XJ550 Seca Burns Oil

I took the top part of the engine apart and put it back together. Everything still works fine but now it burns oil. Any ideas what the problem most likely is?

 

By top apart, do you mean the jugs as well? Although, I assume the head only. If you took the jugs off, did you do any work on the cylinder walls (hone) / rings? If you took off the rings to clean, etc., maybe just a needs time for the rings to seat.

 

head gasket leak into cylinders. did you use proper torque specs and sequence?

do you have an oily spark plug?
are you seeing smoke or just oil loss? and was motor and bike being rode by you before work and no oil loss?

 

I took the head off as well as the mid section. Not sure what you mean by the jugs as I'm a little new to bikes. The only thing I did was clean all the carbon deposits off the cylinders and the valves.

 

My uncle and I did the work and we did use proper torque spec but maybe not the correct sequence. Spark plugs look pretty good. I'm not seeing smoke just oil loss. Bike was being rode before and to the best of my knowledge there was no oil loss.

 

just to cover typical oil leaks.
valve cover- use sealant on 1 side replace donut seals if you haven't done that
oil drain plug- install new crush washer
oil filter enclosure- make sure proper alinememt,.add some rtv to outer edge. the oring that comes with filter may not be correct
check tach drive - replace the seals if leaking.
shifter shaft seal and output shaft seal -Replace if you find excessive oil under shifter cover
less typical oil leaks
remove crank shaft covers left and right see if there is oil under covers. seal replacement.
alternator. any oil under this cover needs a seal replacment

look inside air box for excessive oil in housing

could also be valve guide seals leaking you should see oil build up on spark plugs.

jugs are the cylinders . you reuse the seals and gaskets or buy a kit.
I call them cylinders and reserve the term jugs for 2 cylinder bikes for obvious reasons.....

try re torqueing the cylinder head first

 

As XJ550H pointed out, I meant cylinder block by the term jugs. Sorry for the confusion. He also asked a very important question

If you see oil leaks then follow the suggestions given. Especially re-torquing after a couple of heat cycles. Sometimes it is hard to see an oil leak and where it is coming from when you have clean oil. You can spray some foot powder and then go for a ride to help in this detection. However, if you don't see any oil leaks and have smoke coming out of the exhaust, then it may be a matter of waiting for the rings to set. Did you stagger the ring gaps for each piston? Don't worry, they will shift. Did you take the pistons off to clean them, or just left them attached to the rod and cleaned them in place? If you took them off the rods, did you number them to make sure they go back into the same cylinder? Basically XJ550H and I are giving you guesses based on what you told us so far. If you can give some more detail then people here can give you more precise suggestions. Best of luck on tracking the issue down. Just keep at it. If smoking, here is fingers crossed that it will resolve itself.

Note: One question I forgot to ask. If it smokes, does it only smoke in the first 30 seconds or so after starting the bike when it had been sitting a day or two? This information will also help diagnose the problem. If the bike does not smoke and leaking instead, then this question is not relevant.

 

Who did you buy the gaskets from, and what brand were they?