You can't tell anything by dripping water on the cooling fins. The head fins of an air cooled motor will be above the boiling point of water in nearly all conditions. The head on my 450 has little pockets below the plugs that tend to collect water when I wash it or it gets wet. I can hear it boiling in there for a good 10 minutes after I've shut the bike down.
Now would the starter turn and it just wouldn't light or were you getting no electricals at all? I have never heard mention of an overheat kill and it seems to me that it would be rather hard to implement a reliable one. My guess is heat is the trigger for your problem not the actual cause unless it does indeed have a thermal switch. Smells electrical in nature to me. The exact mechanism eludes me but I've seen other problems like this. A circuit works fine til it warms up and then stops working, probably due to thermal expansion. I'd start by checking conductivity through the fuses and relays (be sure to wiggle them), then check the battery cables for frays. Is the battery old? It would be strange that the heat would bring it out but I learned a long time ago that 99% of all problem are caused by the last thing you'd expect. Some food for though, Matt -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Nighthawk Motorcycle Lovers!" group. To post to this group, send email to nighthawk_lov...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to nighthawk_lovers+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/nighthawk_lovers?hl=en.
