Fuel smell & black smoke

[7464]

My friend who rides behind me often smells fuel from my bike and under heavy acceleration notices black smoke. Any thoughts as to what may be the problem?

The bike seems to run fine otherwise

 

2002 R1150RT 26,400 miles last service at 23,300

 

Thx for your help

[smiller]

Black smoke (I assume you mean from the exhaust) usually means an overly-rich mixture. What is your fuel mileage like?

[Husker Red]

I'm thinking rich mix too. Are you running a techlusion or anything else to adjust the mix? What other mods have you made?

[7464]

Gas mileage = 38.5 highway. I got the bike used and as far as I know there is no techlusion or any other mods to the bike.

[smiller]

Gas mileage = 38.5 highway. I got the bike used and as far as I know there is no techlusion or any other mods to the bike.

38.5 is a little low but within the normal range depending on your driving habits so there's nothing obviously wrong there. If the black smoke occurs only at high/wide-open throttle then perhaps a bad TPS causing the engine to go very rich at only a certain throttle position. Kind of a strange problem given your more-or-less normal mileage figure. Do you have any other symptoms that stand out beside the smoke?

[Ken H.]

Other things that could be causing an overly rich mixture or poor burn include, dirty air filter, fouled plugs, defective O2 sensor, excessive carbon build up.

[ShovelStrokeEd]

Or a failed fuel pressure regulator, stuck or leaking injector, throttle cables out of whack plus what Ken said.

 

Sounds like fun.

[Davis]

Also, take a look at what, if any, CCP is installed.

[smiller]

All of those other things (clogged air filter, leaky/stuck injector, etc.) could cause it, but they would result in excess fuel usage all of the time (vs. only under heavy throttle) and if were bad enough to cause noticeable black smoke (that's pretty darn rich) one would think that you'd see a pretty poor fuel mileage figure as well, which according to the description isn't the case here.

[KER]

38.5mpg for CA gas it about normal, that is what I,and my co-workers get on average. Whatever they put in the gas (or leave out) gives us crappy mileage vs other states. I too have noticed this on some of the company bikes, but will only see it when they are cruising along normally then punch it, a cloud of black smoke will come out but go away once they get going. So, i wouldnt say there is anything wrong here, since I see if regularly on several well maintained bikes. It might just be a CA thing.