White smoke from exhaust this morning

This just started this morning. Bike started first crack. Drove with the choke on for a bit as usual until it warmed up. The the bike started to bog down and stalled. Started back up fine but was blowing white smoke out of the right exhaust. I just did the valves last year. Could they be out so fast, or should I be looking for something else? I'll try starting it again on my lunch break to see if it is still happening.

 

Unless you drove thousands of thousands of miles in a year, probably not the valves... Saw your other posting, did you end up doing compression on the one wonky cylinder? Some of the exhausts, like on my X, have a crossover, what bike do you have? If it has a crossover, all the exhaust from all four would mix and would make the left vs right exit pipe have little bearing diagnostically. When you start it up on lunch, keep a hand on each of the four pipes exiting the cylinders, see if they are heating up equally. Just don't get burned as they start to heat up, a quick tap is usually enough to tell how hot they are.

 

It's a1982 xj650 Maxim

 

Just went out and started the bike. First crack again. Let it warm up a bit and checked the pipes. The outside two warm up really fast. The middle two take a bit longer, but did warm up. Took it for a.short spin and everything was ok. Weird? I'll check the header bolts when I get home later to see if maybe they are a bit loose.

 

Everything was tight on the header bolts. Bike ran fine on the way home. Not sure what happened, but all seems to be good.

 

Weird quirk of humidity/pressure/temperature? Who knows. Sometimes I see my breath when I don't expect to be able to as well. Good luck.

 

Quite the trick getting a coolant leak into the cylinders on an air cooled bike!

 

I had a similar smart-assed thought as well when I first saw the thread yesterday.
"Oh, blown head gasket for sure!"

 

I don't think the head gasket is blown, because the bike ran fine after work. Not sure what happened yesterday.

 

Ahhh, you missed the point and sarcasm. A blown head gasket would not make white smoke unless it allowed coolant to leak in, which can't happen with air cooled engines.

 

Could it have been simply some condensation in the pipes?

 

If it was just condensation, why would the bike have stalled? Could it have been a bit of crap in the fuel line/tank filter that blocked the fuel flow when he was riding? Carbs ran out of fuel, once the bike shut off and he stopped riding, the sludge moved a bit away from the filter, fuel started flowing, gravity refilled the carbs?

 

Good point, assuming they are related. I was just trying to think of ways to explain some smoke.

They may be separate incidents.

 

Maybe water in the tank? Normally it pulls from higher up if not on reserve, maybe the water sloshed up to the higher gas intake on the petcock, got sucked in. Engine dies when it reaches the cylinders, gets blown into the exhaust. When the engine starts up again later, pulls it all through until it gets gas. Gets gas, then pushes out/evaporates the water, giving white smoke out of the exhaust? Thats my best guess after thinking about it. He would have to switch over and run it on reserve for a bit to see if I'm right....

 

Still not sure what happened. I rode the bike to work this morning, and it was alot cooler than yesterday, and everything was fine. 1982 Gremlins?

 

Keep an eye on the oil level and ride the hell out of her. She will be just fine and bring you many miles of pleasure.