My 850 is Smokin'...and not in a good way :(

[G13]

I finished my top end rebuild (required to heli coil #3 plug) last night and the bike started up right away...better than it has since I got it a month ago. It was late so I decided to wait until this morning to test ride it.

Bright and early this morning I go out and it starts right up and holds a perfect idle...it never did this before...woohoo I say!

I ride it around my driveway (it is about 350 feet long with big circle between house and garage) to see if everything is ok. Seems to be running fine. So I hit the road for about 15 minutes taking it up to 100kph towardsthe end of the run. I pull up to the house and stop.

And wouldn't you know it, it is slightly smoking on the #1&2 side. So I tcheck for leaks and there aren't any, I shut it down and let it cool. I go back out after a couple of hours and put it up on the centre stand in the garage and run it after about 10 min of idle nothing, I rev it up to 4500-5500rpm...low and behold it starts to smoke again and continues to after letting it return to idle. No unusual noises and it runs better than it did before the rebuild.

What is happening? I have never attempt such mechanical work before and so I don't know where to look. My manual says nothing about this sort of problem.

Oh yeah, it is white smoke and there isn't a lot of it. Also it is 31C with a humidex of 42C...probably the hotest since I've been running the bike.

[Travellin' Jones]

What exactly did the top end rebuild consist of?

Oil gets into the combustion chambers one of two ways, either past the intake valve seals, or the piston rings. The other possibility is that it's just a little oil left in the ports or combustion chambers that hasn't burned off yet.

[G13]

Actually I guess I shouldn't have called it a rebuild. I didn't touch the valves or anything like that...I just had to get the head off to have it heli-coiled. So everthing down to the crankcase came off and when I put it all back together I replaced the gaskets and oring (base on up).

The smoke isn't coming from the exhaust so I didn't think that it would be oil in the chamber...is that a bad assumption?

It appears as thought the smoke is coming off the head around #'s 1 & 2. Could it simply be that the rag I used to clean the fins with had something on it that transferred to the head and is now burning off? The longer/hotter it runs the thicker the smoke gets which has led me to shut it all down worried that it is going to die, but the actual engine performance (rpms, power, sound) doesn't seem to change.

[SqDancerLynn1]

I would go back & recheck the cam cover for leaks If the smoke is comming off of the head

[Travellin' Jones]

Along with the cam cover, check for oil leaks at the breather cover and the copper washers under the domed bolts on the end head studs.

[argonsagas]

White smoke?

This usually indicates a problem with anti-freeze getting into the system.

Have you checked the levels in your radiator recently? Does it have a sweetish smell?

Look for drops of anti-freeze under the bike and taste them....a telltale sign is the sweet taste (thus the sweet smell if it is burned)

If you find them, this is not a good sign. Instead, look for the yellow signs
that say curves ahead, and dear crossing. Photograph your dears curves as she crosses, and post it for posterity.








You might have to flush the entire cooling system.

This is to remove the oil film on the various cylinder parts that need to be cleaned.

A visit to the local DIY car wash should do the trick.

[gspaul]

I want to know how I can check my anti-freeze on my bike,I just can't seem to find it?''

[tfb]

Yes, I didn't think the 850 was a water-cooled machine, either!

I know that on my 1100, a possible source for oil leaks onto the cylinder head, is the o-rings which are located in recesses of the nuts on the front-innermost two cylinder studs (hope that makes sense).

With age the o-rings perish, and oil leaks past them and seeps out over the front of the cylinder head, just either side of the cam-chain tunnel.

But with all that smoke you must have a lot of oil leaking out of the head onto the exhaust headers... surely you can see where the oil is coming from?

Mike.