Oil in the exhaust

[gui_tarzan]

So I'm thinking oil in my exhaust pipe is not a good thing. Are these engines known for blowing oil at 18,000 miles?

[DGXSER]

No, that would be VERY rare. The only one I have seen do it dropped a valve head off the valve stem into the engine thereby destroying the piston and the head as it beat around in the cylinder while the bike was ridden home. Amazing how much torture these things take and still run!!

[natemoen]

If your burning oil, you can be fouling out a plug and just pushing the oil into the exhaust. I have it going on right now on # 3 and 4 right now.

[gui_tarzan]

All the plugs are black. I have a cold so I'm not quite sure if I smell gas or oil, the engine has sat for quite a while before I got it. I have all but the electrical off the frame now, it was quite a job getting the engine out. Stupid things are HEAVY! It's all going in my basement for the winter so I can work on it and hopefully put it all back together in the spring. In the garage of course. It's too bad these don't have a transmission you can unbolt from the engine, it would be a lot easier moving it.

[MindWebs]

not to kick a dead horse or anything...

But what weight oil are you using??

If you use 10w30 like i did when i first got the bike, then yes they will let oil past the rings.

if you use 20w50 and still have oil going past the rings.... then it's time for sea foam.

add a full bottle of sea foam to your oil and in neutral on the center stand with a fan blowing on the engine.

let it run, mostly at idle with modulating blips into mid rpm for approx. 5 minutes.
Do NOT run it out to full rpm or run under-load with the oil thinned.

be sure to change the oil BEFORE driving.

what your trying to accomplish is: work the seafoam up into the rings and clean the carbon and corrosion out of the ring channel in the pistons.

the carbon and sooty residue is corrosive and when it sits in the engine it can "rust" the rings to the piston, this will lower your compression and allow oils to slip past them into the combustion chamber.

if you do not find any oil build-up on your spark plugs.... then this may be a sign of another issue.

If the exhast valve seat seals leak then you could be leaking oil into the exhaust after the combstion chamber.

the seals are 30 some years old... it is a posibility..

these seals are available at partsnmore.com and a few other places.

but try the sea foam first.... relitively cheap and painless.

Good Luck!

[gui_tarzan]

That's good advice. I have never ridden this bike, I bought it as a project bike so I have no idea what oil was used in it. I have a feeling I'm probably going to end up tearing the engine down to check it all out. I hate the idea of spending the money to do that but if it needs work, better to find out while it's out of the frame than spend hours trying to get it to start.

[DGXSER]

If you can reasonably support the engine, you could hook the starter up to a battery and run a compression check on the engine before you go tearing into it for nothing. If the rings are bad enough to blow oil into the exhaust, it should show up in a compression check.

[MindWebs]

if you are just starting on the project you may be better to focus your attention on the carbs, these carbs are touchy, if this bike has sat for an extended time frame then you may have gummed up carbs..

please check out the tech section for many great ways to start your restoration project.

and please do some of the upgrades right away to minimize your frustraion.
there are a few things that can make or break your satisfaction with this bike.

fuse block (upgrade to ATC block)
clean and die-electric grease all electrical connections
carbs (buy full rebuild kits from georgfix(ebay))
octy/petcocks (buy a full rebuild kit from georgfix(ebay))
front brakes (buy stainless braided lines from coastguard (ebay))
(Optional) headlight (Upgrade to HID kit Bi-zenon)

The first 5 will make or break this bike for you.
if you try to avoid them it will burn you later.

I learned this the HARD way.
also... don't modify the exhaust if don't need to....(factory is the most powerfull system)
i'm still trying to retune the carbs after modifying..... it sucks....

Good Luck and have fun!

Also please put your machine info in your signiture line, this makes answering your questions much easier.

and if you add the location information there may be a member by you that can swing by and give you some help and tips.

[79XS11F]

Is it oil for sure or perhaps carbon within the exhaust systems that's being dissolved by gas? How much is there?
Rob

[gui_tarzan]

It's oil, probably three or four tablespoons are on my garage floor now from a hole in the muffler.

[DGXSER]

Wow, that is ALOT of oil to be in there unburned. I'd certainly start with the compression check to see where it leads you.

[79XS11F]

I agree, that's a lot of unburned oil to find in the exhaust system. Typically oil that blows by the rings or gets past the valve seals will be burned off and a "Smokey" exhaust will be a tell tail sign of a problem. But finding oil unburned in the exhaust... That's different to say the least. You might have a lot of oil coming through one of your exhaust valve seals so it may not be getting burned in the combustion stroke.
Now, I must ask ... You say this oil is being found on the floor under the a hole in the exhaust system. The hole is to allow moisture to drain out when the exhaust system cools off in cool weather. Are you very sure that this oil is in deed coming from the exhaust and not from a point above and dripping onto the exhaust system and appearing to be from the exhaust?
Rob

[gui_tarzan]

Oh yeah, I'm sure. I took the pipes off the bike and laid them on the floor earlier in the week and that's when the oil came out. The muffler is rusty and there's a hole in the side. I was thinking about the valve seals because it's unburned. I thought maybe they had put oil in the cylinders for storage and cranked the engine to coat the cylinders, that could explain it too but that's still a lot of oil.

I'm asking questions like this because every vehicle has its own special quirks and it helps to have insight from people who know them well. I have been reading the other areas of this site, learning about this bike as it is a lot different than my other bikes.

I do almost all of my own car repairs and I've been through my old Buicks from bumper to bumper, including body repair, interior, wiring and building/repairing several engines so I'm not new to the mechanics and wrenching. But aside from normal maintenance, this is my first attempt at a total rebuild with a bike and all comments are appreciated.

[79XS11F]

Oh yeah, I'm sure. I took the pipes off the bike and laid them on the floor earlier in the week and that's when the oil came out. The muffler is rusty and there's a hole in the side. I was thinking about the valve seals because it's unburned. I thought maybe they had put oil in the cylinders for storage and cranked the engine to coat the cylinders, that could explain it too but that's still a lot of oil.

I'm asking questions like this because every vehicle has its own special quirks and it helps to have insight from people who know them well. I have been reading the other areas of this site, learning about this bike as it is a lot different than my other bikes.

I do almost all of my own car repairs and I've been through my old Buicks from bumper to bumper, including body repair, interior, wiring and building/repairing several engines so I'm not new to the mechanics and wrenching. But aside from normal maintenance, this is my first attempt at a total rebuild with a bike and all comments are appreciated.

With that much oil in the exhaust it also MUST be burning some as well. Are you seeing blueish smoke out the exhaust when it's running.
If on the other hand this is a new to you bike that has not been run a lot yet, the PO may have sprayed oil into the exhaust system as well as the cylinders. If she's not smoking this may be the case.
Rob

[gui_tarzan]

When I got this a few weeks ago, the PO had carefully disassembled the carbs putting each one in it's own numbered ziploc bag. I've never heard it run, I honestly don't know when it ran last. He said when he started tearing it down to restore, it was a good runner. I have no reason to doubt him but he may not have known there was a problem if there indeed is one. If you check the "what have you done today" thread, you'll see the pics I posted during my two-day teardown session. When I get the motor in my basement I am going to build a stand for it so I can check it all out and try to at least spin it with the starter to check compression. There are several mods I want to do based on what I've seen already on this site. Lots of great ideas!