Oil Change = White Smoke?

**Chrislost** · 6th June 2007, 20:42

i *think* that putting nice new synthetic oil into a older bike your wasting your time...
just get a decent mineral oil.

**mart1** · 6th June 2007, 20:51

Try putting a plastic bag over the end of the pipe after riding once the engine has cooled to keep the moisture out.

**Spuds1234** · 7th June 2007, 11:09

Took the bike for a ride this morning and there was no smoke.

Also the whiteness was gone, until I got off the bike after the ride so Im just going to assume that its nothing bad and be done with it.

Thanks for all the help guys. I really appreciate it.

**mark247** · 7th June 2007, 17:23

Yeah if i was you, id go buy some decent mineral oil. From what i have been told and what i have experienced with older bikes, synthetic oil burns HEAPS more in older engines because its just too thin. I have even been told is can damage older engines. What you need is some decent mineral oil, and while you change the oil, change the oil filter as well.

Well that's what I'd do anyway

From what i have experienced with synthetic / semisynthetic oil, i think I'll probably never use that stuff again unless i buy a brand new motorcycle.

**Crisis management** · 7th June 2007, 19:23

Originally Posted by mark247

From what i have experienced with synthetic / semisynthetic oil, i think I'll probably never use that stuff again unless i buy a brand new motorcycle.

Settle boy..........semi synthetic is fine. It's well proven and doesn't do strange things to anything. As long as it is motorcycle oil, not car oil there will be no problems; the additives in the car oils can cause clutch slip and accelerated wear in the gearbox.

**mark247** · 7th June 2007, 22:04

Originally Posted by Crisis management

Settle boy..........semi synthetic is fine. It's well proven and doesn't do strange things to anything. As long as it is motorcycle oil, not car oil there will be no problems; the additives in the car oils can cause clutch slip and accelerated wear in the gearbox.

I had an old bike that burnt a bit of oil, so i put 3200 ( 32% ) synthetic in it and it burnt even more, so i tried 5100 ( 51% synthetic ) and it burnt EVEN more! So i went back to mineral and it was much better.

**Crisis management** · 8th June 2007, 12:42

Originally Posted by mark247

I had an old bike that burnt a bit of oil, so i put 3200 ( 32% ) synthetic in it and it burnt even more, so i tried 5100 ( 51% synthetic ) and it burnt EVEN more! So i went back to mineral and it was much better.

Interesting, if the oils were all the same viscosity they should perform in the same manner, ie, rate of escaping past the rings (in this case).
I'm not sure that using a knackered motor as a test bed is a very good way to prove the viability of semi synthetics tho.... the last "old" bike I used semi synthetics in was an 86 GSXR1100 and I was more than happy with it. All the reading I've done about oils indicates the semi synthetics perform better than straight mineral but, as with everything, there will be exceptions.

**Sollyboy** · 9th June 2007, 09:46

re that synthetic oil it maybe the wrong choice , on worn or older engines the rings cant wipe enough oil off the bore and it ends up being burnt off during combustion , this even happened on some newer bikes to a lesser extent , one of the advantages of synthetics in its cling factor , in your case it maybe a disadvantage ,go back to a proper mineral bike oil and change it more often, once you have water in your sump it maybe very hard to get rid of i had one bike where i changed the oil 4 times and it was still there , i found going for a very long fast ride fixed it or try that cerabase oil additive Mt eden mc used to sell it so did treads i put that in one bike and it sapped the moisture instantly .
sometimes these moisture problems are just a result of lots of small stop start trips where the bike is not warmed up for longer periods

**Spuds1234** · 9th June 2007, 11:47

The smokes stopped so Im guessing its no longer a problem.

The rings in my bike are all new in the last year so I think that they are fine.

I dont think Im going to worry to much about it unless the engine starts to make some funky noises. Then I'll probably panic.

**cheeseclip** · 22nd June 2007, 16:25

i know it sounds weird but my xr250 was blowing a little bit of smoke and it needed a oil change anyway. so i did that and it still blew it after it had warmed up. then it wouldnt start so i bought a new spak plug and the old one was covered in oil. thats where the smoke was coming from and why it wouldnt start. ever since i did that it hasnt missed a beat. thats just my experience though.

**Spuds1234** · 22nd June 2007, 19:12

I'll whip out a couple of plugs tomorrow and see what they are like.

I probablys should have done this when I bought the bike, but it was running so well I saw no point.

At the moment, Im pretty much putting down the white smoke to the fact that it was kinda cold (it was getting late at night) when I finished the oil change.

The oil level isnt going down, so Im not worried about it at the moment.

**homer** · 22nd June 2007, 19:52

i had a cloudy oil level glass on a trail bike at one time it shouldnt be a problem a long ride hour or 2 should remove any moisture from inside the engine.
The other thing i would suggest is dont use valvoline oil in anything unless its the only oil that has been in it .......valvoline has a rapid break down period and the carbon deposits that stay on the rings and bore can be very hard to remove .
I have heard of engines that start smoking as soon as valvoline has been added to the motor and have then stopped burning any oil at all when changed to another product .
I would strongly recommend a fully synthetic oil (ask your bike shop ) or a castrol product of the correct grade ...if you want cheap and good use "castrol protec" its the old version of gtx 2 no longer produced gtx 2 i can recommend used loads of it.