Smoking '98 R1100RT: Problem Solved

[Roger D]

A while back I posted a problem I was having with my '98 R1100RT with 50k miles. The problem of LOTS of smoke coming from the tailpipe occurred when I parked the bike on its side stand while it faced down hill. The bike smoked excessively for about the first five miles and then cleared up.

 

The usual suspects were mentioned, i.e., rings and valve guides. A leak down test showed that all was within specs. Apparently problem was excessive oil in the air box. When I change the oil I usually check/drain the air box, but because I’d installed auxiliary electric outlets on the side of the bike, getting to the air box drain plug was difficult…so I left it alone. I finally got around checking the air box, and you guessed it…mucho oil. Since I drained the air box the problem (and a potentially expensive/time consuming repair) has gone away.

[russell_bynum]

If you're getting excessive amounts of oil in the airbox, that's a good sign that you are overfilling the bike with oil.

 

I haven't drained my airbox oil in more than 30,000 miles and there's not much in there to drain.

 

Good job finding the cause of the smoking, though...I'm glad it wasn't something expensive.

[Roger D]

Yes I'm definitely guilty of overfilling. Most of the overfill probably occured on while I was on an extended trip trying to make it home. I made the flawed assumption that because the bike was smoking that it was using crank case oil, when it appears it was burning oil from the air box. So a relatively small amount of oil in the airbox may leak into the cylinders when the bike is warm, on the side stand and in a down-hill position.