possible oil leak?

[Monkeytofu]

hey guys, finally got my bike up and running and I'm running into problem... again.

every once in a while I'll see a bunch of smoke start coming out from between the engine and the left fairing. It comes out in a considerable amount for about 10 seconds then stops.

Any ideas for what to look for tomorrow? I'm not seeing any loss in power and my oil light is not coming out. I wiped the inside fairing with my fairing after I got off and all I got was normal road grime, nothing oily.

[lgk]

does it smell like burnt oil?

are you riding in the rain?

[Monkeytofu]

Originally Posted by lgk

does it smell like burnt oil?

are you riding in the rain?

Smells like burned oil. It rained yesterday, but my bike was dry today.

I'm not sure if it's something I used to clean my fairings or the heat tape burning on the bottom, or oil. There are so many oil based things down there.

[EMSRacer07]

smell coming from the air box? could just be the crankcase venting off alot. mine does that too and sometimes smokes white a bit and can spit some oil out.

[Monkeytofu]

Originally Posted by EMSRacer07

smell coming from the air box? could just be the crankcase venting off alot. mine does that too and sometimes smokes white a bit and can spit some oil out.

I'm getting the smell from the smoke coming up so it's coming from the bottom. My headers had some liquid on them around the area where they bend into the engine.

I'm just shooting random ideas out but it could possibly be a loose valve cover? I tightened them to spec last time I checked.

[EMSRacer07]

you know what it might be. I have had a liquid spray on my engine and leak on my headers and fairings and even got to around my leg area via gas tank. Turns out was my fork seals were bad and was spraying oil everywhere. Thought it was coming from valve cover too but was my fork seals. could look there. I used to get oil on the inside of my fairings and bottom side of my tank and would leak down on my boots. try looking there.

[Monkeytofu]

Originally Posted by EMSRacer07

you know what it might be. I have had a liquid spray on my engine and leak on my headers and fairings and even got to around my leg area via gas tank. Turns out was my fork seals were bad and was spraying oil everywhere. Thought it was coming from valve cover too but was my fork seals. could look there. I used to get oil on the inside of my fairings and bottom side of my tank and would leak down on my boots. try looking there.

I'll give that a look. Should I see oil come out of my forks if I pump my handle bars?

[EMSRacer07]

Originally Posted by Monkeytofu

I'll give that a look. Should I see oil come out of my forks if I pump my handle bars?

probably not. mine would only get really oily on hot days and when i road around town so like bumpy roads but it all depends on the fork seals, thats if it is the seals. You could try to pump on the handle bars and see if alot of the fluid stays on the tops of the forks. look under the gas tank my forks were spraying that with oil

[Monkeytofu]

I looked around my bike and no dice. Seems the oily stuff was just paint peeling off my headers so I don't it's the fork seals.

my inner fairings looked foil free and the ground under my bike had no spots. No idea what could be burning down there but I'll try riding it around today and seeing what comes up. I think it could possibly be the old heat tape burning up as it peels away from old age, so I'll replace that soon/ take it off and see what happens.

[alex.s]

do you have a stock crank case breather that goes into the intake? or a separate breather element.

[Monkeytofu]

Originally Posted by alex.s

do you have a stock crank case breather that goes into the intake? or a separate breather element.

I assume it's stock as I'm not familiar with this part of the motorcycle I'll check if you point it out to me.

[alex.s]

do you have pod filters or a normal airbox. check under the airbox if you have it, theres a tube that runs from the engine crank case to the airbox. this is called the crank case breather and its there cause you know you have the pistons going up and down and gases expanding and stuff and it needs somewhere to go, so at the top of the case theres a hole that leads up through a snaking tube to the airbox for it to breathe. sometimes smoke from the oil comes through there but it gets sucked back into the intake and gets spit out the exhaust. if that tube isnt connected a little bit of smoke can come out. if it is open and oil gets splashed up through the hole, it can sit ontop the crank and make some smoke

[Monkeytofu]

Originally Posted by alex.s

do you have pod filters or a normal airbox. check under the airbox if you have it, theres a tube that runs from the engine crank case to the airbox. this is called the crank case breather and its there cause you know you have the pistons going up and down and gases expanding and stuff and it needs somewhere to go, so at the top of the case theres a hole that leads up through a snaking tube to the airbox for it to breathe. sometimes smoke from the oil comes through there but it gets sucked back into the intake and gets spit out the exhaust. if that tube isnt connected a little bit of smoke can come out. if it is open and oil gets splashed up through the hole, it can sit ontop the crank and make some smoke

Oh ok. Yes, I have a stock airbox, the smoke comes out between the lower fairing and the exhaust. I don't know if it's the appropriate way to describe it but it's white and billows out for maybe 10 seconds. it comes out in a a 3/4 inch long area.

The breather tube is located near the center right?

About to go ride and see if the issue comes up again and if I can tell where in the day light.

[alex.s]

where is your water reservior drain line located? look at your exhaust where the smoke comes from, is it all white? look at your water reservior, is there coolant on the outside? does it do it when its nice and hot on a hot day?

[EMSRacer07]

yeah its right in the center. right under the carbs

[Monkeytofu]

Originally Posted by alex.s

where is your water reservior drain line located? look at your exhaust where the smoke comes from, is it all white? look at your water reservior, is there coolant on the outside? does it do it when its nice and hot on a hot day?

Last time I checked it was in the middle/ 1/3rd above the line. I'll check tomorrow.

My exhaust is not white, it doesn't look like anything has dripped on to it at all.

Yes, the smoke is white. Is that a sign of burning oil? I'm forgetting if burning oil was blue or white smoke.

[alex.s]

burning oil is typically blueish but it depends on where and how hot it burns. if it was on the outside of the case it would probably look light bluish grey. the radiator is a closed system unless the water boils, the pressure becomes too much and the system has to purge the excess into the surge tank (the water "resevior"), once it cools down, a vacuum develops in the water system and pulls the extra back into the system. if it purges too much there is a drain line on the surge tank that leads down to the bottom of the bike. water and coolant typically burn white smoke. there are lots of water hoses going around there and if some spilled onto the engine it would evaporate/burn/disperse very quickly.

what im trying to get at is the surge tank might look normal and your radiator is actually low if the surge line isnt leading to the surge tank. or maybe you just really had to piss and didnt know it.

[Monkeytofu]

Originally Posted by alex.s

burning oil is typically blueish but it depends on where and how hot it burns. if it was on the outside of the case it would probably look light bluish grey. the radiator is a closed system unless the water boils, the pressure becomes too much and the system has to purge the excess into the surge tank (the water "resevior"), once it cools down, a vacuum develops in the water system and pulls the extra back into the system. if it purges too much there is a drain line on the surge tank that leads down to the bottom of the bike. water and coolant typically burn white smoke. there are lots of water hoses going around there and if some spilled onto the engine it would evaporate/burn/disperse very quickly.

what im trying to get at is the surge tank might look normal and your radiator is actually low if the surge line isnt leading to the surge tank. or maybe you just really had to piss and didnt know it.

Hmm, maybe my system is heating up too fast. I had my coolant cap slightly open for a day or two and maybe too much evaporated out and now there's an uneven mixture of water and coolant.

Thanks for the help guys, I'll check it out and see what I can find out