Smoke at Idle - 59000 miles

I have had a 99 VFR800 for 5 years but haven't been on this site in awhile. I purchased the bike with about 35000 miles and it now has 59000 miles!!! I love this bike, but recently it has started white / blue smoking at idle, so for some reason she is starting to burn oil. She doesn't burn very much at all, but at idle it is pretty bad and is pretty embarrassing when sitting in traffic.

I did a quick search on this site to see if this was common with this many miles to determine whether the rings were likely to be shot at this mileage or not. I haven't checked compression yet, but I figure that is the first step in determining the problem. Last year I checked the valve lash and only needed to swap one exhaust valve spacer to get the lash in-spec. The previous owner and myself have always used Mobil 1, although I was planning to switch to Amsoil at the next oil change.

Anyway, just wanted to see if anyone else had experienced this burning oil at idle issue? There is no evidence of coolant in the oil or lack of power, or pressurizing the crankcase, so I don't think that it is the head gasket. To me, that leaves 2 possibilities....rings or valve seals. The only other thing that I am wondering may be a possibility is the fact that I deleted the PAIR valve when I did the valve lash check last year. I took out the pair valves and instead of buying the blockoff plates, I used the factory caps and put vacuum caps over the holes.

Oh, it only seems to burn oil at idle when the engine is warm, the hotter, the more she seems to smoke.

Anyone have any ideas? I was hoping to dig into this over the winter, but it didn't happen. I am thinking that if I find it to be low compression either due to rings or valve stem seals that I might be better off to find an engine out of a salvaged bike. If I could find an salvage yard engine for $800 that is probably cheaper than I could have my engine rebuilt. I would like to rebuild it myself, but I don't want to buy the special tools and I don't know if anyone in my area could do the head and block machining (if needed).


Ian

 

Bad valve stem seals usually smoke most during start-up, yours ?? If it's not low compression, that's the most likely possibility. Any competent 'cycle dealership or auto cylinder head service in your area should be able to replace the seals when you take the heads in, but it would be best to make sure the valve stems/ guides are not worn out first.

 

Well, did a compression test and all 4 cylinders are around 70 psi instead of 170 psi. I checked it with 2 different gauges to confirm. The strange thing is the bike doesn't seem to be down on power at all and rides fine as long as I don't get stopped at a stoplight too long because if I do, it starts fogging for mosquitos..lol.
So, it seems that at 59,000 miles she is just worn out. Must be the piston rings, but it seems odd to me that all 4 cylinders would be so consistent. But I am thinking that the rings just aren't sealing at low cylinder pressures, which is why when I get on it or just cruise at 60 mph it seems fine (ie. doesn't burn any oil).
How many people are getting more than 59,000 miles out of these engines? They do spin at 2x the speed of an automobile engine at 70 mph, so I guess 59,000 miles is more like 120,000 miles as far as ring wear is concerned.

P.S. I did delete the PAIR valve before last year's riding season and developed this smoking at idle problem late last year (2011). Is there any chance this has something to do with it? I deleted all the hoses and put vacuum caps over the nipples for the PAIR valve hoses. I still have the factory breathing line for crankcase ventilation. Essentially, the way I deleted it would be identical to buying the 'block-off' plates.

 

Was your compression test done proppa ??:

Engine at operating temp, all plugs out, and throttle held wide open while cranking.

 

Well, apparently not. I knew is was supposed to be at operating temp, but by the time I got everything off to get to the 4 plugs this wasn't the case. I did not know that the throttle was supposed to be held wide open but I guess that does kinda make sense, otherwise you won't draw in as much air. I took 1 plug out at a time, but I don't see how that would make a difference. So for all 4, I had 1 plug out and 3 plugs in.

Sounds like I am going to be checking compression again. Although even if my compression is OK, I still have to figure out why I am burning oil at idle.

 

Generally the compression test is done with all plugs removed and cranking at around 300rpm for the reading one at a time.

 

It's probably burning oil all the time but you don't see it when running down the road. Have someone follow you and find out if they can smell the oil burning.

I had this problem on my 954 and an oil control ring was gummed up and stuck. I suspect it was from lack of maintenance by the prior owners (as in none!)

 

I agree, it is probably burning a little oil all the time, but it doesn't get extreme until the engine is warm and at idle. Maintenance wise, this bike has always been babied. Mobil 1 oil changes way before it ever needed it when I had it, and the guy before me was also an engineer so I assume he was also anal about it. I will have to redo the compression check to confirm that it is way low, but it didn't make sense to me that they were all low during my previous incorrect measurement technique. So it does make sense that my technique was wrong.

 

I would put the bike back to stock condition and see if that makes a difference.

 

These engines are built to last. Theres guys with over 200k miles on theirs. Hell I know a guy with over 250k on an F4i. Looks like the pevious owner either ran it extremely hard or ran it out of oil a few times.

FYI. If you're going to rebuild the engine, you're gonna need a machinest than can hone the cylinder walls correctly since they are made of an alloy mix. I don't think you just use a standard honer on them but I could be wrong.