KZ1000P heavy smoking!

I just purchased an 86 KZ1000P (35K miles) from an owner in Atlanta. I flew down there a few weeks ago and rode it home to Richmond (in 1 day). It was 100+ that day and the bike used more than 2 qts of oil on the way home (600 mi). Prev owner insisted I stick with 20-50 petroleum oil. He told me it never used much oil.

After I arrived home I immediately changed the oil and filter as I assumed it must have broken down on the return ride. I used 20-50 again, NOT synthetic.

This week I checked the valves and adjusted 3 of them (they were slightly tight). The bike starts and runs very well but still smokes pretty heavily from only the r/h muffler. Not any smoke when starting, but then fairly constant, heavier with big throttle. Today I rechecked the compression (hot) and measured 160, 120, 160, 170 (left to right, #1 to #4). And the plugs are light grey NOT WET AT ALL.

How could the compression be this high, especially on 3 & 4, plugs dry, and smoking this heavily (right muffler only) ?

I am thinking of switching to Shell Rotella T 15W-40. Might this help?

Thanks, Stuart

Forgot to mention that I checked the airbox and it is clean and dry. (I had thought the breather might blow overheated oil mist into the box, but it did not).

One of the cylinders on the right hand side is having an oil control issue.

The oil is buring by entering the combustion chamber either via a busted/bad oil control ring, or very bad valve seals.

The low compression on the #2 cylinder indicates a serious compression failure, either by the rings, piston cylinder wear, or head gasket, or either valve not seating correctly.

If it were mine, I would decide when to tear it down completely and see what the heck.

An oil change will not solve this problem.
As for compression numbers, could be many reasons like block/head shaved, higher compression pistons installed, etc. There is deffinately a serious problem in #2 cylinder

GL.

This worked well for a friend of mine

Good Fortune :laugh:

More than likely bad valve seals.If ya gotta yank the head,might as well pull the jug off too.Base gasket,corner o-rings,top end gasket set(HIGH QUALITY-wanna do this right the first time).Viton valve seals work best,last longest.E-bay is where I got mine.Get the jug spec'ed out.You may be able to do a re-ring without too much hassle on that #2cyl.And deal with a machine shop that is well versed in bike stuff.Money well spent there.To take it a step further,ask the shop if they'll hand lap the valves while it's appart.Just to be sure they have a good seat/seal.20/50 is too heavy to use when the weather cools off.Stick with 10/40.

After a run in the heat, the motor would've had a hard time cooling properly. I found that my 82 1000 after a similar run started using oil as well. What happened is that the oil ring expander lost tension, causing the scraper rings to more or less fail. These are a three piece oil ring. I even had a oil cooler on mine, but 100+ over the desert and good by oil.
Tear down of your motor and inspection is required. Only then will this situation be corrected. Z1 has STD rings at the best price, and a real good top gasket set price. These will include valve stem oil seals as well. The low compression on 1 hole tells you there is a problem besides oil consumption.
Do you have a leak down tester, and can perform such test? This can tell you if you have a valve problem, but I would just plan on a valve job and rings minimum. Don't forget to check the cam chain for stretch, also if removing pistons for proper cleaning by NEW wrist pin cir-clips. You should buy a factory service manual, or at least download the 1 on this site. You will need this!

Stuart49 wrote:

I just purchased an 86 KZ1000P (35K miles) from an owner in Atlanta. I flew down there a few weeks ago and rode it home to Richmond (in 1 day). It was 100+ that day and the bike used more than 2 qts of oil on the way home (600 mi). Prev owner insisted I stick with 20-50 petroleum oil. He told me it never used much oil.

After I arrived home I immediately changed the oil and filter as I assumed it must have broken down on the return ride. I used 20-50 again, NOT synthetic.

This week I checked the valves and adjusted 3 of them (they were slightly tight). The bike starts and runs very well but still smokes pretty heavily from only the r/h muffler. Not any smoke when starting, but then fairly constant, heavier with big throttle. Today I rechecked the compression (hot) and measured 160, 120, 160, 170 (left to right, #1 to #4). And the plugs are light grey NOT WET AT ALL.

How could the compression be this high, especially on 3 & 4, plugs dry, and smoking this heavily (right muffler only) ?

I am thinking of switching to Shell Rotella T 15W-40. Might this help?

Thanks, Stuart

J heads had issues way back with loose fitting exhaust valve guides. I would think by 96 that problem would be corrected but maybe not.

The problem was loose guide to guide bore clearance.
That allowed oil to weep into the exhaust ports. Evidence is usually a heavy buildup of carbon in the exhaust port.

I had one in last year with that problem.

Larry C