White Smoke out the side

[Anonymous]

I just got my bike a bit a go and I don't know much about this stuff.

83 GS850G; first bike. I've put 35 miles on it.

It was low on gas, so I just put in 2 exra gallons of premium.
In the future I may use lower grade based on some other talk on these boards; but that's not important now.

After fueling it up and fireing it up, a bunch of white smoke is coming out of the engine (not exhaust). At first it was smoking like mad every everywhere (bottom, etc), but after a minute and checking it's just the sides.
If I tilited it it would only rise from the one side; center both sides, etc.

Now, here may be the kicker. The guy I got it from told me the fuel petcock is messed up. Something on it is broke and he searched EVERYWHERE for a new one but never found it. As a result, the 'on' setting is now the same as "Prime".

What exactly will that mean for me? Is a problem, how how to get around it? Did this cause the smoke?

I don't know much about these things, but I'm just guessing that a ton of rich fuel was allowed to get where ever and now it's burning it off rough?

[KGB]

Pull the spark plugs and take alook at them.
Nice tan or light brown is good.

Wet and black is not, meaning rich.

What does the smoke smell like?

Is it setting on the side stand? Or does it do it on the center stand also?

Where on the motor or is coming out the pipe?

[Anonymous]

Welcome!!

I suspect that a float valve is sticking in one of the carbs. There's a little bitty valve in the carb that lets fuel in, according to the position of a float. This valve is prone to hanging up and when it does, fuel will enter the carburetor. Hopefully it'll go out the overflow tube; if it doesn't, it enters the intake manifold, goes into the engine, and bad things happen. The petcock is important because it normally automatically shuts the fuel supply off from the gas tank when you're not running, helping to prevent problems from sticking float valves. Turning the petcock on PRIME, however, means it is ON all the time and it won't shut off like it's supposed to.

First fix the petcock--either buy a petcock rebuild kit, or do what a lot of us have done, buy a manual petcock made by a company named Pingle. You have to cut the manual petcock off every time you shut the bike off, but that's second nature to us old dirt bikers.

Then fix the carbs: replace the float needle valves, clean out the carbs while you're there.

It can seem intimidating, but get a good manual from Clymer's and it'll explain how. And ask questions here. You'll encounter a few other little maintenance items as you progress, good luck!

[Anonymous]

I now have the Clymer manual!

Now to get get some parts and some time.
Suppose I'll have another winter project...

[Anonymous]

Quick! Drain the oil. If it's thin then it's contaminated with gas. This can cause big problems with your lower end. Nothing is being lubricated in the engine because the oil has been thinned down with gas. You can destroy an engine like this. If the oil is OK, well then your only out the cost of a couple of quarts. Better safe than sorry.