Geez mister .. The exhaust is by PO .. Didn't you read all the thread? 

Quote from: Janx101 on July 09, 2012, 02:56:41 PM
Geez mister .. The exhaust is by PO .. Didn't you read all the thread? 

Yes, I read the entire thread where this was already asked and answered that the PO put it on. But then I read or misread this person has only had the bike for 300 miles. So... if the PO put the new muffler on to make the sale then it's only 300 miles old. I raise the point because there could be one issue here - or - two issues which are unrelated but happening at the same time.

E.g.  Burning gasket is one issue. Sick sounding engine with burning crude in exhaust is two issues.

What it isn't is oil. Oil getting past the rings would burn right away. This is related to a warmer / Hotter engine. As the engine and exhaust system get hotter something else is getting hotter and burning. Either a gasket or something in the exhaust.

Michael

Quote from: Kijona on July 02, 2012, 07:48:49 PM

What kind of shape is the battery in? How old is it?

How does this correspond to the smoke from the exhaust or am I missing something?

Quote from: Twisted on July 10, 2012, 02:35:03 AM

Quote from: Kijona on July 02, 2012, 07:48:49 PM

What kind of shape is the battery in? How old is it?

How does this correspond to the smoke from the exhaust or am I missing something?

You'd be surprised. Bike had a bad battery and one of the first symptoms was one cylinder not firing correctly.

White smoke can indicate burning oil just as much as blue can  but there is an easy way to determine if the vapour is steam or oil, you just place a sheet of white paper across the end of the pipe leave it for a minute or two and see what happens to it. Steam will condense and soak it, oil will leave a dark stain.

The fact the bike has recently been sold is not good, maybe the PO was aware of an issue and decided to offload it 

Assuming it is in fact oil there are numerous ways it could get into the chamber and to suggest how and why without investigation would be pure speculation but if you haven't already done so I suggest you check the oil level and the inside of the airbox for residue, if there is too much oil in the engine it may be getting out via the breather, collecting in the box and getting drawn back in via the carbs.

Sorry, I have been busy and had to put the bike on the back burner for a bit. This idea of a burning gasket is intriguing because the first time it smoked I did notice a kind of burned plastic smell. Any idea as to what gaskets I should check?

I have the new shim and will be will be putting that in and rechecking all the clearances tonight and hopefully I will have enough time to put it together to see if it runs smoothly.

The battery seems strong and I keep it charged so I don't think that is an issue. I will have it checked if the bike still runs poorly after tonight. Thanks guys

I am not a fan of the new style IRRIDIUM plugs. The old school plugs burn better,they just dont last as long ,and for a few bux they are simple to change out when you need to do that.
-CS

Update:
So I re-shimmed the valves and everything is in spec now. I also fixed a few vacuum leaks. In doing this I had to remove the exhaust (I had to retrieve a dropped shim). The PO didn't have header gaskets on there nor were the bolts very tight but there was no noticeable exhaust leak. Is that normal? I put the pipes back on as they were (with tightened bolts) and they leak. Will the pipes leak if you torque down the bolts too tight?

On a brighter note the bike doesn't sound sickly anymore, but now I have white smoke wafting out of the front and the back of the bike. Has anyone got any more ideas about the smoke?

I'd recommend getting new exhaust gaskets. The exhaust will leak without them, and exhaust leaks will cause the bike to run a bit rough.

Update:
After testing every theory put forth by everyone I asked to fix my smoke problem I finally broke down and decided that the bike was beyond my capabilities to fix and brought it to the local garage. He had me start it up and immediately said "sounds like a cam chain problem". How he was able to diagnose that from about two seconds of hearing the bike run is beyond me. Anyway I will let anyone who is still reading know if the cam chain fix solves the smoke and  the more recently developing sickly sounding engine problem when I get the bike back. Thank you all for your help. 

I really don't think the cam chain will have anything to do with the smoke issue.  Not to say there isn't an issue with the cam chain tension, because there very well could be.  I agree with sledge that it could be oil burning.  Just because it's white smoke doesn't mean it's not oil.  I'm guessing that the mechanic will come back and say that you need rings. 

On the exhaust gaskets, sometimes it doesn't look like there is a gasket in there, but it is covered with black soot so you can't see it.  If you put another gasket in, you might have doubled it up and caused it not to seal, thereby causing you to see smoke from the front end as well. 

Report back when you hear more from the mechanic.

So the mechanic called today to tell me the chain was actually fine and he is somewhat baffled by what is causing it as well now. His next best guess is the piston rods are causing the poor idle and the poor idle is causing the smoke. I think he might be a bit  , but if he can get the bike running like new I'll be happy.

One thing the mechanic and I do agree on is that  the piston rings are fine. The compression in the cylinders is perfect and the smoke is not oily smelling. It has a burned plastic, chemically smell to it that is getting stronger each time the bike is run. Burning valve seals maybe? I switched out the gas way back when this whole thing stated and got the same smoke, so I don't think it is anything in the gas (unless I got two bad batches of gas from two different gas stations).

I will let you know more when I do.

So on start up it doesn't smoke, but once it warms up after a few minutes it smokes? Try touching the muffler when it starts smoking. After only a few minutes of idling it should be warm but not too hot to touch. If its too hot to touch you may be burning up the packing in the muffler. If that isn't the case, have you read the oil pressure from start up to the point it starts smoking?

The cam chain rattle is easy to tell. No surprise there that the mechanic who heard it in person (as opposed to computer speakers) immediately recognized it as a loose cam chain. Loose cam chains will rattle really bad(rattles less for more cyl, smoother engines) at low engine speeds and go away as you rev the engine(power stroke frequency increases) and chain is pulled tout.

The cam chain is not going to fix your smoke issue.

Possibilities for smoke that I can think of:
Since it is smoking from the exhaust ports where the gasket is missing its probably not the exhaust packing. Its possible the PO used some sort of silicone sealer in lieu of the metal header gasket(seen that happen before).
There are exhaust flange gasket sealers that come in a tube , that is made for exhaust flanges much downstream of the header at engine block.

As for the missing header gaskets try older local independent motorcycle shops before you go to the dealer to get OEM. They usually have the size for the gs500 in stock for $2-$3 as the same size was used on a lot of older bikes.
Where in Central Valley are you? I am in Modesto

--
Ricky

Quote from: RickM on October 16, 2012, 06:57:47 PM
Its possible the PO used some sort of silicone sealer in lieu of the metal header gasket(seen that happen before).

If your sure the smoke you see is coming from out of the head and not not from exhaust escaping from the lack of back pressure in the exhaust than the above guess has been the best so far

Quote from: A.Town on October 15, 2012, 11:36:41 AM
So the mechanic called today to tell me the chain was actually fine and he is somewhat baffled by what is causing it as well now. His next best guess is the piston rods are causing the poor idle and the poor idle is causing the smoke. I think he might be a bit  , but if he can get the bike running like new I'll be happy.

The chain stretch might be within spec, but the chain guides , and CCT could be worn. A weak/stuck CCT will let the chain rattle around and can wear out the chain guides. These are not usual with a low mileage engine. Whats the mileage on the bike?(Ignore that question if you already said the mileage, I will check the earlier posts). A rod knock (or any bearing knocks) will get much louder  with rpms and/or load. From the video it seems like the clacking sound goes away with  engine speed. It could also be the camshaft lateral float that some GS500's had. The fix was to use shims/washers to take up the slack. I believe the lateral float issue was harmless except for the annoying sound.

Does it smoke out the header even at higher engine speed? The exhaust packing being the source of smoke seems very likely. But if it smokes out the header at higher engine speeds with open throttle, that would indicate smoke happens upstream of header(??)

Did you wash the bike recently and accidentally get water in to the exhaust soaking the muffler packing? 

The smoke escaping from the header gaskets I was able to fix before I brought it to the mechanic. I just needed to clean out the seats, put new gaskets on there, and then set and reset the pipes until I finally got a good seal.

Quote from: kyled25 on October 15, 2012, 11:51:03 PM
If its too hot to touch you may be burning up the packing in the muffler. If that isn't the case, have you read the oil pressure from start up to the point it starts smoking?

I do remember the exhaust pipes getting pretty hot after only a a minute of running. This would be caused by a poor fuel mixture, right? I did do some test to run the bike a little richer and leaner. It did not seem to effect the smoke greatly, but I did not check pipe temperatures when doing this. 

Quote from: RickM on October 17, 2012, 12:37:04 AM
The chain stretch might be within spec, but the chain guides , and CCT could be worn. A weak/stuck CCT will let the chain rattle around and can wear out the chain guides. These are not usual with a low mileage engine. Whats the mileage on the bike?(Ignore that question if you already said the mileage, I will check the earlier posts). A rod knock (or any bearing knocks) will get much louder  with rpms and/or load. From the video it seems like the clacking sound goes away with  engine speed. It could also be the camshaft lateral float that some GS500's had. The fix was to use shims/washers to take up the slack. I believe the lateral float issue was harmless except for the annoying sound.

Did you wash the bike recently and accidentally get water in to the exhaust soaking the muffler packing? 

I will have to look in to the lateral float thing. I have not heard of that before. The bike has 20,000 miles on it, so it is not new but I was hoping to get at least 20,000 more before I had to rebuild the engine. And no, the bike has never seen water since I took ownership of it. Thanks for the help guys, and I hope you all had as much fun on Halloween as I did  .

Oh, and I live in Merced for whoever asked.

Way too many posts for me to want to read through but did you get drain all the fuel out of the tank and carb float bowls and put fresh fuel in it?

Quote from: weedahoe on November 02, 2012, 11:43:22 AM
Way too many posts for me to want to read through but did you get drain all the fuel out of the tank and carb float bowls and put fresh fuel in it?

yep.

Just an update. The guy at the shop still has no idea, so don't feel to bad if you couldn't figure this one out because a pro can't even do it with the bike sitting in front of him for a few months.

White smoke = water
Black smoke = gas
blue smoke = oil

Each has its own odor too.....
anti freeze steam smell sweeter than just water steam
gas smell is rich like warming up with choke on...
Oil smell is heavy and choking smell

also water steam does not linger...like at initial warm up is jsut goes into air ind dries up
gas smoke fades pretty quickly
oil smoke lingers a long time

OH yeah thick blue and black smoke with sparks and glowing red smelling like burning plastic=electrical problem

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