Oil in the air box

[Silent]

As some of you know, I'm resurrecting a '79 Special. I finally got the bike out for a test ride this evening, and she's ruining OK, but I'm getting engine oil dripping out of the air box. The bikes been sitting for at least 5 years. Compression numbers are 115 118 105 100. Smoke out of the right pipe on acceleration, smoke out of the left pipe all the time, and more so under load. It's a white smoke. Started her up to move her in the back again and was a bit hesitant to start, and ran a bit rough for a min or two then cleared up.

The only thing I can come up with is either bad rings or bad valve guide seals. I'm running low on ideas, and I don't want to have to pull the engine.

[Cobia]

Hoping for the best

Hey Silent,
As you may know, standard compression for these engines is around 140 to 145. But you need to check it with a warm engine, all plugs out, and the throttle wide open. Regardless, as long as your compression is within 10% between cylinders, which your's is, you should be OK. Particularly if you didn't follow the previous guidelines.
But without any information about the condition of your plugs and other behavioral factors, it's hard to assess if its the seals or something else.

[CatatonicBug]

Check the oil level. I understand that this can happen if the oil level is overfilled. Check through the sight glass on the side and be sure it's not over-full. If it is, you can use a turkey baster to suck out the XSive oil through the fill hole.

[Ken Talbot]

BTW - oil level check is done with the bike on centrestand or held upright, not leaned over on sidestand.

[Silent]

The oil level is good. I've been doing my own maint. for years on scoots

The compression test was done on a cold motor with all the plugs out. If I'm running 20-30 psi light on compression, think maybe the rings need to be re-seated? I've got maybe a mile on the bike on the test ride. I'll pull the plugs and see what they look like.

[DiverRay]

Don't worry about the oil in the airbox for at lest 500 miles! If it's been sitting for 5 years, the rings are probably stuck. Pull all 4 plugs, and put about 3 ounces of Berryman's B12 Chemtool into each hole. Let it set overnight with the plugs back in, and then try starting it in the morning. That should loosen up the rings, and slow the oil burning WAY down.

[bikerphil]

Seafoam treatment in the cylinders overnite should help unstick the rings, so I've heard. Might be worth a shot.

[Silent]

I pulled the plugs. They were fresh NGK BP6ES plugs.

1 - Looked good. Possibly a tad lean.
2 - Black. Dry. Running Rich
3 - Black. Wet.
4 - Black. Dry. Running Rich

More detailed photos available on request.

[Silent]

I have seafoam in the tank. I'll pick up a can of Chemtool tomorrow and let it soak in per DiverRay's sugestion. In order to get 500 miles on this I'm gonna have to register it

[fredintoon]

- - - In order to get 500 miles on this I'm gonna have to register it

Hi Ray,
it's been my experience that if a bike is insured and registered you can operate it for years and never see a cop but if it ain't you can't go around the block without meeting three patrol cars and a fire truck.

[dbeardslee]

Silent - the oil in your airbox is probably coming up through the breather tube. I suppose bad rings could increase the pressure in the crankcase and cause it to puke oil out of the breather. If that was the case, however, I would think you would be seeing blue smoke, not white. My plugs used to get wet and shiny like number 3, but that stopped when I changed the stem seals. Compression looks a little low across the board (and the difference between 100 and 118 is 18% - not within the 10% acceptable variance). If it's been sitting could be the valves need to be lapped and adjusted. You can bet at least one of the valves was open during that period and the seating surface probably rusted. Gotta pull the head for the seals, so incrementally it isn't that much extra work. Plus it's a lot easier to set the valve clearances with the head off, you just have to make sure you only have one cam in at a time when you're doing it. My $.02.

[randy]

Silent,

I noticed in the plug photo that you have the screw terminals on the plugs. That tells me that you have aftermarket wires?? Check to make sure you have solid core wire, not the automotive resistor type wire commonly found in those aftermarket wire sets. Resistor wire can contribute to misfiring and plug fouling, hate to see you chasing a suspected fuel problem that is actually an ignition problem. That can make you nuts. DAMHIKIJK!

[Yamasam]

might be an idea to start the engine in complete cold start, let it run for about 2-3 seconds and put it off again. Then wet four tips of your fingers and stamp each exhaustpipe with each tip. The water will quickly dissappear due to the heat. If there's pipes where the stamp remains longer, check for ignition or carburation. It's a 'by the side of the road'-trick I always use as a first check..

Recently I started up an '78XS that had for years been placed in a shed. It also dripped oil from the drainhole.. Eventually I compared coil resistance and found a difference, one coil had been replaced by another type, which broke open and took water of the cleaning.

the sparkplugs you got there make a rather sludgey impression I must say..

[Silent]

I'm running a new set of MikeXS coils (#17-6804), wires (#23-2906) and caps (#23-3117) The wires are stranded copper core. The spark looks strong across all 4 cylinders.

I've done the 'feel the pipes' test. I've got about roughly equal heat from all 4 header pipes. Thats how I found coil #1 shut down after I washed it yesterday. Came back after the bike dried. I'll have to look for possible short points after I pull the tank again.

I'll change the O-ring on my compression tester, warm the bike up and run another compression test just to make sure I've got proper numbers.

Thanks for the good list of things to check, keep em commin!

[Ivan]

Looks like you have ring problems. Valve seals normally cause a puff of oil smoke on start up after sitting several hours, then they don't leak enough to be noticed. Typicaly, valve seals will cause a white ash build up on the plug electrode. The black and wet plug would lead me to examine cylinder #3. The oil in the airbox is probably from blowby carrying atomized oil out the breather, if you arent over full.

If it has been sitting, run it for a while before you get too excited about tearing stuff apart. The rings may reseat. If they are stuck, Automatic transmission fluid pulled sparingly through the vacuum ports is about the best combustion chamber cleaner there is. It will cause a lot of smoke, and you may get real aquainted with the local Commanche war party from mis interpretd smoke signals. Or the neighbors may call the fire department, which will be worse.

Best of luck getting it running.