| Author | Message | ||
     E30dean |
So today when I got on the freeway I noticed a cloud of smoke behind the bike. I pulled over and the bike continued to smoke out the exhaust. I decided to take it easy and limp the bike to a friends house. After a few miles the smoking reduced. I continued to run it and eventually the smoking went away. I put 250 mile on it today afterwards and it hasnt smoked again. What could have happened for so much smoke and then nothing afterwards? The bike never hesitated or felt a loss of power. | ||
| Jim2 |
Maybe a rodent took up residence?  | ||
| E30dean |
Im not sure if that was a joke but I have ridden 700 miles so far this season without any issues and rodents are not common in my area. | ||
| Phelan |
Maybe a big spooge of Blowby was pumped through the carb? | ||
| E30dean |
The x1 is fuel injected. Could this happen if the intake sucked in "blowby" from the breather? It has the forcewinder intake with the breather into the intake. | ||
| Kalali |
Was the smoke white, blue or black | ||
| Hootowl |
"Maybe a big spooge of Blowby was pumped through the carb?" "The x1 is fuel injected" Replace "carb" with "throttle body" and the statement stands. "It has the forcewinder intake with the breather into the intake." How does the forcewinder breather work? If it goes uphill at all from the breather bolts on the heads, oil will build up in the drain tube. (This is a very common mistake, made both by manufacturers and owners.) Once oil goes past the umbrella valve in the rocker, there's nothing for it to do but drain out of the breather hole. It can not go back into the engine (unless you flip the bike upside down) so if the drain runs uphill, you'll get a slug of oil in the line, possibly in the head, preventing the breather from breathing. Like the P trap under your sink that prevents sewer gases from escaping into your kitchen. It is very possible that this slug of oil was eventually blown into the intake. Take the filter off and look inside. If it's all oily, there's your answer. | ||
| Lynrd |
You are a wise muthaphuka, Hootowl. | ||
| E30dean |
My plan is to let it sit for a few days like it did last time and ride it to see if the results are the same. Would it matter if the bike stood perfectly vertical for a week? "Was the smoke white, blue or black" It seemed a light blue or white with a hint of blue. @Hootowl - Heres the image of the bikes breather system. It looks like the front cylinder has to push the oil up and over before it can travel down into the intake.  | ||
| Hootowl |
Like I said, this is a very common mistake, made both by manufacturers and owners. I think they're under the impression that only crankcase air is present at the breather bolt. Not the case. Have you looked inside the intake for telltale signs of oil? | ||
| E30dean |
Here it is. This after 250 miles of riding SMOKE FREE.   | ||
| Hootowl |
Tough to tell after so many miles. That little bit of oil in the throttle body may be normal for a bike with the breather in the intake. | ||
| Buellistic |
For a clean intake, run your head breathers to a catch container and add the transmission breather too for safety ... Could be you over filler your oil tank ??? | ||
| E30dean |
I installed a transmission breather a month ago after it splooged on my rear fender. I just got a catch can today for the head breathers and I am hoping that will take care of it. Or it might tell me that too much is coming out and I should upgrade to xb heads. Its possible I overfilled the tank because after the last oil change I checked and topped off on a 3-4 min warm up but after reading today I found that its most accurate after a ride. | ||
| Hootowl |
"I found that its most accurate after a ride" Yes. Also, it's best to never fill it more than half way between the high and low marks. No one I know is sure why, but it seems to be the general consensus. Higher than half way, and it gets blown out the breathers. | ||
| Buellistic |
Could it be that you only get one chance to check the oil after a ride because the oil will be lower on the second check due to oil drain down to crank case as this oil system is a semi-wet sump system ??? (Message edited by buellistic on April 16, 2014) | ||
| E30dean |
**UPDATE** I must sadly report that the breather reroute did not solve the smoking problem!! I will be compression testing and pulling the motor out to inspect piston rings, valve guides/seals and gaskets for possible leak points. My theory- I Took a long trip this weekend and found that it would smoke(burn oil) everytime I slowed down using engine braking. My theory is that a vacuum is created with the throttle body closed and the engine finds the weakest point to try to stabilize pressure by sucking in oil either through the piston rings, valve guides or head gasket? I might be | ||
| Lynrd |
ouch. I had that symptom once in an olde jeep. When I opened it up - broken ring. you can do the top end with engine in the frame....but it is pretty easy to pull the frame off, and would allow for more clearance. Good luck. |
