How hot should she be running?

[chuckxc]

Are you sure? In 30+ C temperatures, when idling stationary for more than a few minutes, a 2013 would surely run the fan. Is your fan working correctly? The temperature gauge is not a reliable indicator.

[K1W1]

I agree with Chuck, in 30+ temp I’m very surprised the fan has never come in unless you have been constantly riding at 100kph and have never once been in slow traffic.

[dsadv]

I just picked up a 2016 800 xr about a month ago. I rode it to Vegas in 100 F temps and it sat at 5 bars the entire ride until I got into the stop and go traffic. Than the gauge went up and the fan came on.

The guy at the las vegas dealership said that is normal for a tiger 800 and the Daytona, he suggested running a 60/40 coolant mix.

Interestingly I just flushed my cooling system and the triumph factory service manual instructions for changing the coolant say to let the bike idle until the fans run than let it cool down and check the fluid level.

It was about 90F out and I had to let the bike idle for about 10 minutes in my driveway with the occasional throttle twist before the fans turned on. That is with brand new coolant (60/40 mix) and a brand new radiator cap.

[salernoslim]

This is exactly how my 2016 xrt runs

[Derchef1962]

yes the fan on the 1st Gen Tigers do not kick in very often, if the air temperature is + 30C and you are in slow traffic, it will kick in and roast your knees.

I once came back from the Black Forest and got stuck on the motorway in very slow traffic, air temp was in the 30s and all over sudden the temperatur jumped up and the display was flashing at me or so I recall. I realised the fan was shot I could turn it by hand but it made an awful sound. After the traffic was better I was back on the road and the temperature dropped down to the usual 4 or 5 bars. The fan was beyond repair and an OEM fan from triumph was something like 300 Euros but I got a second hand one for 50 Euros, that fan still worked when I sold the bike last year

[advturtle]

Replying to this super dead thread because I got annoyed at the lack of specific information I could find anywhere and, being a giant nerd, I like specific answers.

Everyone seems to say that "this bike won't ever go above 5 bars," or "mine never goes above 5 bars,"  and this led me to believe my bike was getting too hot - because it would frequently tick up to 6 bars when it was super hot out. So I did some testing, and here's what I found out!

I did this testing with the DealerTool. I have a 2016 Tiger 800XCA. Apparently you can change when the fan comes on with TuneECU, but I didn't want to change anything in the ECU yet.

The fifth bar on the coolant temperature indicator will tick in at a coolant temp of about 66C (plus or minus 2 degrees, I was texting when it went to the 5th bar). It goes to the 6th bar at 100C. The fan, from the factory, will kick in at 103C and stay on until it pulls enough heat away to drop the temp back down to 100C. Because 100C is also where the 6th bar comes in, it won't drop back down to 5 bars. So for those of you stressing (like me) about your bike staying on the 6th bar, don't sweat it. As long as there aren't other issues which would lead you to believe something is wrong (like your bike puking all the coolant out a massive hole in a hose), and your bike doesn't go up another bar, there is probably nothing wrong.

[chuckxc]

FWIW, when I rode my 2012 XC I resorted to putting in a small LED near the ign switch mount. It was simply in circuit with the fan so I knew when the fan was on, and a better idea of the engine heat.