White smoke / piston

[Gracie Jones]

Hey there,

Have checked on the searches already, and I think the white smoke I am getting when starting the bike (Fazer 1999 600) may be a blown piston ring. Nothing wrong with bike performance - pulls cleanly etc - but white smoke nonetheless.

Anyone know how much getting a new piston ring is likley to cost?

Cheers in advance.

Best,

Luke

[mr jamez]

Does the white smoke pour out all the time or just for the first few minutes? If it only does it for a few miles it is condensation in the exhaust, if it is doing it all the time it will probably be the head gasket. If one of the piston rings had gone the bike would run like a complete dog! It would require a total strip down of the engine to replace it, but I doubt it is that.

Apart from the white smoke, it sounds like the bike is running fine. I would check the oil for mayonnaise and keep an eye on the coolant level and the temp gauge.

[Gracie Jones]

Mr Jamez,

Cheers dude, that puts my mind at ease. But what is this Mayonaise you talk of? White gunk I guess, but what is it - what would it mean.

The bike does run perfect, so I guess not piston rings then.

Thank you!!

Luke

[mr jamez]

When the head gasket goes (sometimes it fails between the cylinders so no mayo) the coolant mixes with the oil and creates a white creamy substance, there will be quite a lot of it. I would get it checked out, the engine will start to overheat and you may end up with a warped cylinder head/cracked cylinder head or even a cracked engine block. However, the head gasket is cheaper to fix than a broken piston ring

[Robby]

Well with a 4 stroke bike there is about 15 minutes more work to replace some piston rings if you've got it stripped down enough to do the head gasket.

White smoke diagnosis:

Is it blowing it on a hot engine?

Is it blowing it on a cold engine?

Does it stink?

Is the loosing coolant?

Has the oil gone mayonnaisey - look for a a white film on it through the sight glass, and some mayonnaisey substance on the underside of the oil filler cap?

And finally, does it smell petrolly when warm?


Basically white smoke on a cold engine can be ignored, thats just blowing condensation out of the exhaust as it warms up.

White smoke on a hot engine could be water getting into the cylinders or an over rich mixture. If it smells petrolly when warm on tickover your mixture is too rich - thats a very quick and dirty diagnosis though.

If its making mayonnaise, loosing coolant, and the white smoke stinks, your head gasket is going/gone.

Also worth looking at the plugs to work out your micture diagnosis - there are assorted posts floating around with the spark plug colour chart in.