Headers Smoking

[Guest]

Hey all,
I have a 1979 550E and I've been getting a lot of white smoke out of the exhaust headers as well as possibly below the oil pan. My initial thought is that the valve seals are bad and oil is leaking out. Just cleaned carbs and reinstalled. Waiting to vacuum sync until I can figure out the smoke issue. Any thoughts?
Nick

[geol]

You say the smoke is coming from the muffler or could it be oil burning that has dripped onto the muffler(s)?? Did the bike do this prior to the carb work? My bike will smoke if I leave it on choke too long...

[jprice90]

check out the Tachometer sleeve, these are known to leak, and onto the exhaust
Right where the tach cable is attached to the engine

[steve murdoch]

Are you sure it is white smoke?
Leaking oil should be blueish/grey.

[ndimitri48]

Just went for a couple laps around the block and noticed a few things. First the smoke is definitely white, not blue or grey. Upon closer inspection it appears the smoking is possibly coming from below the float bowls or possibly off the engine itself? My idle rpm's vary greatly and tend to climb and fall. I sprayed brake parts cleaner onto each intake boot to ensure no vacuum leaks. Can the varying be attested to lack of vacuum sync?

[geol]

No, sync won't cause varying idle speed. Vacuum leak will or a dirty pilot circuit. If you are not sure how old the carb holders are, change them. The oil below the carb holders can have seeped down from the valve cover or be coming from the cam chain tensioner which is a veritable wealth of possible oil leaking. A couple orings and a seal which are likely brick hard if you haven't rebuilt the tensioner. Put the bike on center stand, get off and look at where it is smoking while sitting on the ground next to it.

[ndimitri48]

Okay after putting the bike on its center stand I believe the source of the smoke is from header#1. The lower bolt holding header #1 appears to be slightly oiled leading me to believe that valve seal needs replacement. However another issue I am encountering is RPM's lagging around 2500-3000. By that I mean I can have the throttle fully open for 3-4 seconds but until I pass about 3000rpm the bike will not accelerate rapidly. I do not believe this is a carb problem as I thoroughly cleaned them. Possible a faulty petcock? I noticed occasional leakage from my original petcock?

[geol]

Oil will find the lowest point when it travels. There is no oil in that bolt so it is coming from somewhere above. Take some powder spray deodorant and spray the area lightly and you may be able to trace where the oil leak originated. It probably isn't from your exhaust pipe.

[boris.h]

Did you visually check your spark plugs? Is there one which is wet?