Smoking problem - more serious than I thought

[11Rider]

Hi guys, a little backgroung - I recently redid my carbs because the bike sat for about 8 months and some jets were clogged. She runs really good, sound good and has good compression on all four. BUT, the left pipe has quite a bit of smoke. The right two has none. The left two will foul plugs in about five minutes and come out with a black oily film that smells like gas. The left pipe has a lot of black oily film. The temps of the two right exhaust pipes are about 200 degrees, the left two are 100 degrees (idling for about ten minutes). With only 7,500 miles on it, I can't believe it would have any kind of oil control problems and especially since the left two are so similar and the right two are so consistent. I'm puzzled. Any thoughts on this? PS I didn't have a chance to synch the carbs yet 'cause my synch tool is on the way, however I did turn the middle adjustment screw a half turn in both directions and found that idle performance went down either way so I set it back where it was. In other words, I don't thing 1 and 2 are that far out from 3 and 4.

[ManagerMike]

Debris in the float valves, float valves leaking, or floats hanging up on the bowl gaskets maybe Sure sounds like fuel and not oil as described, and you were just in the carbs. Every time I open the carbs for any reason at least one will hang up Usually a few taps on the bowl with a screwdriver handle will free it up. Last time though I had to pull the &%^$@$* bowl and manipulate the float up with my finger
A 75 degree screwdriver will let you get the bowls off with the rack still on the bike however.

[natemoen]

what color is the smoke?

[cywelchjr]

Sounds like mixture adjustment to me, which is the first step in the carb sync process (after bench sync) anyways, and can and should be done before hooking up the gauges anyways. Adjust them one at a time for highest idle by ear, don't get tricky, just go for the highest idle, and it sounds like you may need to start by slowly turning them in at first, this assumes that the float levels are all the same and the jet sizes are all the same and reasonably correct for the engine, exhaust and intake setup. The fact that they are running cooler says (along with the black plugs) they are running rich, so you need to lean them out. Once you have each carb set to give the highest idle speed you can get setting it's idle mixture screw (and you may need to turn down the master idle screw as part of the process), then your ready to put the gauges on them and sync the carbs.

[11Rider]

OK guys, so you are leaning toward it being a fuel problem. I will tune each carb as you suggest and then synch them and check the float levels. HOWEVER, I've noticed that if I clean the plugs up real nice and then put them back in and sit for a few hours I end up with wet plugs even without running the bike. I've done this three times with the same result, but only on those two cylinders. It smells like gas but feels like oil (sorry to be confusing bu that's my best take.It's hard to tell the color of the smoke, but its not black - more like a light grey.

If it is a carb related problem I'd be happy, but I'm leaning toward it being leaky valve guide seals. If I take the valve cover off can I see the seals? Also, a good mechaniic friiend of mine said it's not uncommon for an engine that has sat for a while to get a sticky oil ring and to put some Marvel Mystery Oil in the offending cylinders and soak overnight. With only 7500 miles on a 32 year old engine, maybe he's on to something?

Lastly, I thank you all again for all the advise. I feel like all I do is ask for information, but I don't know a quarter of what you guys know about these bikes and don't have much to offer in return.

[xs11lover]

You ripped out the octi......Is the oil over filled with fuel? Another thought with the same ending. If you let the gas in the on position....if your floats are stuck(without the octi) the gas will also end up in the oil.

[11Rider]

Good thought but I've checked a couple of times on that. The petcock turns the gas off perfectly on both sides and I haven't forgotten to turn them off. I'm going to pull the carbs today to see if I did something stupid - wouldn't be the first time

[11Rider]

Well my friends, there are dumbells and then there are extreme dumbells. I am the latter. OK, per your advise I pulled the carbs. I carefully checked the float levels. The two for the smoking cylinders were 1mm lower (as the carbs are upside down, so I adjusted them a TAD higher than the two cylinders that are running perfectly. BUT, and here's where where I am an extreme dumbell, when I changed the pilot jets, I DIDN"T SCREW TWO OF THEM IN BY FAR! On the smoking cylinders they must have been unscrewed by 5 or 6 turns. On the good cylinders the jets were tight. I have to run on a painting estimate right now but when I come back I'll put her together and give you the results. I'm happy now, but if this isn't it I'll be bummed! Once again, thank you for your help thus far!!