Suddenly started blowing white smoke

[equinox1216]

Hi all,

Well it's been a real busy summer and my bike sat for a few weeks without getting run. When this happens I try to at least start it and run it for a few minutes once per weekend. But I can't remember if I got to do that last weekend.

Anyway, I wanted to go ride today and started it up, it ran normally, warmed up, and off I went to the gas station (2 blocks away). All was normal until I was almost back to the house. I noticed the right tail pipe was spewing white smoke.

Might this be as the other posts indicate:
"one or more stuck rings and may go away after a short ride. If it does not go away then it may be valve seals or a ring/cylinder problem"?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[barberad]

Hi all,


spewing white smoke.

Might this be as the other posts indicate:
"one or more stuck rings and may go away after a short ride. If it does not go away then it may be valve seals or a ring/cylinder problem"?

Spewing is never good, but if its been sitting a couple of weeks, could definetly could be a valve.
Good luck,
Dan

[79XS11F]

Run a compression test. When is it smoking? All the time, on deceleration or acceleration?
Rob

[b.walker5]

Are you sure it's White smoke? White smoke is usually a sign of moisture in the oil getting into the combustion chamber, in automotive it's usually caused by antifreeze and a leaking head gasket. Light Blue smoke can appear white in the right light, and thats caused by burning oil, which can come from rings, valve stems, etc. Black smoke is caused by incorrect fuel/air mixture.

[XS1100_OEM4ME]

Gas

It warmed up fine, ran fine you had just put gas in it and by the time you got home it was smoking? You said you noticed one side smoking, is the other side smoking at all, if so, I would drain and refill the gas, a cheap check and you can keep the gas to use later if it not the gas. We had a station down here that three of our cars ran like crap and smoked and the lawn mower died and wouln't run at all from one gas station, they have sence shut it down till they find out what is up, and it was a Shell, not an off brand

[b.walker5]

Good point. Not something we consider first over here. Our fuel comes from only one refinery and the quality controls are high.

[ManagerMike]

Sounds like water in the fuel to me, and our bikes do have two fuelcocks each feeding either side of the engine. Possibly the gas station's underground tank(s) were near empty and you picked up a bit of H2O.

[natemoen]

The gas idea probably would not have been my first thought

[XS1100_OEM4ME]

yes

Sounds like water in the fuel to me, and our bikes do have two fuelcocks each feeding either side of the engine. Possibly the gas station's underground tank(s) were near empty and you picked up a bit of H2O.

Yes, two petcocks, and if the octy has been removed, one p/c could fuel one side of the motor and be the first one to pickup the water in the tank

[nutwister]

Hi all,

Well it's been a real busy summer and my bike sat for a few weeks without getting run. When this happens I try to at least start it and run it for a few minutes once per weekend. But I can't remember if I got to do that last weekend.

Anyway, I wanted to go ride today and started it up, it ran normally, warmed up, and off I went to the gas station (2 blocks away). All was normal until I was almost back to the house. I noticed the right tail pipe was spewing white smoke.

Might this be as the other posts indicate:
"one or more stuck rings and may go away after a short ride. If it does not go away then it may be valve seals or a ring/cylinder problem"?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Are you certain that it is not overfilled with oil? Check the oil level with the bike sitting level, not on the side stand.

If it's overfilled it will spew oil into the airbox from the crankcase vent and it'll get sucked into the carbs and your bike will become a mosquito fogger.

Might not show up in the garage but would manifest itself riding.

[tarzan]

Also, if gas has leaked into the oil, you could have gas-oil.Which can cause it to smoke as well as possibly burn up crank bearings.

[Eveready1100]

How was it running when it was blowing the smoke?
One thing that will make it blow white smoke is diesel fuel! Saw a car some years back that was mistakenly topped up from a diesel bowser. It left a massive white smoke trail for miles till the constabulary pulled him up for the hazard he was causing

[Crazcnuk]

White 'smoke' is usually from head gasket leaks in a water cooled engine!

My guess would be water in your exhuast pipe. It should burn out fairly quickly.

All my XS's have a tendency to blow smoke for a bit after sitting for a while.

Usually more blue though....

[XS1100_OEM4ME]

blue smoke

White 'smoke' is usually from head gasket leaks in a water cooled engine!

My guess would be water in your exhuast pipe. It should burn out fairly quickly.

All my XS's have a tendency to blow smoke for a bit after sitting for a while.

Usually more blue though....

My "guess" on blus smoke at start up after sitting for a while sounds like valve seals. Would like to hear back after he drains and refills the tank, if he does, water or other stuff in the gas could be what happened as it showed up right after he filled up

[XS1100 Newbie]

Just a smart @#ss remark! I had a Mercury once that let out a horrific white smoke all of a sudden. Turns out yours must be the same thing. It is a bad trans. vacume modulator gone bad, and sucking automatic trans fluid into the combustion chamber. Just a little ha ha at a troubling time. Hope it is just water in the exhaust.