCR needle , place needle on table push down , finger resting on clip . Install hold clip on table and push needle into clip .

Edited July 10, 2011 by Coastguard

[Erik Marquez]

Unless you’re doing a lot of cold weather riding right after starting the bike,, the T-stat is not needed... Riding in the Alaska winter time on ice tires,, Use the T-stat.. Otherwise, run the E style. Restrictor gasket and correct housing.

[William1]

If your bike ran better when real hot, you may be a little lean on the jetting. Ot it could just be your butt dyno was glad to get a break.

I see little advantage to no thermo unless you run tight single track and any restriction, no matter how minimal, could make a difference. Certainly not worth the trouble on a bike run on the street.

Yeah, that is by far the best way to pop a clip.

[Noble]

I have a thermostat in my dual sport E. Been there for 10 years. No down side.

Good tip on the clip but how else would you do it?

[mach 400]

I did the thermo delete on my S with no ill affect's. If an E comes without it you not straying into skeptical grounds.

[robb5]

In-line t stats are available for gokarts and they are adjustable. Good for stree and trail!

[james509]

Noble, do you know about what temp your engine runs at? According to my Vapor, even on Summer days my temp normally runs somewhere around 150. Went for a ride yesterday and 117 was as high as I saw. This can't be good for HP or engine life.

[Cuchara Red]

Noble, do you know about what temp your engine runs at? According to my Vapor, even on Summer days my temp normally runs somewhere around 150. Went for a ride yesterday and 117 was as high as I saw. This can't be good for HP or engine life.

Are those temp numbers Fahrenheit or Centigrade? My greenE doesn't even start to run right until the temp is 180-190F on my Vapor. Normal temp in summer depends entirely on what I'm riding - road is 180-200F, mountain trails can go up well beyond 220F if I forget to turn on the fans. Winter sees the road temps way down, as in 140-160F; tight trails still get the temp over 220F if I forget the fans.

[james509]

All temps are Fahrenheit. The bikes a E model that been converted to an SM. It's always ran cold. I think I'll stick a thermostat in it and see how it acts.

[Erik Marquez]

All temps are Fahrenheit. The bikes a E model that been converted to an SM. It's always ran cold. I think I'll stick a thermostat in it and see how it acts.

Your temp readings are way off for a warmed up engine unless your talking cold winter temps, steady throttle, street use only, light load...So location of sensor? Sensor itself? Gauge? Something is causing a low reading.… Your internal combustion DRZ motor is not running at full temp of 150 Degrees F.

Is your sensor in the outlet of the right radiator? … vs the inlet of the left radiator where a truer engine temp might be sensed?

[Qqqqqqqqqqqq]

your temp readings are way off for a warmed up engine unless your talking cold winter temps, steady throttle, street use only, light load...so location of sensor? Sensor itself? Gauge? Something is causing a low reading.… your internal combustion drz motor is not running at full temp of 150 degrees f.

Is your sensor in the outlet of the right radiator? … vs the inlet of the left radiator where a truer engine temp might be sensed?

+ 1 ...

[zaq123]

Unless you’re doing a lot of cold weather riding right after starting the bike,, the T-stat is not needed... Riding in the Alaska winter time on ice tires,, Use the T-stat.. Otherwise, run the E style. Restrictor gasket and correct housing.

is there a need to run E t-stat housing should one decide to run S/SM without t-stat? Why is E stat housing facing up anyway? Is there a reason for that design change from S/SM?

[jz416]

I put an E-engine in my sm, ran into the that problem. I left the Tstat out since it was the quickest and figured it is one less thing that could malfunction, I think I flipped the elbow over so it was the correct way (that or took the one off my sm engine)

I do ride mainly on the road (50-90 degree F), Never thought that I might not be running warm enough.

Is that something I should be worried about?

Should I let her warm up a bit longer on cool mornings?

[james509]

I've had a thermostat in my bike for a while now and I recommend it for a supermoto. Dirtbike, not so important. I've found that my idle is more consistent now and the engine temp stays with a few degrees. On a cool day I've seen the engine temp as low as 117 fully warmed up at 55mph. After the stat, temp stays between 148 and 152. My sensor was in the top of the radiator in the air bleed. I thought this sounded cold for a thermostat controlled cooling system so I put the sensor in the hose between the head and radiator and now shows 10 degrees higher. So from the head outlet to the top of the radiator it's losing quite a bit of heat. My temp now shows from 158 to 162 and stays there unless I'm letting it idle sitting still.

[speedtoad]

Noble, do you know about what temp your engine runs at? According to my Vapor, even on Summer days my temp normally runs somewhere around 150. Went for a ride yesterday and 117 was as high as I saw. This can't be good for HP or engine life.

I think with the vapor unit and the sensor in the top of the radiator, the sensor is reading the temperature in the radiator and not in the engine. The Thermostate is staying closed to keep the engine at temperature and only a little bit of coolant is passing by it.

I just installed the vapor unit last weekend on my S model. I couldn't get the temperature to work. I've been riding with temps in the 50's, but this morning I was riding on a friends motocross track and the temp went way up to 160 degrees. Obviously with the harder riding at slower speeds the thermostat was staying open and I was getting a temp reading in the radiator. I now on cars the temp gauge is on the block, which makes a lot more sense. Does anyone know of a good place to install the sensor on the block?

[slowriding]

I can be seen as a bit of a flaw to have the overheat sensor on the radiator. If the thermostat fails closed and no water circulates the engine can boil without the light coming on.