Still smoking...

[bill-ns]

Ok... back story... Last fall the Hawk was smoking pretty bad during startup. Worse when it was the first time of the day. Seemed to be going through a good amount of oil too.
Did a compression test on both cylinders and both seem to be within reason for a bike with 40K+ Kms. I can't remember the exact numbers...
The plugs in the rear cylinder had a good amount of oil buildup on them. Front cylinder was fine.... nice and clean.

So over the winter... carbs were apart, jet ket, M4 exhaust, and did the valve seals on the rear cylinder. Did them with the head on the bike... nice and easy. Wiggled the valves with the springs off... didn't seem to be any play in the guides.

First couple starts this year, and it seemed better, but now it's back to normal. Smokes a bit while idling, when cold, smokes a lot when the gas is twisted.... but stops very shortly after I take the bike for a ride.

I haven't checked the new plugs, or even gotten an idea of how much oil it's burning yet.

Any ideas?!

Thanks
Bill

[motorcycleman]

I once had an xs 650 yamaha that did a similar thing. What cured it cheaply was to switch to a heavier oil., something in the 20w50 range. I don't know if there are any negatives to this- someone like Hord may have an answer to that.

[bill-ns]

You may be onto something... Just checked the FSM and if it's being run at temps above 0 degrees Celcius, 20W40 and 20W50 seem to be the way to go! I was using 10W40... I will change that!

Fingers crossed that it's that easy!

Thanks!
Bill

[LeftRightLeftThrottle]

http://motorcycleinfo.calsci.com/Oils1.html

I read up on this stuff and was surprised. Look at the paragraph about how oils are manufactured. 10w-40 starts with a base oil thats 10weight with long molecules that make it 40weight at high temp. When oil gets run through a MC transmission all those long molecules get disintegrated after 1000 miles or so. Then you end up with 10w-20 oil. The article lists which oils use less of those long molecules VII's (Viscocity Index Improvers) Next on my list of stuff to buy is a gallon of Shell Rotella T Synthetic 5w-40 $13 at Wally world. If you want to use dino oil use at least a 15w-40 as the higher weight base oil requires less VII's

HTH
~LRLRT

[bill-ns]

I was using synthetic 10w40... I forget the name... white 4L containter... lol.
I change to 20w50 this weekend and see what happens.

Bill

[MrDude_1]

i run Shell Rotella T also.... although i usually dont mention it online because alot of people are really picky about whats said about one oil over another.... commonly argued topic.. doesnt matter if its bikes boats or cars.. lol.

[bill-ns]

ipone is what I am currently using... com'on, let's start an oil war.. I say Amsoil is crap...annnnd begin!

Bill

[MrDude_1]

ipone is what I am currently using... com'on, let's start an oil war.. I say Amsoil is crap...annnnd begin!

Bill

lol.

i say Amsoil costs too much... and i usually dont get an argument.. even from the guys that love the stuff.


in everything that doesnt have a wetclutch, i use mobile1..... and in everything i pull apart that i use mobil1 in... theres almost no where.. theres a nice golden hue on everything.. and i can still see the crosshatch on cyls that have over 120,000 miles on them... cant complain about that... lol.

[motorcycleman]

Let us know if thats the cure. Man, that guy sure studied oil.

[bill-ns]

for sure... Prob get around to it tomorrow night.

Bill

[Hawk Jr]

no motorcycle related but I had the same issue in a VW Cabrio i have and switched to 20/50 and took care of it.

Rob