Should I have smoke out both pipes?

[Guest]

Today I tried starting up my 850 that's been sitting for more than a couple months. It ran not to long ago. I pulled the plugs out, ran the old gas all the way through the line, and put in the new stuff. I took some sandpaper to my gaps, they were pretty charred up.
Anyways, fired her up and she started going without the starter for a good couple seconds, and then dropped back down. I kept doing this until my battery slowed, then put it back on the charger. When I was finished I noticed a grey smoke pouring out of my right exhaust pipe, but nothing from the left. Does that mean I'm not firing on one side, or that there's a problem with the firing on the right side?

I'm thinking that my next course of action is to go pull the left plugs again, make sure I have contact, and maybe check the current on my wires. Any help?

[tom203]

How was it running before its winter nap? You drained fuel out - thru line that goes from petcock to carbs? How about draining each carb bowl and then adding new stuff so the carbs see new stuff right away. Of course, you used fuel stabilizer before this rest,right???

[Gaul]

It ran alright, but it wasn't pristine. The idle wasn't indefinite, and had to be babysat. And I only emptied out what came out of the plug holes when I cranked it. I didn't touch the carbs themselves. And I didn't put any additives in, as the tank has been through multiple sits, and I was afraid I might dissolve gunk into the petcock.

[tom203]

Gaul said ".....I was afraid I might dissolve gunk into the petcock"

Better to have petcock get gunked up than carbs! Sounds like carb maintenance is calling- personally, I like bikes that start well and idle wonderfully after warm up.
Is this an 80 or later gs850? if so, head to this link before spring arrives

http://www.mtsac.edu/~cliff/storage/gs/Mikuni_BS-CV_Carburetor_Rebuild_Tutorial.pdf

[Gaul]

81. Thank you for the resource. The carbs had just been worked on when I bought the bike. I hate to think I f*cked it right after paying for it. Another day, another adventure.

[spyug]

OK, this is an easy fix. Pick up a can of Seafoam and add about 1/3 of a can to the tank of fresh fuel. Get an automotive or marine battery to boost your bike battery. Make sure both are fully charged. If you use the battery in your car make sure its engine is off before attaching to the bike or you stand the chance of frying your bikes electronics.

If it is still very cold in your neck of the woods you might want to warm up the bike to make it easier to crank. Strictly speaking you likely should not try and start until the weather gets into the 40's as running the engine now will cause a lot of condensation to form in the pipes which of course can lead to rot. The oil gets pretty thick when cold. You can heat the crankcase up by puting a heat source near it for an hour or two. Even a single 60/80/100 watt incandecent bulb resting on the crankcase will do the job.

Once you have everything in play, crank her over. It may take some time for it to catch but it will. Let it warm up to temperature. It will push out a lot of white smoke from the Seafoam so that is normal and you might need to run a tank or two through before things settle down. You should still contemplate doing a carb cleaning and rebuild.

Good luck with it and let us know how it goes.

Cheers,
Spyug

[tom203]

Gaul said......"The carbs had just been worked on when I bought the bike"

Just maybe they weren't done right--that word "pristine" comes back. In any event, the sitting without stabilizer only worsen things. I'd try the Seafoam route- it won't hurt ; I've used it with some success.
Follow that link to carb cleaning- I know you're young and ready to learn!

[Gaul]

Resolved. I don't think I was getting compression. It kept hanging up the starter, but then it fired. Now it runs beautifully, idles nicely. Thanks for the help.

[BigD_83]

What do you think was the cause of the low compression? I'd be more than mildly concerned about that...

What do you mean that it was hanging up the starter? As in, it would stop turning over when you hit the START button?

[Gaul]

I believe it was probably an oil issue. The compression rings had probably drained to some degree. And correct, the bike would get this choked up tendency, and then turn over and fire well. I've been starting it up every other day since, and after a while of 3000 rpms with the choke on, it will drop to 1-1.5 and stay nicely. I think oil temperature was also a valid factor, as my hands would be in pain after spending time just holding the clutch in. The sun's coming out more, and I'm now more than aware of the responsibilities behind owning any gas motor. Next winter (and my own negligence) will definitely be less effective on crippling my bike!

[tom203]

I believe it was probably an oil issue........... Next winter (and my own negligence) will definitely be less effective on crippling my bike!

Next winter?? your bike is calling for attention now, so head to Basscliff's and play catch up on maintenance. Put very little faith in any work done by someone other than you!

[cowboyup3371]

Agreed with Tom. Go do the maintenance the CORRECT way or you'll continue chasing your tail. Clean the carbs, adjust the valves, and verify everything is correct BEFORE trying to start it again.

[The_Flash]

bump... This sounds very similar to my bikes cold start-up behavior. It doesn't get terribly cold here in GA but i've started it around 40F give or take. First off, I always have the bike on the center stand, I always move the lever to full choke, then turn the key on, then grab the clutch and crank it. It fires up, sits at around 3k, then after maybe 15-30 seconds I will see what looks like gray smoke come out of usually one tailpipe and it forms at decent sized cloud. If I rev it more smoke comes out and it usually hesitates with almost no throttle response. By now I have gone to about half choke to keep it at around 2-3k and soon I turn the choke all the way off and it drops to idle at around 1100 rpm. Then I hop on and do a ritual "test ride" down to the culdesac and back in my neighborhood, the engine still hesitates to throttle response (almost like a dead spot) but comes out of it into higher rpms and pulls hard. This lasts for a very short period and soon after riding for a short distance it is fully warmed up and runs PERFECTLY. I was planning on doing a compression test just for peace of mind. But I'm afraid the culprit may be my fancy oil, i used to use cheapo non-motorcycle valvoline 10w-40 and right about the time this issue appeared I had switched to Spectro Golden 4. Anyway I'll try to get that compression test done and post back.

EDIT: I forgot to add that by the time the choke is off the smoke has gone away.

[mrbill5491]

bump... This sounds very similar to my bikes cold start-up behavior. It doesn't get terribly cold here in GA but i've started it around 40F give or take. First off, I always have the bike on the center stand, I always move the lever to full choke, then turn the key on, then grab the clutch and crank it. It fires up, sits at around 3k, then after maybe 15-30 seconds I will see what looks like gray smoke come out of usually one tailpipe and it forms at decent sized cloud. If I rev it more smoke comes out and it usually hesitates with almost no throttle response. By now I have gone to about half choke to keep it at around 2-3k and soon I turn the choke all the way off and it drops to idle at around 1100 rpm. Then I hop on and do a ritual "test ride" down to the culdesac and back in my neighborhood, the engine still hesitates to throttle response (almost like a dead spot) but comes out of it into higher rpms and pulls hard. This lasts for a very short period and soon after riding for a short distance it is fully warmed up and runs PERFECTLY. I was planning on doing a compression test just for peace of mind. But I'm afraid the culprit may be my fancy oil, i used to use cheapo non-motorcycle valvoline 10w-40 and right about the time this issue appeared I had switched to Spectro Golden 4. Anyway I'll try to get that compression test done and post back.

EDIT: I forgot to add that by the time the choke is off the smoke has gone away.

Seems normal to me. My bike has always been cold natured since day one. Still is. When it is on the choke circuit, it richens the mixture some, so not too unusual too see a little black smoke, just a rich mixture, clears out when you get off the choke and ride it a bit. Mine does the same thing. As for the oil, should be fine, might cause a little clutch drag when cold, mine does as well and I use Royal Purple Syn 10w-40. Though when it warms up, it goes away as well.

[The_Flash]

Well, turns out there won't be any compression test after all. The compression tester I have only has car-sized adapters so they are way too big to use on my GS650. But I did get to look at the plugs which appear to be a tad on the rich side, perhaps that explains the smoke. I also tested to see how well my bike is charging since recently it had trouble starting right after a 30 minute or so ride with very little traffic. I measured 13.5V right after I first started it, but when I came back from my ride I measured it again and got 12ish. I guess it's time to review the stator papers.