White Smoke & Revs hanging

[86zxr01]

I went out Wednesday when my bike started over heating when going about 20-30mph for only about 2-3 mins. Then stopped with the fan going which went on for a lot longer then normal. Topped up the water (cheers ray) then went for a short ride. Then there was water, I think it was water (wasn’t oil) up my back wheel which had obviously been sprayed out of the bike but only on the right side of the wheel. During this time, every time I stopped to a stand still the revs would hang at about 2000rpm for a few seconds then drop down to normal. I haven’t been out since but I switched it on to see if it was running ok. There is now white smoke coming out the exhaust after a couple of mins of running at idle. Any clues what’s going on?
Anti-freeze normal level and oil between high/low although quite close to low though.
Please spare some patience. I’m new to a lot of this. Thanks

[RedexRobB]

How hot is the engine getting? Near the red on the temp gauge?

The water/coolant maybe from the expansion bottle, its either coming out the cap or its been overflowing due to overheating. Possibly the radiator cap too, check both are done up tight and make sure coolant levels are where they should be. You can expect the radiator to be slightly low as some coolant will always expand to the expension bottle, but if its missing quite a bit then might be a problem. My gut feeling is its come from the expansion bottle cos the engine has gotten so hot, if the head gasket has gone then it will be because the system is more than likely getting pressurised.

Id think about a compression test myself and go from there.

It could simply be a case of slow moving traffic and high engine revs?

[86zxr01]

How hot is the engine getting? Near the red on the temp gauge?

The water/coolant maybe from the expansion bottle, its either coming out the cap or its been overflowing due to overheating. Possibly the radiator cap too, check both are done up tight and make sure coolant levels are where they should be. You can expect the radiator to be slightly low as some coolant will always expand to the expension bottle, but if its missing quite a bit then might be a problem. My gut feeling is its come from the expansion bottle cos the engine has gotten so hot, if the head gasket has gone then it will be because the system is more than likely getting pressurised.

Id think about a compression test myself and go from there.

It could simply be a case of slow moving traffic and high engine revs?

The temp gauge was a tiny bit under the full bit of red at the top.
So you think that the water over my wheel could have come from the expansion bottle as the water/coolant was topped up, then expanded then flew out behind the bike when I was going along.
Compression Test? How would you do this? Apologies again for my bike incompetence
Would any of this explain the why the exhaust has white smoke coming out of it?

[RedexRobB]

I forgot about your white smoke, im guessing the white smoke is there weather its hot or cold? As it can sometimes just be condensation on a cold day.

It could very well be from the expansion bottle. In the case of a blown head gasket the cooling system pressurises and needs to make room for the gas, so is dumped from the rad to the expansion bottle which will eventually overflow. If you take the RHS panel off its a white bottle, on the top is a pipe which routes behind and underneath it which allows the coolant to flow out. The inevitably gets on your tyres, might be worth checking the inside of your RHS panels for any sign of coolant. Sometimes over filling can cause this, but wouldnt cause your bike to overheat.

On the flip side a blown head gasket can also let coolant/water in and the result is white smoke. When mine went i had trouble starting it where the plug(s) were being fouled by the coolant and when it did start it would fire on 3 cylinders and eventually clean itself out and fire on all four.

A compression test, tests the compression of your cylinders. Under normal conditions your cylinders will show a certain amount of pressure on the compression stroke, if there is a leak such as when the head gasket has gone the amount of compression will be lower because there is a leak. You need a compression tester to do it, you can either buy one or get a garage to do it for you.

Ive got a feeling theres instructions on how to do it in the manual.

[86zxr01]

Thanks alot for your help Rob. I'll give it a look over this weekend

[RedexRobB]

Out of interest how many miles has it covered? If its the magic 20K miles (or there abouts) thats about when they normally go!

[86zxr01]

Its done about 10k miles

[RedexRobB]

Blimey, well check previously mentioned and then get a compression test if thats all ok.

[jake]

sounds like its running lean.. that would make it overheat quite quickly, white smoke too.
anything been changed? check all the usual bits to do with fuel and air

[RedexRobB]

didnt know running lean caused white smoke! Explains the hanging revs. Im guessing its not done this before and hes not touched anying carb wise....

[raynaldo03]

i was there when it all pissed out and the water on the back tyre definatly come from the overflow pipe in the expansion bottle. i personaly think its the head gasket gone becuase i had all the same syptoms a while ago, except mine never went on the tyre it would just end up in a pool under the bike after riding. i think the best thing to do jack is to ring portmans and tell them whas up ands see if theres anything they can do uve only had the thing 3 months. they should at least be able to pressure test it for you and maybe shine some light on the situation.

[86zxr01]

i was there when it all pissed out and the water on the back tyre definatly come from the overflow pipe in the expansion bottle. i personaly think its the head gasket gone becuase i had all the same syptoms a while ago, except mine never went on the tyre it would just end up in a pool under the bike after riding. i think the best thing to do jack is to ring portmans and tell them whas up ands see if theres anything they can do uve only had the thing 3 months. they should at least be able to pressure test it for you and maybe shine some light on the situation.

I remember you saying about the head gasket. I rang Portmans yesterday and they're taking it in for a look not untill the 20th though. I said something to him about the head gasket but he said he'd be very surprised if it was but we'll see..........No alton trip this week mate

[86zxr01]

Head Gasket

[RedexRobB]

Bugger, quite unusual for them to go that early, its either a case of someone has ragged the crap out of that engine from cold or its not the original motor. Did they compression test it?

[raynaldo03]

nah he never got it tested, i said the money they would charge him to test it (they're robbing camels at portmans) its cheaper to just buy the head gasket and i will do it for him