2000 V11 Sport - Burning oil question

[justmike]

I had noticed that every time I'd come back from a ride and turned off the bike there'd be a faint plume of smoke rising from the right exhaust - nothing from the left. I chalked this up to maybe an un-fired injection of fuel into that cylinder upon shutdown and didn't give it much more thought than that - it looked kinda cool - like some of the images in an Ogri comic. Yesterday I went for a ride with a friend and let him take my Guzzi, following on my Beemer. I noticed every time we stopped that the right exhaust of the Guzzi smoked significantly, but cleared up immediately as we pulled away, and nothing even remotely noticeable at speed. Not so cool - and now I'm sleepless!

The bike only has 4500 miles on it. I haven't done any investigation yet - hoping somebody might have some pointers before I waste time going down the wrong path.

[Skeeve]

I had noticed that every time I'd come back from a ride and turned off the bike there'd be a faint plume of smoke rising from the right exhaust - nothing from the left. I chalked this up to maybe an un-fired injection of fuel into that cylinder upon shutdown and didn't give it much more thought than that - it looked kinda cool - like some of the images in an Ogri comic. Yesterday I went for a ride with a friend and let him take my Guzzi, following on my Beemer. I noticed every time we stopped that the right exhaust of the Guzzi smoked significantly, but cleared up immediately as we pulled away, and nothing even remotely noticeable at speed. Not so cool - and now I'm sleepless!

The bike only has 4500 miles on it. I haven't done any investigation yet - hoping somebody might have some pointers before I waste time going down the wrong path.

 

1st thing is a compression test, to see if the compression on that cylinder is significantly lower on that side; if so, it'll be new ring time. If the compression checks out, then you'll want to check the valves on that cylinder for too much side2side slop; the V11s have a bit of a reputation for Guzzi using some very fine Italian cheese in the making of their valve guides ; a K-line reportedly will set that problem right.

 

Best o' luck w/ that.

[justmike]

I had noticed that every time I'd come back from a ride and turned off the bike there'd be a faint plume of smoke rising from the right exhaust - nothing from the left. I chalked this up to maybe an un-fired injection of fuel into that cylinder upon shutdown and didn't give it much more thought than that - it looked kinda cool - like some of the images in an Ogri comic. Yesterday I went for a ride with a friend and let him take my Guzzi, following on my Beemer. I noticed every time we stopped that the right exhaust of the Guzzi smoked significantly, but cleared up immediately as we pulled away, and nothing even remotely noticeable at speed. Not so cool - and now I'm sleepless!

The bike only has 4500 miles on it. I haven't done any investigation yet - hoping somebody might have some pointers before I waste time going down the wrong path.

 

1st thing is a compression test, to see if the compression on that cylinder is significantly lower on that side; if so, it'll be new ring time. If the compression checks out, then you'll want to check the valves on that cylinder for too much side2side slop; the V11s have a bit of a reputation for Guzzi using some very fine Italian cheese in the making of their valve guides ; a K-line reportedly will set that problem right.

 

Best o' luck w/ that.

 

Thanks Skeeve - that sounds like a good starting point. Because of the lack of smoke at speed I was thinking not likely rings, and more likely your suggestion about valve guides. Not familiar with the term K-line - wussat?

[raz]

You've got the airbox still in place? This is a long shot, but on my 1100 Sport, almost all oil that may get out from the engine breather will end up in the left half of the airbox. This means the left cylinder will burn some of that oil and that smoke will go out the right exhaust (because of how my crossover is made, YMMV).

[Skeeve]

Thanks Skeeve - that sounds like a good starting point. Because of the lack of smoke at speed I was thinking not likely rings, and more likely your suggestion about valve guides. Not familiar with the term K-line - wussat?

 

It's like a Heli-Coil or a Time-sert for valve guides... Do a forum search, Pete 'splains it better than I can.

[justmike]

You've got the airbox still in place? This is a long shot, but on my 1100 Sport, almost all oil that may get out from the engine breather will end up in the left half of the airbox. This means the left cylinder will burn some of that oil and that smoke will go out the right exhaust (because of how my crossover is made, YMMV).

 

I like the sounds of that. In fact, the last time I had the airbox of I did notice a slight build-up of oil in one side of the airbox - can't remember which side - but I do remember wondering "what the heck is that from?" It makes some sense that every time you'd come to a stop that oil would flow forward into the intake, and flow backward when you accelerated. I'll pull it of next week and have a look - if there's a puddle is it likely I've got too much oil in the crankcase, or have I got some other problem?

[justmike]

Thanks Skeeve - that sounds like a good starting point. Because of the lack of smoke at speed I was thinking not likely rings, and more likely your suggestion about valve guides. Not familiar with the term K-line - wussat?

 

It's like a Heli-Coil or a Time-sert for valve guides... Do a forum search, Pete 'splains it better than I can.

 

I did search the forum, and then Googled K-line. Learned something new today Just hoping I don't have to go there!

[docc]

You are certain this smoke is oil and not unburnt fuel (which is very common). Are there other signs of oil consumption ( plug condition, dropping oil level)?

 

Otherwise, I would perform a complete tune up including valve adjustment, TPS setting, and throttle body balance and look for a change.