KR-1 blowing smoke

[tatman]

I have just bought a Kawasaki KR-1 (250cc 2 cylinder 2-stroke) and the first thing I did was take it to the mechanics to clean out the carbs and stuff because it would barely run.

It starts and idles ok now but the right side blows a *heap* of white smoke when i rev it. It stinks like fuel(/oil?)... Also the overflow hose that connects to the casing down inbetween the two carbs starts pouring out either transmission oil or fuel.

I can hear that the left side isn't running smoothly like the left is, but I've tried switching spark plugs and things and that's not it either.

I've tried playing with the idle adjuster and the throttle-oil adjuster but nothing seems to help much. Does anyone have any ideas as to what it might be?

[Shaun]

If I was you I'd stop riding it.

[tatman]

Thanks Shaun. Does anyone have any useful thoughts as to what might be wrong with it?

[Frost]

I had a problem in my bike where it was allways running on oue cylinder and pissing fuel out of the breather pipe on one of the carbs. The old man told me the float needles were stuck. he shut it off and bannged the carbs a few times with the nadle of a hammer and the thing was fine from then on.

as yours is a sporty 2 stroke it may be that the piston/cylinder is borked and it needs a rebuild.

[Robby]

Tap the carbs as frosty said. If that fails to work, clean the jets, should be very easy on that bike.
If it still runs bad, check the compression.

Is it a liquid cooled engine? If it is, have a look in the coolant resevoir and see if there is any oil in the coolant. White smoke is indicative of a blown head gasket, and coolant getting into the combustion chamber. If theres enough of it getting in, it can also stop combustion from happening - so what is getting kicked out of the exhaust is steam and unburnt fuel, which would account for the smell of unburnt fuel.

Luckily its a 2 stroke. A head gasket is dead easy to change.

[tatman]

OK, I'll give the carb a good knock in the morning, I hope that's all it is

Yes, it's water cooled but I couldn't see any oil in the water.

What would cause the liquid (fuel/oil) to be pouring out of the breather tube- pressure escaping out of the cylinder? Would that mean it's the gasket or crankcase seal? I hope it's neither of those because I'd be a little over my head trying to fix them!

The cylinder *does* fire, just splutters rather than firing smoothly like the left side does.

[Robby]

Is it loosing coolant?

It certainly sounds like its not firing properly on one cylinder. Try a compression test.

I assume the breather is for the gearbox, so it could just be clogged.

[tatman]

no, it's not loosing coolant, the radiator was still full to the brim when I last checked. What would be getting clogged to make the gearbox oil come out the breather? That couldn't be also getting into the cylinder could it?

Thanks very much for your help so far btw, I've had a fair bit of experience working on cars but nothing on bikes so it all helps!

[Robby]

Gearbox oil could just be overfilled, and it could have more than one breather. Make sure they are all clear, and change the oil for good measure.

If its not loosing coolant, thats good. Do a compression test (compression testers cost about 25 quid), and see how it is there. Also check you have fuel getting to the carbs and clean jets.

[Git]

kr1, white smoke, pants running.
It's blown up!

When was it last rebuilt?

[cagiva gezzer]

If you can swap the carbs, try that as that will eliminate them. Lots of white smoke sounds like the crank seals are going. Moniter the gearbox oil level to see if any is being sucked into the crankcase. Leaky crank seals also cause the gear oil to turn mucky.
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"because one stroke isnt enough and four strokes waste two"

[tatters]

the kr1 has only one crank breather pipe and is under the carbs, what is the bikes milage l have just started rebuilding mine at 10,000 due to the common fault of the kr1 which is the piston rings love to pop out and trash the barrel as seen in pic and mine was running just like yours before it blew
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Past:NRG50,AF1125(x2),NSR125RR,ZZR250,CX500,VFR400,KR1S,ZZR600(x2),CB400N,YZF1000(x2),KH125,Z200,FX400R,CBR954RR(x2)GPZ500S,GT550,VFR750F(x2),RD350N,XR650R,CBR600F,CB250,KDX250,YZF750R,CRM250,400EXC,KLR650,TTR600RE,DR350S,R100GSPD,RGV250,VMAX1200,DL650 Present:G650XC,C12,KZ750,1190ADV

[Kickstart]

Hi

I suspect that the oil seal on the clutch side of the engine is shot. This is allowing the engine to draw in gearbox oil on the right hand side (hence the smoke from that exhaust), and also pressurising the gearbox (hence blowing out of the breather hose).

Don't know how easy this is to fix on the KR1.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[tatters]

oil seal replacement reqiures the a full bottom end strip down , according to my kr1 service manual
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Past:NRG50,AF1125(x2),NSR125RR,ZZR250,CX500,VFR400,KR1S,ZZR600(x2),CB400N,YZF1000(x2),KH125,Z200,FX400R,CBR954RR(x2)GPZ500S,GT550,VFR750F(x2),RD350N,XR650R,CBR600F,CB250,KDX250,YZF750R,CRM250,400EXC,KLR650,TTR600RE,DR350S,R100GSPD,RGV250,VMAX1200,DL650 Present:G650XC,C12,KZ750,1190ADV

[tatman]

Hmm, if the right piston ring had popped out it wouldn't still be firing would it?

I guess the oil seal on the clutch side of the engine sounds like a very logical explanation. If it *is* this I'm going to have to pay $$$ for a mechanic

[Robby]

You may find it makes better economic sense to just sell the bike as is now. I assume you paid around 1k for it, a full bottom end strip would cost a few hundred.

[Kickstart]