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Valve clearance adjusted, now white smoke

  • Thread starter Thread starter exzachtly1
  • Start date Start date
E

exzachtly1

Guest
So I finally got around to doing my valve clearances, and turned out I had to replace 3 shims. Exhaust 1 was very tight, and intakes 3 and 4 were borderline tight (0.03). Everything is within spec now.

Got everything back together after the bike was apart for a week (did rear tire during this time too). After starting and idling for a couple of minutes, I noticed some white smoke coming from the exhaust headers. It smelled kind of hot, maybe burning oil? It was not very thick. But the bike never really did this as badly before the clearance adjustment.

Another thing - right after starting the bike, as the engine was running there was a distinct pop or snap sound from the engine. Only once, not too loud, but enough to kind of concern me...

Any ideas about these things or am I just being paranoid? Haven't had a chance to ride yet as it is raining pretty bad here.
 
personally i would pull the valve cover off again and check inside, the pop could have been a shim seating itself properly in the bucket, which would have given you a false clearance reading, or even worse, it could have spat a shim out, if it wasn't seated properly.

i would look just for peace of mind.......
 
Agemax said:
personally i would pull the valve cover off again and check inside, the pop could have been a shim seating itself properly in the bucket, which would have given you a false clearance reading, or even worse, it could have spat a shim out, if it wasn't seated properly.

i would look just for peace of mind.......
Click to expand...

OK, I will definitely do that when I get some time. Maybe tomorrow morning. If a shim was not seated correctly or popped out, could that cause the smoke I'm seeing? I'm very new to anything engine related, so I hope the question doesn't sound ignorant...
 
exzachtly1 said:
OK, I will definitely do that when I get some time. Maybe tomorrow morning. If a shim was not seated correctly or popped out, could that cause the smoke I'm seeing? I'm very new to anything engine related, so I hope the question doesn't sound ignorant...
Click to expand...

i dont know about the smoke but i sure would be concerned about the "pop".
maybe even a valve stem seal popped off????
 
+1 on what Adrian says, probably a shim not seated properly and is now, but the danger is that it might be broken and sitting in the bucket.
The white smoke off the headers is likely spilt/dribbled oil from the removal of the cover.
 
Hi,

Smoke from the headers? As in an exhaust leak? The only place exhaust should be exiting the engine it out of the end of the mufflers. Exhaust leaks can make tuning carbs difficult.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff
 
All shims in place. Maybe the pop was just one of them settling. Anything else to check? I will try to get a video of the smoke if it keeps up. Need to confirm that it is actually the exhaust and not just oil burning off.

I also need to do a compression check. Never have but I don't have Anything to ground the caps with... is there another way I can disconnect the spark plugs for compression check?
 
exzachtly1 said:
All shims in place. Maybe the pop was just one of them settling. Anything else to check? I will try to get a video of the smoke if it keeps up. Need to confirm that it is actually the exhaust and not just oil burning off.

I also need to do a compression check. Never have but I don't have Anything to ground the caps with... is there another way I can disconnect the spark plugs for compression check?
Click to expand...

recheck the shim clearances again, if one has popped back in, the clearance may be wrong now.
disconnect the coils to prevent any nasty shocks! :eek:
 
All in place..but any cracked??? Check them very closely. Wipe them off around the tops as best you can and take a good look.
 
I checked them pretty closely, I think all is well. Just torqued the cover back down. At this point I'm pretty sure they were all seated okay, I was super careful and triple checked everything throughout the process. Engine turned freely by hand too. Let's see if I can reproduce the smoking...

Also dumb question but where should the coils disconnect? I'm having trouble telling where the wires go because everything is wrapped up in electrical tape :evil:
 
Theres no need to disconnect coils to do valves. Unless you have the key on youll not get any reactions.

Edit..It does make it easier to roll the engine over with all the plugs out though..no compression resistance then.
 
chuck hahn said:
Theres no need to disconnect coils to do valves. Unless you have the key on youll not get any reactions.

Edit..It does make it easier to roll the engine over with all the plugs out though..no compression resistance then.
Click to expand...

i think he was referring to doing a compression check, spinning the motor over.

actually, just remove the plugs and tie the HT leads and caps up out the way. you should be ok then
 
Compression reads 134, 130, 135, 135. On a cold engine. Manual is not in front of me but this is good right?
 
Yup...pretty good on a cold engine and one of the age it is. Youve got lots of years with her if you keep good oil and the maintenance up at regular intervals.
 
The other theory I have about the snap is that it might have been the tachometer gear. The tach is all floaty and bouncy when I ride about 50-60mph (if tends to wobble around after being at around 4-5krpm consistently). Upon inspection, the center of the gears looked pretty stripped and even gouged on some. I think I need a new tach drive gear. Maybe this is what made the snapping sound??
 
I think you may be right on about that..but you wouldnt be able to seat the cover if the gears hadnt meshed. Maybe the teeth arent meshing as its turning and that what made the snap.

The cable itself reseating into the square reepticle on the drive end would also make a snap sound if it wasnt fully in.
 
I would also inspect where the tach drive gear mounts inside the valve cover as I have seen it crack the cover in that area where the gear turns inside the cover.Since you heard a "pop" you mave have cracked the cover and you have already stated that the gear was damaged. Inspect the camshaft drive gear also.Hopefully all is well for ya! :pray:But sounds like things wern't aligned up for ya when you tighten down the valve cover.Also depending on how far you pushed down on the shim bucket exchanging the shims you can damage the valve stem seal causing it to smoke.
 
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