My K100 RT 1986 with about 67,000 km's is currently sitting out the winter with the rego on exemption cause they rob us blind, but every time I start her up ( once a week ) she fills the shed with smoke for quite some time before clearing. I am wondering, is it valve seals, head gasket, or what the heck ? I have had it for about 3 years and this is new behaviour. She is on the main stand and the oil level before start up is half way up the sight glass. Is my baby ok and just getting old or is she in need of some minor surgery. Any advise would be much appreciated.

First of all . Dont start the bike unless you intend to ride it .
  It wont do any good .
secondly , it is pretty normal for a k to smoke  , but mostly when parked on the side stand .
you could do a compression test to determine if everything there is ok 

my k do also smoke for quite a while when first started after the winter

k-rider

Oh ,by the way ,what color is the smoke?



K-rider :smoke:

Hi Marty welcome to the funny farm. Ks usually smoke a bit on startup but yours sounds a bit more than the normal.
Before you start it next remove the plugs and check if any coolant is accumulating in the cylinders. At 67,000km it is barely run in but at 28 years the head gasket can be in a bad way.

Thanks for that. I am planning to do a service ( including spline lube etc ) in the next little while, before she goes back on the road in the spring, so i think I will invest in a compression tester and check that out. The smoke is of a light colour but there is a lot of it, although it does clear after several minutes.

Welcome to the forum.

Ks like to smoke, it clears the head. but firing up in a shed once a week is not good and on its own not to be taken as an indication of trouble. We can all make a K smoke on start up big time by parking on side stand with the engine running. If you are not losing coolant and and not losing oil then you may be in better shape. Easy to get condensation inside the engine, it will give you smoke. So too will messed up plugs and a few more things. If the K is running well and this is new, your process of firing up and leaving it running could also be a cause of the problem as the rest of the engine is not heating up properly. a good run with some injector cleaner may not be a bad thing.

Thanks for the tips. I am feeling encouraged by all the pearls of wisdom I'm reading here on the K100 forum. As for my own, " old mans armchair " as I like to call it, I am now itching to give it a birthday, with new plugs, filters and fluids and get it out of the shed for a decent ride next month then hopefully see if she can kick the smoking habit. After all, I gave up the durries 6 years ago and if I can do it anyone or anything can.

Marty, check out the smoke when you take it for a decent run and then keep an eye on both coolant and oil levels. If these are staying good and you have no overheating or high temperature issues then all should be ok. Don't even think of going at the engine until you have done this. Do the service and make sure your oil and coolant are good.

Head gaskets can go but there are lots of Ks around on very high mileage that have not got new head gaskets so don't rush in.

All starting it up every week will do is cause more engine wear.  Also, the owners manual specifically mentions not to warm it up but to start it and get riding.  K bikes that sit idling tend to foul spark plugs.

One way to reduce smoky start-ups is to turn the bike off, tilt it to the right and count to ten before putting it on the side stand.  This allows oil behind the pistons to drain back into the oil sump so there's less of it left to seep past the rings when you put it on the side stand.

Thanks for that - point taken, but in my defense I don't leave it idling but run it for a few minutes up to about 3 - 4 grand. My thinking was to keep oil throughout the engine and make sure the battery was getting a bit of a charge now and then. Sounds like I need to re think the whole scenario.  

duck wrote:All starting it up every week will do is cause more engine wear.  Also, the owners manual specifically mentions not to warm it up but to start it and get riding.  K bikes that sit idling tend to foul spark plugs.

One way to reduce smoky start-ups is to turn the bike off, tilt it to the right and count to ten before putting it on the side stand.  This allows oil behind the pistons to drain back into the oil sump so there's less of it left to seep past the rings when you put it on the side stand.

That's it in a nutshell. My own gut feeling is that you don't have a problem......