[ST] Smoking exhaust

["Gavin Foster" <gavfos@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi all,

At 18 000 km my '03 Sprint RS suddenly started smoking at idle after running for a minute or two. That got worse, and the engine was eventually opened (under warranty). The agent found that the rings were totally knackered. Replaced them and all was fine. Nobody could explain why they should have been worn so badly. I'm 51 and ride hard, but I'm not a doughnut or wheelie king etc. . 

While I was running the bike in when it was new I found that every time I travelled away from the coast the bike would start missing and spluttering at the same point on the freeway.  After having injectors cleaned, etc, I deduced that it must be an altitude problem. Turned out that I was right - there was a black-box problem, and after it was replaced under warranty everything was fine - until the smoking started at 18 000 km. My theory is that the engine was overfueling and washing the oil from the bores while I was running the bike in, hence the unexplained ring wear.

About 2000 km after the ring job, I started the bike and let it idle while I fetched my gloves from inside the house. When I got back I was met by the sight of clouds of smoke pumping out of the exhaust. My local agent, who's also a good friend, reckons that there's an oil seal inside the left hand casing that may leak oil into the casing when the bike's on the side stand, and the oil is then sucked up into the airbox and pumped through the engine to cause the smoking.

The problem then disappeared for about 2 000 km, but last Sunday came back with a vengeance. I rode about 150 km after that, with no more smoking after the first 2 or 3 km. Idles now, no muss, no fuss. 

Has anybody else experienced anything like this?

Cheers,

Gavin Foster
Durban, South Africa.    
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