Kawasaki KLR Forum banner

Oil temp measurement

7K views 39 replies 5 participants last post by  Norton 850 
#1 ·
I searched the forum and did not find anything. Is there a good place on the KLR to install an oil temperature sensor? I am looking at a Trail Tech Voyager and see it has an input for a temp sensor and an adapter to use that sensor for oil temp measurement. That adapter has M18x1.5 threads. Is there a port on the KLR that will accept this adapter?

If not, any other location that would be a good place to sense oil temp?
 
#2 · (Edited)
I use a Trail Tech V300-001 sensor that I have installed at the test port. The test port is on the clutch cover way down near the water pump. It is directly below the oil filter at the bottom of the case. It is necessary to drill and tap the test port screw to M6, but this seems to me to be a good spot for oil temperature.

See this:https://www.klrforum.com/657330-post23.html

You would not have found it unless you searched for "oil temperature test port" and you wouldn't have known to search for that unless you had written the post and knew the keywords to use ;^). Forum search engines generally suck.

This may also help; the test port is where I stick the pencil in at 0:45:
 
#3 ·
I use a Trail Tech V300-001 sensor that I have installed at the test port. The test port is on the clutch cover way down near the water pump. It is directly below the oil filter at the bottom of the case. It is necessary to drill and tap the test port screw to M6, but this seems to me to be a good spot for oil temperature.

See this:https://www.klrforum.com/657330-post23.html

You would not have found it unless you searched for "oil temperature test port" and you wouldn't have known to search for that unless you had written the post and knew the keywords to use ;^). Forum search engines generally suck.

This may also help; the test port is where I stick the pencil in at 0:45:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l927rWUCQQ0&t=0s&index=9&list=PL3s67DOJbACxpudHWt11Lnxsk6qfUuwYT
Thanks! As luck would have it, no, I did not use that exact string. :grin2:

Do you have an aftermarket skid plate that protects the sensor? Or is it not that vulnerable?
 
#4 ·
It is pretty well protected by almost any skidplate. Mine is a Richochet which it the most ubiquitous skidplate on the market for a KLR.

"Ubiquitous skidplate" is not something I ever anticipated saying...

 
#7 ·
I didn’t know there was a ubiquitous skid plate. I had not yet come across the Richochet product. I have looked at Happy Trails, SW-Motech, JNS Engineering, and I think one or two others, but somehow missed Richochet. Is there a master list of “ubiquitous” parts and accessories so I don’t miss anything else? :grin2:
 
#6 ·
I'll have to go into the Shed of Horrors and go through some bits to find one and measure the threads. Might take until tomorrow.
 
#11 ·
Ricochet was kinda sorta the original and made them for others, including HT if I am not mistaken. Pretty sure I bought mine through HT. They sold them under their own name as well.

Then everybody and their dawg who had a waterjet machine started making KLR skidplates. HT has moved on from Richochet and I don't know who makes theirs now.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DPelletier
#12 · (Edited)
There is enough meat on that case to tap it out to M12. Pretty sure about that. I might try that tomorrow.

I'll have to look at the TT adapter. It would be good to get the body of the sensor just a bit into the oil flow.

edit: Looks just like the OEM fitting, so should work the same re getting the tip of the sensor into the oil flow.
 
#14 ·
Working on the plug is easier than the case but you have to center the new hole pretty much dead nuts. Perfectly centered you have but .046" of metal between the exterior and interior threads. Take .010" away from that for true positioning errors and it's sketchy. Fortunately, the screw needs no torque and holds nothing but itself in place. And, if it does break, the sensor will hold things together and prevent a dramatic leak. This is a feature I refer to as 'graceful degradation of the spawn of the Shop of Horrors'... Of course, if you screw it up you're only out $5, so the smart game is to drill and tap the expendable plug.

As it turns out I am not a smart man (and I won't get to it until tomorrow) but I will let you know about tapping a clutch cover. The challenge there is keeping the re-tapped hole square to the spot face since the case is such a bugger to set up. I'm going to free-hand it and see how it goes.
 
#16 ·
Probably the really smart game is to buy a new plug from Kawasaki and drop it off at a competent machine shop and have them drill and tap it for me. :grin2:

I am sure that will cost more than the pretty red anodized adapters from TrailTech, but since they don’t offer them in the right size...
 
#17 · (Edited)
That would be the smart play. It's not that hard if you have a magnetic v-block to set the plug in so that you can accurately scribe the center point to drill. Then mount a piece of scrap bar in a vise, drill, tap, and spot face it, screw the plug in and drill and tap it. The real work is in making the mounting piece! If you're not in a big hurry I'd be glad to make you up one and send it to you. Them damn pirate machinists will charge you shop rate unless you can find one that works for beer.

Since I have covers to play with and am likely to have my cover off at some point in the future (a symptom of not being able to leave well enough alone) I figured I'd give it a whirl. In case the process became horrible and depressing I risked a cover that probably won't see any future use.

There is plenty of material to work with.


Drilling it out was done in three steps to minimize the potential for the drill to wander off-axis.


The pilot hole came out nice and square to the port face. It had to be done free-hand because I don't have an angle plate anywhere near big enough to support the case and, even if I did, the passageway is at a compound angle to the gasket surface and I'd never get it right without a vertical sine plate. Those run about $2000. Funny story; Good Neighbor Ray was milling some Delrin last week to make a switch handle and was having some trouble figuring out how to mill a not-terribly-critical 25° angle on both sides of the paddle. I told him he ought to make a sine plate to mount his vise on. Out of plywood and a door hinge. He did and it worked like a champ. Necessity is a mother...

I've gotten overcome by events and will tap it tomorrow. The Trail Tech adapter will probably be here early next week.
 
#18 ·
That would be a very nice solution if the case drill and tap works well. I was about to ask if you had spare case covers as you seemed so willing to start drilling on one.

I am in the process of commissions a new workshop, but haven’t got my equipment moved into it yet. I just got the boiler working a month ago and was hoping to get the floor painted before moving my drill press in. However, that isn’t going to happen until spring. I might just move my drill press into the shop as that should make drilling the case a less daunting proposition. I could run a tap into the existing hole, chuck that in the drill press to establish alignment, and then try to find a way to secure the case in that position. It then should be fairly straightforward to drill out the hole squarely and tap it to the new size. I wonder if the case will need to be spot faced larger to accept the Trail Tech adapter?

Do you have a source for reasonably priced case covers? I would be more inclined to drill mine if I had a fall back should the excrement hit the ventilator.
 
#19 ·
Cases are usually cheap on e-bay. You can use anything from '96 on up. You could even use an earlier one but you'd have to use the older style clutch rod and there is no good reason to do that.

Here's a '97 for $38, but he'll take offers. But wait! It even comes with the test port plug, a $5 value absolutely free. It also affords the opportunity to install a kickstarter if you happen to be fond of slippery slopes.

I have a Gen 2 case, an '09, I think, that you could have for the cost of shipping. We'd have to get an estimate on what that would be going UPS ground. This was the case in the video above, so it has the 100% filtration mod done to it.

Neither one of these will match the color of your engine, so a bit of paint would set that right. There's a black '12 on ebay for $60 if that seems reasonable to you.
 
#20 ·
Given the ready availability, I likely will modify my own cover first and then it will be “period correct color” assuming success. If not, then the $60 one will start looking pretty reasonable!

I did notice that apparently only the -003 oil temp sensor works with the adapters. Surprising they don’t have adapters for the -001 as its skinnier size would seem to open up a wider range of potential locations, such as the KLR test port.
 
#21 ·
Yes, they are all tapped 1/8" BSPP. I was disappointed at that as I like having the tip of the sensor in the oil flow. There are two of the 1/8" BSPP and one new M6 sensor here to compare. The 1/8" BSPP will have to live in a bit of a backwater position, but I'm sure it will make little to no difference.
 
#25 ·
The biggest problem that I see with enlarging the test port size to accept an oversized TT adapter could be possible future service issue. One could not just order a standard oem part to replace the TT adapter if one chose to remove the temp probe & meter from this bike.
 
#26 ·
True that, though it would be easy enough to run a 1/8npt tap into adapter and put a plug in it.

All in all, having drilled and tapped it oversize, I am of the opinion that drilling and tapping the test port cap to M6X1 and using the -001 sensor is a better option than adapting the cover to accept the M12 adapter and the -003 sensor.

The adapter will be here Monday and we'll see how the -003 sensor fits in the adpater and cover.
 
#27 ·
I plan to wait on ordering my Voyager and sensor until your final verdict. And I have my LT on the lift anyway and need to get cracking on that before I start working on the KLR.

Do you have the Voyager or the Pro model? Color displays are nice, but I can’t see it being worth the extra money and I don’t care about the buddy tracking feature. I just want a basic GPS that is readable in daylight and dark.
 
#31 · (Edited)
I have been using Garmin since the mid-90's and have a GPS III, eMap, several Nuvis, and my zumo 660. I live and breathe Basecamp and have a lifetime subscription to maps for my zumo. The ability to plan multi-day trips on the computer and load them to the zumo is paramount. Couldn't live without it.

I know Garmin well and the many idiosyncrasies are, at this point, well understood and simply Germanic.

The Voyager seems like a great idea (and Stevie Wonder could see it's more readable than a zumo; anything is) but I just don't know what the trip planning capabilities are and whether or not you can upload .gpx files to it and download the same. I should look and learn.

The maps seem to be free, but I don't know if they are simply routable maps or if they contain data on rest stops, commercial establishments, fuel, eateries, etc. I don't know if the maps receive periodic updates as the Garmin maps do. Again, I should look and learn.

My zumo is a legacy product with no future firmware updates and, eventually, it will give me trouble with the newest Garmin mapsets. It is also going to fail someday. At that point, I will have to decide if I want to stick with Garmin or try something different.

As far as the color display goes I find it essential. At least on a GPS that I am glancing at on the fly. I rode for quite a few years with my eMap and it was difficult looking at a monochromatic display. Simply not enough contrast between map elements. When I switched to a Nuvi 750 it was a whole new world. Unfortunately, I shook that thing to death on the White Rim trail. I replaced it with the zumo 660.

Monochrome on the Vapor is not an issue because its data is static and in a known format, depending on what screen is selected.
 
#33 ·
Your needs will drive the solution.

I need to spend some time understanding the Voyager.

The Vapor is a pretty fair unit, though the tach is problematic. I solved that; I think it needs to be directly connected to the coil through a resistance. Through fiddlin' about I determined what the resistance needed to be but I added a TT resistance wire to my order to see what they put in theirs.

I don't have a picture of what my cockpit looks like with the Garmin mounted, but it is fairly functional. You may have seen my dash; I'll see about getting a picture with the Garmin in place. Might be food for thought.
 
#34 ·
Got this back from Trail Tech:

“There is no map in the original Voyager. It will only display GPX files that you download into it.

The Voyager Pro base map will only show topography, streets, highways, and major forest service roads. It will not display any other information like fuel or restaurants.”

So, looks like another Garmin for me. I am not into heavy off-roading at my age and that seems to be the design target for the Voyager. Having the database for fuel, food, hotels, etc., is handy so I probably will stay with the devil I know. >:)
 
#35 ·
Comparing the -001 and the -003 sensors.


The sensor's tip remains inside the adapter.


Installed in the case.


Not visible in the oil passageway.


Compare and contrast.


Given that you have to have the ability to set up a large piece on a drill press or be fairly adept at free-handing stuff I don't like this method. I think drilling and tapping the OEM test port cap is a better way to go. That part costs only $5 and, even though there is not a lot of meat left in the cap once the M6 is tapped, it's not that hard to hit it dead center. The cap only needs to be torqued enough to hold itself in and the whole shebang is never going to see more than 60psi so it isn't going to bust.
 
#36 ·
...

Given that you have to have the ability to set up a large piece on a drill press or be fairly adept at free-handing stuff I don't like this method. I think drilling and tapping the OEM test port cap is a better way to go. That part costs only $5 and, even though there is not a lot of meat left in the cap once the M6 is tapped, it's not that hard to hit it dead center. The cap only needs to be torqued enough to hold itself in and the whole shebang is never going to see more than 60psi so it isn't going to bust.
Nice work! It looks like the skinny sensor is the way to go as it may even respond faster having the tip in the oil path a little bit. I need to go back in the thread as I can’t remember if you showed a pic of the finished plug once drilled. Did you spotface the OEM plug to make a sealing surface for the sensor? Is the sensor wire rigidly attached to the sensor? If that is the case, it appears you need to keep the wire disconnected from the display so that it can rotate as you tighten the sensor. Or does the sensor itself rotate within the brass body so that you can screw it in without twisting the sensor wire?
 
#37 ·
When I tapped the OEM plug it was perfectly perpendicular to the top of the plug. The M6 is sealed with a soft washer. Other than chamfering the threaded hole I did nothing to the head of the plug. If I were using a metal crush washer there I would have spotfaced it just on principle. I don't think I have a picture of it anywhere.

The Vapor has short pigtails on it for each function. The leads on the sensors are plenty long enough to reach to the Vapor. I chopped the oil temp sensor's lead off to about 40 cm and made an extension cable to go between the two pigtails. I used the same connectors that Trail Tech uses, even though I don't like them (JWPFs - shudder). The 40 cm pigtail is long enough that I can tie it up on the frame's down tube (so that the JWPFs are secured and not swinging in the breeze) and it allows the sensor to be screwed into the OEM plug.

Leaving the sensor's lead at the original length was a problem for me because of the routing and the need to secure it along the route. If I hadn't chopped it off then I'd have to take half the bike apart everytime I needed to unscrew it, which is far too often given my propensity for messing around with clutches, kickstarters, primary ratios, and oil pressure tomfoolery. All of that seems to be behind me now (Devil, get thee behind me. And don't push.) but the configuration remains.
 
#38 · (Edited)
I’m out on a ride around NorCal and have only my phone to search the forum, so I’m necromancing an old post.

Rode up I5 yesterday and noted some temps that were pretty consistent as I was riding due to the constant speed and flat terrain. There are no devices mounted to the engine to attempt to raise temps; everything is stock except for the T-Bob 2. Notes were taken at gas fill-ups

Ambient. Head. Oil. Rad out. Speed.
60. 195. 185. 165. 70
65. 195. 188. 165. 70
70. 196. 193. 170. 70

I am becoming more and more convinced that watt-man’s air dam is the best approach to raise oil temps. I’m going to build one and test it later in the winter with data logging.

Hoping for higher temps on the return trip to see the effect.
 
#40 ·
Thank you for posting the temperature data. I'm surprised that there's such a wide disparity between water temperature and oil temperature.

In my mind, the oil temperature is the critical one. A thermobob for the oil to get temps in the 190-220F range would be beneficial.

Jason
 
#39 ·
In Quincy. Ambients have run 40-60, oil has never been over 173. Coolant numbers normal.

Slow And fast twisties, a lot of off-road, some highway.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top