After picking the bike up after having the forks ready-chromed and new seal fitted it’s latest wobble is to let small puffs of blue smoke out from the right hand exhaust. So I though I’d gave it the benefit of doubt with a good blast of a 70 mile round trip to a triumph dealership hoping this would settle this latest tantrum down But no, still small puffs of light blue smoke from the R/H baffle when you blip the throttle, both from hot and cold. Any ideas, other than a long ride on a short pier?
My gut reaction is oil down the valve guide. Showing my ignorance, does the Ducati have rubber seals on top of the valve guides ? If it does, that would be my first port of call. Andy
How many miles has it done or since last heads/barrels off work? Have a look at spark plugs, see if they are different from each other.
Sounds as if this has come on suddenly, or is it that it's been away being fettled for ages and this is the first time it's been running for a while? Worn inlet valve guides or worn piston rings would be my first guess, but neither of those should be a 'sudden' event... Ok, but first things first... Blue smoke = oil burning.
Just shy of 12’000 miles, have no idea if the heads have been off. I checked the plugs yesterday both look good showing the same light brown colour.
Ive got a camera fitted over the garage door, I’ve looked back at previous ride outs and can confirm this has only presented itself since I picked it on from Ducati Mcr on Tuesday.
For a sudden effect? It could be either (IME) a broken ring or a valve guide has come loose and is going up and down with the valve. I've known guides coming loose more often than a broken rings on Ducati's. Steve R
That’s a good start, and of course, that is no mileage, there is still a small chance that this is due to little use and could improve and even disappear. You haven’t put anything down the plug holes recently? Ditto fuel tank, anything added apart from fuel?
So far I’ve managed to resist the temptation of inserting anything down the plug holes! I’ll continue to use it when free time allows, but it isn’t Sorn’d and as a result gets taken out periodically throughout the winter months.
Wierd.... Well, they clearly fucked up the engine while doing the forks and you need them to 'fess up and pay...
Standard exhaust? I might be way off here, but I’m not convinced that the open crossover would favour one cylinder out of one exhaust outlet completely, so if one cylinder had a problem, wouldn’t blue smoke come out of both exhausts to some extent? Is it possible that some oil has got into one of the silencers from the outlet end?
These are the two options I have considered and on the face of it the only two option that are open to me. Sherlock you ain’t.
Thanks, I’d like to think it’s a valve guide problem and nothing more serious. By the way this suddenly appeared it makes me think it’s not so much a wearing out issue as more of a something has let go kind of problem?
