white smoke

Alright, my bike is driving me crazy. I love working on it, I really do, but some times (and this is getting more and more frequent) I just want it to work the way it's supposed so that I could ride it when I want.

As some of you know, I've had issues with excessive fuel consumption (to the point of blowing black smoke out of the exhaust) and this trend never went away. I even have pods on it and once I hit about 6k RPM, the engine is getting so much fuel it bogs down and shuts off as I'm riding (my plugs are black at all rev ranges I could chop at). Well, I rebuilt everything that could be rebuilt on the carbs except one thing: float valves.

While I was waiting on my order from chacal, I started the bike up a few times to keep the gas in the carbs from congealing (I hardly ride now, the city sucks for fun riding ) and when I let it sit white smoke shoots out the right side exhaust (3 and 4). This seems bad, and from what I understand it means oil getting in to the engine as a fuel source as there is no gas to be burned. Am I correct? I don't have a compression gauge here to check the compression, and even then I'm afraid to do so (although it was in PERFECT spec before I took it out across the States.)

Anyway, I don't really know where I'm going with this. I just wanted to rant that I'm tired of fixing things just to have something else go wrong. I am strongly considering selling the bike, but every time I go out to the yard and look at it, I remember how much fun we've had and my heart starts to hurt when I think of selling it.

Any opinions or suggestions on the smoke issue would be appreciated. What's weird to me is that the bike still runs horrifically rich (haven't yet taken it out with the new float valves, but we'll see).

 

Have you re-jetted for those pods?

 

I start my Bike a few times a month to do the same as you do.
Let it warm-up and get Oiled. Let it know I care.

My Bike looks like it's belching white smoke, too. But, it's mostly condensation.
It doesn't linger. It dissipates rapidly. The Smoke Alarm does not go off.
Once it gets warmed-up some ... the Exhaust Drain Holes start to drip on to the garage floor. It's water. I tested it.

I attribute this condition to having Ethanol in the Fuel.
Once it really warms-up good ... I run it above 3000 rpm for a bit to heat the exhaust and clear-out any moisture.

 

wizard - aren't the stock jets supposed to make the bike run lean with pods?

Rick - You know, I never considered that. I always wondered what that dripping is from the exhaust and always though that it was something that was in the gas and not getting completely burned. The last time I started it was after a lot of rain and it's been sitting under a tarp so the condensation could definitely be the cause.


This has already made me feel better. It feels good to have the support of an entire XJ community.

 

She if she trips a Smoke Detector.

Smoke ... Only. Not Smoke and CO.

 

that warm fuzzy feeling

 

wizard - aren't the stock jets supposed to make the bike run lean with pods? <quote>

Just answer the question, yes or no. don't get smart, or you'll end up like Polock & you wouldn't want that..............

 

Black smoke= fuel
White smoke= water
Blue-White smoke= oil

 

Wizard - Ha, then the answer is no.

I was quite fed up with the performance of the pods and tried to put my airbox back in... except I could not for the live of me get it back in there. I took it out in 15 minutes time, then spent an hour fiddling with getting it back in.

I hate to say it, but pods simply look cool and I may tune for mid and high end performance... unless of course I wake up tomorrow with a different idea for the bike.

 

Got the new float valves and seats in. Apparently I didn't tighten down one of the seats well enough as I was greeted with a shower of gas from my overflow.

Tightened everything up and started her up for a bit.

We'll see how she rides in the next few days.

 

The man simply frightens me at times, he does...

But on other occasions, one or two well placed words, (or a strategic photo) leaves nothing else to be said. Exquisite simplicity.