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Bike steaming/smoking

  • Thread starter Thread starter Skievryday
  • Start date Start date
S

Skievryday

Guest
Having some trouble getting my bike to cooperate.
1983 550 ES 14k
Has been sitting for awhile... 6 months maybe.

Gas is maybe 1 month old.

A week ago I got the bike running, and rode it around a little, but it was only running on two cylinders (or so it seemed by the hand to exhaust pipe test). Yesterday I did a quick spray of the carb that feeds #1&2, reassembled, and tried again.
For awhile it would idle at about 1k on full choke. I played with the throttle, and got her all warmed up until she would run no choke. Eventually it would idle at 2.5k rpm no choke (?) but if I shut it down it would need full choke to restart...

Now when it warmed up and I was playing with it through the range, the bike was smoking from the engine. Lots of smoking. Fluid coming out of the breathing hose. I was thinking at first that this is just condensation.

Then last night I thought maybe an ill adjusted float height would cause this and gas would be the smoking/steaming. But I recently replaced the oil, and I checked the sight glass this morning and it is right where it should be.

Thoughts?

I know I need a full carb clean and rebuild, but that is a $60 venture and waiting for parts- all the while my enigne is smoking.
 
Right...

Right...

But does that answer that whole smoking out of the block question?
 
The smoke could be steam or some fluid, such as oil, that has spilled on the exhaust pipes.

Honestly, I suggest you bite the bullet and just do the carbs properly. Take them apart and soak the bodies in carb dip. Not sure if cycleorings.com has the O-rings that fit those odd 550 carbs or not - I suggest you send Robert Barr an email. There is no reason to spend money on carb rebuild kits so try the O-ring route if possible to save money.

As with any 25 year old vehicle, start with the basics like a carb rebuild/sync and valve adjustment so you can build a solid foundation from which to build on. It's much easier to do it this way compared to trying to fix things that go wrong.
 
Last edited:
I agree that I need a carb rebuild. No doubt, but I want to get all my ducks in a row.

The smoke/steam is more than just exhaust pipes. It is coming from the top half of the block. Out the breather around the exhaust flanges, and valve cover gasket.
 
Have you done a compression test on the engine? The smoke could be blow by from broken or sticking rings.
 
Carb Rebuild Costs

Carb Rebuild Costs

It's not too expensive to do a good cleaning of these carbs. Order the o-rings from Robert Barr (cycleorings.com). The kit you need is CV 'BS' series carb O-ring kit for $14.73. You will have several extra o-rings, but all you need is there. I ordered the bowl gaskets and bowl drain seals from the dealer for around $11.00. I purchased Berrymans carb dip from a local auto parts store for about $25.00.
The rest is patients.
 
Skievryday said:
I agree that I need a carb rebuild. No doubt, but I want to get all my ducks in a row.

The smoke/steam is more than just exhaust pipes. It is coming from the top half of the block. Out the breather around the exhaust flanges, and valve cover gasket.
Click to expand...

Is the engine clean? residual oil on the heads could just be burning off.

Is the breather gasket in good shape? are all the bolts and nuts tightened? loose ones could be leaking oil out and burning on the heads.

Check your oil hoses above the cam tensioner ( and cam tensioner gasket ) these if old, can leak oil onto the head and block and this would burn off creating smoke.

Exhaust leaks from rusted pin holes can also lead to smoke coming up.

Defientely do the carb rebuild correctly as you have mentioned it's the only way to get the bike running right if it's been sitting.

Hope this helps.
 
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