Is something burning??

[oz66]

Hi guys,

I'm new to biking and just bought a brand new ZX6R. Been riding for a couple of days and loving every moment of it.

However, today, on the way back from work I noticed a burning smell and on idle, a lot of smoke has been coming out from the front area up through the front etc. Hard to describe as I don't know the terminology so here's a vid:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4O5UTTkcpcY

Naturally I'm going to take it back to Kawasaki for them to take a look at, but in the mean time do you any of you guys know what it could be?

Additional info: the smoke kept coming even when the bike was turned off for some time. I'm guessing it was due to the residual heat.

Edit: Edited to add that I looked under the bike to see where the smoke was coming from but could not find the location.

Many thanks

- oz

[pendulum]

Isn't it just rainwater on the exhaust downpipe/hot parts of the engine?

I take it that it doesn't do this when it's dry?
My bike smokes like that too when it's wet, but not quite as bad.
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[mysterious_rider]

That would be water evapourating mate.

[oz66]

[mr jamez]

Are you spraying any cleaning stuff/WD40 or anything on the downpipes?
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[Casper]

Is that not a liquid cool bike? Wait till a dry day and look again. If still doing it you might have a hole in the radiator or something simple like the cap wanting a replaced.

[GREENI3]

As others have said, it's just water vapour, caused by rainwater on the hot engine or header pipes etc.

That was why your camera misted up near the end of the video.

[yen_powell]

That's the newness evaporating out of your bike.
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[Rogerborg]

Uh, guys, that looks like dihydrogen monoxide vapour.

I hate that stuff, it can precipitate into a corrosive condensate, and too high a concentration of it can really rain on your parade.
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[Hetzer]

[DrDonnyBrago]

[houseofzak]

I think this is the thread I am looking for.

I have a Honda CB400 and mine did the exact same thing.

Are you sure it is water vapour??

I have ridden my bike in the cold/wet and I never saw steam. However, this was in summer so the air temperature may have been warmer.

But today.. I rode my bike home from work (winter in Australia now) and I stopped at the lights and noticed steam coming from the front as well. I have never seen this before which got me worried.

I even saw some other motorbikes at the lights and noticed their engines weren't steaming.. so this suggests to me there could be a potential problem.

If we take water vapour out of the equation, can you guys suggest anything else it could be please? Coolent? Oil?

I have only been riding for 1 year so I am kind of new as well.

Thanks guys.

[DrDonnyBrago]

Was it raining/roads were wet? It is most likely just rain water evaporating from hot parts of the bike - in winter at the lights I often get steam coming from the bike and making my mirrors foggy.


If it wasn't that then it would be a leak of some kind:

Most likely would be a leak in the coolant system allowing water to evaporate out (would need to be a lot to notice it), a hole in the coolant system (i.e. a pipe or the radiator) that is allowing water to spray out onto a hot part of the bike or an oil leak that is dripping onto the exhaust and smoking. For any of these to be noticeable it would need to be quite a big leak.


Are you losing coolant and having to top it up a lot?

Does it stink like burning oil?


As above though, most likely to just be evaporating rain water.

[Acemastr]

It's rainwater, which agitates the crap that gets stuck to the downpipes and it smells, my CBR does exactly the same thing.

Ignore it, then laugh at the cagers who think your bike is on fire and start waving at you
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