xt600 overheating
 

hi all got an xt600 the last time i tried to go out on the bike i only managed to get about 2 miles into my journey and i noticed the bike starting to splutter so i pulled over and had a look the head and exhaust seemed to be very hot so i fetched the bike back home and used the ktm instead now ive just tried the xt again and had the same problem ive noticed that when i rev the bike now its like its missing any ideas to whats the problem as its baffled me

cheers

valleys

Your exhaust and cylinder are supposed to become very hot, so unless you measure the temperature you won't know if it's too hot.
Did you check the oil level and such?

overheating
 

well its getting that hot u cant the head i know the exhaust normally get really hot but never known the head to get this hot and the bike just splutters then dies wont start then for a few mins , give it five mins start it back up sounds fine but just gets really hot again and cuts out about a mile down the road have checked the oil levels , the plug, the crab and connecting rubbers all seem fine am puzzled?????

valleys

To give you an idea of how hot a head may get,my 86 Tenere,the one with the tank covering the head,has topped 232 degree celsius on my Trail Tech Vapor.
Normal trail riding (through tight forest tracks etc) its running around high 190s.The 232 was reached on a stinking hot day with very little wind in the tight forest tracks.

One thing you could check is that the carb isnt running too lean,that'll cause the bike to run quite hot.

If there are scratches on the inside of your cylinder, your bike might start difficultly, run for a few minutes and then die. It won't start for a few minutes and then you may be able to start it again. So check your cylinder?
I had the same problem once and I had to take the cylinder out and have it fixed.

Really only two problems will cause overheating to the point of spluttering....

to lean a mixture and / or timing too advanced. The latter can also be a symptom of a "Hot rated" plug. What colour is the electrode on the plug?

My guess is you are too lean.

Buy an oil temperature guage for the XT600..

Picture of one on my blog (prep pages)

Its common for the XT oil temp to be between 100-120 depending where you are in the world and how you ride it.

Have you checked the air breather vent hole in the petrol tank cap?
If this was blocked it would cause your engine to die (fuel starvation) after a couple of miles and also cause the engine to run lean and therefore get hot.
Just a thought :)

overheating
 

the plug is a greyish brown colour i have checked the breether in the fuel tank that seems fine im going to set the carb now to see if it is running to lean will get back to you within the next hour with the results

If you suspect it's running too lean, try running with the choke on. That will richen it up. Id try that before messing with the mixture. Soemthing had to change to cause this. Did you drain the float bowls to see what came out?

Steve

When the engine cuts out can you quickly undo the drain screw in the carb and see what the flow of petrol is like also try running with the fuel cap un done so you by pass the breather in the cap. When you checked the carbs did you clean the small filter in the carb it can get blocked and cause the bike to run lean and then stop engine will restart after a couple of minutes.
It will be very difficult to know if the engine is to hot by touch.
I had a 3AJ and the dip stick on the oil cap disappeared I think it melted cause the oil was to hot, engine still ran fine.

overheating
 

well definatly got something to do with the fuel i adjusted the carbs like it said on one of the posts on here using a 5mm drill bit and the bike ran tidy for a while but then started to splutter a bit and then cut out after a few mins so am gonna clean the carbs tonight will clean the filter to and put a new inline filter on the fuel line then take it out for a blast in the morning will let you know what the outcome is tomorrow afternoon

cheers

valleys

Sounds like the stator is dying.
 

I'm too late to help you, it's now 2019! but hopefully this will help others:

I had the same problem, it was the stator.

My bike always started well when cold, but stalled sometimes when hot. Almost impossible to restart sometimes after more than a 10 minute run. I would have to leave it an hour for the oil to cool down before it started again.

Turns out the stator was shorting when the heat from the oil expanded the wires in the stator, a very common problem apparently. This only happens after the stator has already been fried.
Some say stator get fried by the bike overheating, indicating an oil problem, possible, but it's more likely that the fried stator originates from an electrical problem with the rectifier or battery. If the two phases that charge the battery are not being "absorbed" by the battery, the windings in the stator can heat up and burn through the insulation. This could be from running without a battery or from the rectifier not working and therefore the phases that charge the battery having nowhere to go, thus frying the stator windings.

I spent a long time messing around with spark plugs, carburetor, spark plug cap, anti-parasite, HT leads etc. I was about to replace the coil when the seller of the coil told me about how stators go bad. This could have saved me a lot of time and money if I had known earlier!

Anyway, I hope this helps other people avoid wasting time and money.

Damo.