Over the winter hiatus she became a light smoker

[Guest]

With the good weather here I decided to work on the old girl and get her running for the season and all was good except for her needing a battery transplant (which I've known about since last fall) and an odd symptom I can't figure out - a light white smoke coming out of the left pipe.

I've done nothing too her since we last hit up the asphalt and I can't figure why or how she picked up the bad habit (smoking) over the winter.

I've pulled the plugs on all 4, they need replacement but all look equal.

Checked the petcock vacuum line and found the area and hose at the carb moist but I can't get it leak any fuel into my solder sucker. I even capped off the port and left the petcock detached, seemed good at first but after a moment saw the trace of white smoke reappear.

I'm baffled as I always figured white smoke to be anti-freeze getting into the combustion chamber, and these bikes don't need no stinkin anti-freeze.

[JEEPRUSTY]

Drive the **** out of it for 500 miles.

[Big T]

You're probably on the right track with the petcock problem

Stop starting it up, take it for aride and see what happens

But first, does your oil smell like gas?

[Killer2600]

Drive the **** out of it for 500 miles.

Sounds like a plan, she needs a battery transplant though and I was trying to get her running good before spending the bucks on it. Without life support (jump start) she's dead.

I also need to do the coil mod, I have quite a bit of voltage loss (1.49v) between battery and the fuse panel alone with engine off and kill switch on. She starts and runs pretty good considering her age and health though.

[Killer2600]

You're probably on the right track with the petcock problem

Stop starting it up, take it for aride and see what happens

But first, does your oil smell like gas?

I wouldn't know, I actually just changed it yesterday before waking her up...Probably shouldn't have as the old stuff didn't have many miles on it and looked close to new coming out. Don't think I got any gas in the oil over the winter.

I will take her out after I get her a new battery and tags.

Anyone got a take on Flooded vs AGM batteries for these old bikes? My current one lasted 5 years before dying all the sudden - sulfation killed it.

[JEEPRUSTY]

Do not run the bike with a bad battery.
The electrical system is not a battery charger.

[Killer2600]

Do not run the bike with a bad battery.
The electrical system is not a battery charger.

Yeah I know, I'm running the bike with a truck battery wired to the bike with jumper cables. The bikes charging system is ok and doing well.

[matt1100]

may just need some real exercise. let those rings reseat themselves

[DanTheMan]

I won't buy anything but AGM for my bikes. The 1100G hasn't needed a new battery yet, it was new last year when I bought the bike, so it should make it through this year anyway, then it'll be replaced with an AGM. I like the maintenance free aspect, and the AGM will stand up to tons of abuse.