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Message: [QUOTE="cheapo, post: 1405340, member: 40195"] I recently came out of “retirement” and ran my first race in 3 years (the Delaware Hare Scrambles) this weekend and faced a problem I haven’t seen in the past. About 1.25 hours into the race the bike starting acting up bad. It is best described as follows: It sounded like the engine was pinging or knocking and would not hold a steady throttle. When I pulled over or put it in neutral it would rev by itself at a higher RMP for a second or two. I was half way through a lap so I had to limp back and pull over every so often. This hasn’t happened before, but I suspect it might be an overheating problem; however I could be way off. I haven’t been riding in about a year but what leads me to believe it was overheating is the fact that when I rode for a long period of time in the past (not a race) I had pulled over and heard the water/coolant mix “boiling” in the radiator. At that time I had recently installed a pair of Devol radiator guards, however the bike didn’t act up as described above. I’m fairly certain this weekend was the first race I competed in a race with the radiator guards on. Does it sound like a possibility that the guards hold in too much heat for such a continuous period of riding (about 1.25 hours of high and low RPM’s without stopping)? Seems doubtful to me. A few things to note about the conditions and bike: -Weather at race time: +/-50 deg F - I noted some coolant on the frame of the bike at the end of the race - I noted that during this time of the race, there was plenty of coolant in the overflow tank; just below the Full mark - Although it was muddy, the front of the guards did not appear clogged or impeded. - The bike is a 2000 KDX 200 - I mix the oil 32:1 - Autolite MP 4063 sparkplug - Water/coolant mix about 50:50 - I did a top end job on the bike in 2004 – not a ton of time put on the bike after that - Devol radiator guards on the radiators. The left side radiator (as you sit on the bike) has minor damage due to a side impact (ie one column of fins were slightly pushed in – that’s the reason I purchased the guards). I haven’t started the bike since the race so I need to check to make sure the water pump is operating correctly. As I understand one way to do this is open the radiator cap and run the bike to make sure the water is circulating. I also haven’t bled the air from the system which I need to do. The bottom line: do the symptoms described above sound like an overheating issue so I can focus my attention on the coolant system? Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks all! -Bill [/QUOTE]

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