need a little help

[laramore86]

Hey all this is a great forum. I've learned a lot just lurking around. I have a 81 xs650. I bought it few months ago. The PO says the top end has been gone thru 2 years ago and after that it didn't get much action. It wasn't running when I bought it. Dead battery. Put fresh battery in it and started first kick and ran kinda rough. I drained the tank, cleaned the carbs, and got them synced and it ran a lot better. The problem is the left cylinder is burning oil and fouls plugs after 15 miles or so. It smokes as well out of the left pipe but not a big fog just kinda a trailing haze. I did compression test and both cylinders are dead even at 160psi and neither bleed off. I'm at a loss to why its burning oil and smoking. The left pipe is slimy on the inside as well. Any help would be greatly appreciated. The only other info in have about it is that it has a banshee ignition system, no electric start. I've put about a gallon of oil thru it with less than 100 miles. Its burning it. no leaks anywhere until today. The clutch rod seal started weeping.

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

Hey laramore86, welcome to the forum.
Your engine may be pulling oil up thru the rings. Sometimes just riding a long-storaged bike, including moments of hard throttle to get the rings to seat, will have it settle-in and stop smoking, but that is rare. The previous owner may have noticed this smoking after an overhaul and decided to just give up and park it.

If it hasn't been done yet, a retorque of the head bolts/nuts is in order.

However, it's very likely the engine will need to be pulled and top end disassembed to fix this problem.

 

[laramore86]

Thanks for the warm welcome. And the PO said he bought it after it had been overhauled. Then he had it a while and rode it very little. then he couldn't get it to start so he decided to sell it. And I was kinda afraid it was rings but wouldn't that show up during the compression test? I held throttle open, both plugs out, kicked it over till the gauge quit climbing. 160 on each side. thanks for the head torque advice but, I had read that in some of my searches. Even found the torque sequence someone had posted. The head was a tad loose and I hoped that would fix it. But it didn't.

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

Here's an old trick to reseat rings, if you're game.

On a cool morning, start the bike and just 'nail' it, full throttle, up to about 70-80mph. Pull-in clutch, kill the engine, coast (no brakes - you want the cooling), pull off to side of road, park. Wait till engine cools (5-10 minutes). Repeat going back. Then ride normal break-in. If it works, rings seat and smoking stops after about 5 miles.

Here's a thread on break-in:

http://www.xs650.com/forum/showthread.php?t=29279

 

[laramore86]

I may have to try that. thanks. I started it up this morning and it only smoked when I revved it up. Normally it would have had just a little smoke just idling. maybe she knows I'm thinking about operating on her and decided to straighten up. Hahaha