Engine Smoke

Don't laugh gents, I just tipped the wrong sort or engine cleaner into the petrol tank versus the engine crankcase.  A case of reading instructions after... I'll let you know how that ends up . A mate told me once he urinated in his tank to get the petrol level up so hopefully in fine.

I spoke to the guy that did the oil change.  Yes, you are correct there is no oil filter but a screen which they discovered after getting under the car.

I'm going to try run the engine cleaners a couple times before taking it in for compression and valve check.  My mechanic is fed up of me since I had my electrics redone recently which wasn't so easy without a diagram.  Then my clutch tube broke (see my previous posts) and he had to get inside the tunnel and weld it back together only to discover a cowboy job on the gas tube which he corrected.

"My mechanic is fed up of me..."

 

If I were your mechanic I'd be happy to $ee you again. The work can't be too cheap.

 

After sitting pretty much unused for last 2 years a bottle of Chevron Techron FI cleaner or Seafoam would be a good idea for cleaning internals of fuel system.  It most lickly would cause smoke.  Also look for a place that sells NON-ethanol gas.  

 

PLEASE get a good Halon hand held fire extinguisher and replace all the rubber fuel lines using hose clamps (avoiding a cheap plastic fuel filter)!!!!

My mechanic is pretty honest... Sometimes he only changers parts.  He has a speedster himself so it's also a hobby for him.

 

I think you would want to urinate on the ground first then try and see if you can ignite the urine. If you can then A) Go ahead and use it for gas then B) Drive to a hospital right away and explain that your urine is flammable.

He got the fuel level up to full!

Still waiting to run down the tank of petrol given the incorrect stuff I poured into the fuel compartment.  It needs a few runs to seafoam.

By up to full I mean it was just below the full line to begin (rental car)!

So update... The oil engine level has gone down a lot.... That probably means there is leakage?  I don't see any on the floor.  I added some engine stop solution for now to see it reduces the smoke.

Engines lose oil two ways-leaking and burning.  If your engine isn't leaking any oil it's burning it and adding some 'engine stop solution' is like putting a band-aid on a gun shot wound.

Products such as Bar's stop leak and Lucas oil stop leak work on leaking engines by causing the seals and gaskets to swell up hopefully sealing the leak.  High mileage oil has same chemicals in them.  Since yours doesn't have any visible external leaks it won't help.  You could go will heavier oil.  Remember the old 120 weight STP additive?

 

You really need to diagnose the health of the engine by adjusting the valves and then doing a compression and leak down test.  This will tell you if rings, valves and valve guides are worn out.  It takes less than a hour to do this.  If those are shot you aren't getting full horse power out of your engine PLUS you are wasting gas and polluting the environment. Assume no emission tests are done in your area? - your engine would fail.

I got a smog exemption for the car.  Looks like I have to run the engine diagnostics.  I'm sure the heavier oil would help... But I've also heard of cause other problems to the engine.

Btw what mileage do you guys get from your speedsters?  I calculate a measly 15mpg for mine.  A ferrari is more fuel efficient.

Air-cooled engines typically get the following fuel mileages:

 

1,600 cc = 30-ish

 

1,975 cc = 28-ish

 

2,110 cc = 26-ish

 

If you are getting around 15, then the smoke is caused by a severely over-rich condition, potentially caused by leaking carburetor pilot valves allowing too much fuel into the carburetors.   This makes the engine run super-rich (hence, the black smoke).  If they continue to leak once the engine is turned off, they will fill the carburetors and then overflow into the cylinders, draining gas down into the crankcase (a very bad thing).

 

This is a relatively easy fix, but BOTH carbs should be checked to make sure.

 

If it is running super-rich, the smoke will be black

 

If it is burning oil, the smoke will be blue.

 

 

Would that also mean when the engine is idle it would sit at a high RPM?  I notice after I've been driving for a while my RPM when sitting idle at a traffic light sits too high.  This is a new thing and I suspect my mechanic set it to high and didn't realise because he wasn't driving it for more than a minute or two.

 

This actually happened with my Harley. I ran it with old gas and it did a number on the carburetor.

 

I am now responding to my own posts...

You low gas mileage may be due to a stuck float, especially is it has sat for a while. If the float is stuck too high, more gas flows into the engine.  I would tap the top of the carbs with the handle of a screwdriver of lightly with a hammer and if they are stuck, this may get them back to normal height.  Make sure you are not hitting hard enough to cause a spark!  Too much gas flow is not a good thing.

 

Gary

Alessio, possibly your mechanic tightened the throttle cable a bit too much. If anything expands, and they do expand, your idle could raise up. When I first drove my car around the block, it went from 800 to almost 2K. Loosened it so it had slight play when hot and never thought about it again.