Oil Burning when cold.

hmmm, odd indeed.

Originally Posted by alpinestarhero

Here's another question; what if you knock the choke off, but then raise the revs using the throttle to 2.5 / 3k rpm? does oil appear to be burning then?

I'll have a whirl and see what I get.

I'm wondering if it ight at all be possible to condense some of the exhaust vapour in a glass bottle or something...then you can see if you get oil...? Might be a bit difficult to get alot though. And I'm possibly now thinking about things way too much as a chemist

[yorkie_chris]

Originally Posted by Zen Beetle

The fact that its smoking on one exhaust

The 650 only has one exhaust to smoke from.

Also the twin can systems as on the thou are linked in between cylinders.

[punyXpress]

Originally Posted by alpinestarhero

I'm wondering if it ight at all be possible to condense some of the exhaust vapour in a glass bottle or something...then you can see if you get oil...? Might be a bit difficult to get alot though. And I'm possibly now thinking about things way too much as a chemist

Would a condom do ?

Originally Posted by punyXpress

Would a condom do ?

LMAO


I suspect it wont. I dont think a condom is sufficently transparent.

Originally Posted by leedsmatt7

Any ideas what may be causing it? It was embarrasing this morning when I pulled up at the bottom of the road an was caught up by a white cloud of smoke shortly after.

White smoke when cold sounds like water or coolant to me, not oil. Water condensation doesn't smell, but coolant will. It's not unusual to have a small crack in the cylinder head gasket that closes up as the engine heats up, thus leaking only when cold. I've seen this many times on car engines.

I would suggest starting the engine when it's cold and let it run for a minute or so. Then stop it and pull out the plugs. If it burns coolant the plug in the affected cylinder will be discoloured.

[embee]

Just as a little background info.....

When you first start an engine from cold, the water vapour produced from the combustion (perfectly normal, hydrocarbon fuel + oxygen = CO2 + H2O ) will first condense in the cold exhaust pipe, so you usually don't see any at the tailpipe immediately.

Then as the system warms it evaporates what has condensed early on, the vapour gets further down the line before condensing again, so it builds-up towards the tailpipe.

It then reaches the point where the system is warm enough that the vapour from the combustion doesn't condense out inside the exhaust and reaches the tailpipe. When it hits the cold air it condenses and shows as white "vapour".

The water sitting in the exhaust also then starts to get vapourised again so adds to the effect, so you tend to see it getting more pronounced for a short time.

As it heats up more, the tailpipe gas temperature is high enough that the water vapour has a chance to disperse before it does eventually condense out, but by that time it is too dilute to show up, so it appears that the "smoke" has stopped.

If you're running with choke on, the enrichment means that high levels of unburnt hydrocarbons are being carried in the vapour and the heavier fractions will condense in the water droplets, and it could simply be this that you are smelling.

oil makes blue smoke not white(as pointed out already), and if it was head gasket/ cracked head it would usually become more difficult to start as it got worse. the easiest way to check would be to whip the plugs out in the morning and with a thin torch look at the crown of the pistons to see if there is anything getting in. they should look black and rough, if they look clean and polished then that is a sign of water/coolant has been in the bore, and obviously if you actually see any fluids its bad!

How much oil is she burning, I.e. how often are you topping up the oil?

I can use up to a sump* / 2000miles depending on hooliganism.

* anyone know the litreage between min and max?