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Infrared Thermometer - neat troubleshooting gadget! Sun Apr 04, 2010 8:14 am
BadjerJim
Silver member
I've had so much help here on this forum, I just had to pass this along:
I'm fixing the various problems with my 25yr-old K100RS. Overall, she runs great, but the electrical system is ... well, 25 yrs old.
This week, the bike learned a new trick: running on 3 cylinders, only occasionally on 4 (and then, mostly at full-throttle). Where to start? Sheesh, lots of wiring, ignition computer, connectors and other troubleshooting possibilities!
Last month, I was at my local Harbor Freight store, and they had "Handheld Infrared Noncontact Thermometer with Laser Sight" on sale. This is a super cool gadget: it shines a laser beam, and then, with its LCD display, reads the temperature of wherever the laser points (up to about 3 feet away). This gadget could be a troubleshooting help, YES!
So I took the bike for a big loop around the block... yep, running cruddy the whole way. Whippped into my garage, shut the engine off, put bike on centerstand, and pulled out the temperature gadget and pointed it at the exhaust header pipes, one-by-one, right where they exit the bottom of the engine.
The temperature of all the header pipes were within a few degrees of each other, except the #4 cylinder was about 100-degrees cooler than the other three. Aha! Do this test fast... the engine cools rapidly, and the metals in the header pipes will soon become nearly the same after you shut the engine off.
This time I was lucky: pulled the electrical connector from the #4 cylinder fuel injector, and cleaned the contacts with De-Oxit. Plugged the connector back in, and WOW - the bike runs great!
I just checked, and this Infrared Laser Temperature -Sensor gadget is still on sale at Harbor Freight: $19.99. The brand name is Cen-tech. Go to www.harborfreight.com and search on Item# 93984. Right off the bat, I can think of a lot of uses for this temperature gadget around the house.
And NO - I do NOT work for Harbor Freight. But they have tons of neat stuff at very cool prices.
This is a great troubleshooting tool. I recommend it.
I'm fixing the various problems with my 25yr-old K100RS. Overall, she runs great, but the electrical system is ... well, 25 yrs old.
This week, the bike learned a new trick: running on 3 cylinders, only occasionally on 4 (and then, mostly at full-throttle). Where to start? Sheesh, lots of wiring, ignition computer, connectors and other troubleshooting possibilities!
Last month, I was at my local Harbor Freight store, and they had "Handheld Infrared Noncontact Thermometer with Laser Sight" on sale. This is a super cool gadget: it shines a laser beam, and then, with its LCD display, reads the temperature of wherever the laser points (up to about 3 feet away). This gadget could be a troubleshooting help, YES!
So I took the bike for a big loop around the block... yep, running cruddy the whole way. Whippped into my garage, shut the engine off, put bike on centerstand, and pulled out the temperature gadget and pointed it at the exhaust header pipes, one-by-one, right where they exit the bottom of the engine.
The temperature of all the header pipes were within a few degrees of each other, except the #4 cylinder was about 100-degrees cooler than the other three. Aha! Do this test fast... the engine cools rapidly, and the metals in the header pipes will soon become nearly the same after you shut the engine off.
This time I was lucky: pulled the electrical connector from the #4 cylinder fuel injector, and cleaned the contacts with De-Oxit. Plugged the connector back in, and WOW - the bike runs great!
I just checked, and this Infrared Laser Temperature -Sensor gadget is still on sale at Harbor Freight: $19.99. The brand name is Cen-tech. Go to www.harborfreight.com and search on Item# 93984. Right off the bat, I can think of a lot of uses for this temperature gadget around the house.
And NO - I do NOT work for Harbor Freight. But they have tons of neat stuff at very cool prices.
This is a great troubleshooting tool. I recommend it.
