Another "Head Gasket or Rings" Thread

It's interesting that this only started after the carb sync and that #3 need the most adjustment. You may want to set the carb sync tool up again, only this time swap the tool's hoses around so that the one that previously had been hooked up to cylinder #3 is now hooked up to a different cylinder. If there was something going on within the sync tool to give a bad reading you should see a change in the cylinder #3 reading this time and possibly see a change in the reading on the cylinder that you hook the #3 tool hose to. I don't know how carb sync changes could make smoke, but it's worth a try to see if anything is flaky there. Ed

You are burning oil from the worn out rings . Rule of thumb on the acceleration if it puffs smoke its blowby (rings) . Now when you let off the gas it smokes thats valve guide wear . Rember the valve seal can only hadle so much cleance before it will lose its seal around the valve stem. . Thicker oil will not solve cleance issues . I dont know how many miles you have but You will need a bore and hone soon .

650ed - I don't have access to the sync tool anymore but I'll pull the carbs and check it with a bench sync today. Makes me wonder if it was improperly adjusted.... Hmmmm.... Coincidence?

Silver84 - I think you're right and I'm just trying not to hear it right now. There's 50K on the clock and not a single gasket leaking so I hate to pull it apart but I'm fearing it's inevitable at this point. I was hoping to milk it till summer which is our "off" season here in Phoenix.

Anybody have a lead on some relatively inexpensive ring kits out there? I'm not looking to go big bore, just stock replacement. Z1 and Schnitz aren't showing anything available. Thanks.

So I'll order:
Ring Kit
Head Gasket
Bottom End Gasket
Valve Cover Gasket
New Valve Seals
I have a spare set of cams I'll throw in there that have less than 5K on them
Usual valve/head work
Anything I'm missing?

Here's the top end kit from Z1
www.z1enterprises.com/ItemDetails.aspx?i...p-end&item=MAGTE1292

Now onto rings....

Be careful about doing a bench sync as that is not a very accurate way to sync the carbs. It only gets you into the ball park because each cylinder and carb is unique so setting every slide to the exact same height may not mean that every cylinder breaths equally. You may want to just wait until you can borrow the sync tool. Ed

650ed wrote: Be careful about doing a bench sync as that is not a very accurate way to sync the carbs. It only gets you into the ball park because each cylinder and carb is unique so setting every slide to the exact same height may not mean that every cylinder breaths equally. You may want to just wait until you can borrow the sync tool. Ed

Thanks. Well I have to pull them anyways to pull the top end apart, I'll have a peak in there for sh*ts and giggles. So in your opinion could this #3 being mis-adjusted have caused or accelerated this oil leak? Just curious. I'm not holding it against the syncer because he was doing me a favor.

DesertKZ wrote: Compression Test
Cold/Hot with wide open throttle 110/118
After tsp oil added 155

A gain of over +30 psi with oil squirt typically means rings are the main culprit.

DesertKZ wrote:

650ed wrote: Be careful about doing a bench sync as that is not a very accurate way to sync the carbs. It only gets you into the ball park because each cylinder and carb is unique so setting every slide to the exact same height may not mean that every cylinder breaths equally. You may want to just wait until you can borrow the sync tool. Ed

Thanks. Well I have to pull them anyways to pull the top end apart, I'll have a peak in there for sh*ts and giggles. So in your opinion could this #3 being mis-adjusted have caused or accelerated this oil leak? Just curious. I'm not holding it against the syncer because he was doing me a favor.

I really don't see how it could have caused the problem, but since #3 was the carb you had to adjust the most and after the adjustment the #3 plug began getting oily it seems like it's worth checking. Was anything else done to the bike when the carbs were being sync'ed? Ed

Out of synch carbs will not cause oil burning, an excessivly rich mixture will but not a simple carb synch.

No sir, nothing else was touched during the carb syncing. It's just odd that it happened that way. Hmm...

Rode it hard around my neighborhood just now, shut it down and immediately pulled this plug. I

also noticed smoke now coming from my #3 header where it meets the cylinder head. I think this cylinder is shot.