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Well, I finally got around to replacing the Thermostat. Not a difficult job, but it took a long time. Just getting the Tupperware off took a long time. I checked the valve clearances at the same time. The job took 9 hours. I could probably cut this time in half next time, but still, I consider these two things major repairs.
The Thermostat was stuck open. Way open.
These pics show the old thermostat on the left and the new one on the right. You can see just how wide open the old one is. The engine was running very cold.
You would think they would have made this part a little better.
After the repair, everything seemed good, but I can smell some antifreeze. It is intermittent. From internet lore, this is not that unusual. The ST's tend to develop leaks, especially in cold environments. Weird. This leak, however, is enough to leave small puddles under the bike. The Valves were also at the end of their range and will need to be adjusted at the next check. So much for low maintenance.
Here is a picture of the temperature gauge. Notice there are three bars. Notice the temperature is 19 degrees, that's Fahrenheit, not that their foreign measurement. I was running at 1 bar or no bars at temps as high as 50 degrees. Now back to normal.
Before the change, the temp gauge was all over the place. Sometimes I would get 3 bars when it was cold, sometimes no bars when it was just cool. Mostly though, the colder it got, the fewer bars I saw, and the worse my mileage. Now, I have driven for hours in single digit temps with 3 bars, always. I would consider this a success, if it were not for the coolant leaks.
I ordered some special hose clamps that should fix the issue.