Heavy White Smoke
 

Hey all I have searched a little bit on this thread and others but cannot find a definitive answer (that or I am just afraid of what actual answer is). I have a 1998 Superhawk - YAYY I love the bike!!

Last year at winter time I did a complete rebuild of the engine, took out the engine, took every single piece apart, deep cleaned them all, and put them back together. Replaced the bearings and all seals with brand new OEM parts. Did everything according to the manual ( I am not very mechanically inclined so I had some help from a mechanic) But we put everything back together, got the bike ready to fire. Started it up and instantly my garage was devoured by white smoke. We figured it was just breaking in the new grease and burning off whatever the engine needed to do. So we let it heat up and it started to slow down a little bit but was still like a smoke stack out of the exhausts. I took it on about a 5-10 mile road trip. There was no engine knocks, weird noises, or anything to be alarmed with(besides the smoke, but once again brand new build. I thought maybe it should be smoking). Took it home and parked it and it sat for all of summer time, life really got in the way and was not in a place to be riding this summer.

So i was looking at it in the garage yesterday and decided to start it up. Took it outside and started it up, low and behold it was smoking again. I'm talking like Deep Heavy White Smoke, smoked out my entire neighborhood. It looked like Snoop Dog and Willie Nelson got into a smoke off outside and neither one backed down. It was crazy and I felt horrible for doing that to all my neighbors.. It did burn a little oil but not as much as I would have expected. After it was warmed up it still was smoking just as bad, but also not making any weird noises, the throttle revved smoothly without hesitation. Does anyone have any idea what could be going on with this engine or where to start? Like I said I am semi mechanically inclined but have never come across this before. Any help is very much appreciated. I am sure there are things that I did not cover but ask any questions and I will answer them to the best of my abilities. Thank you all! :)

Head gasket/cracked block? Check your coolant for oil and your oil for coolant.

Did you hone the cylinders before reinstalling the pistons?
If you didn't it is unlikely that the rings will seat and it will smoke.

Diagnostics and generally guessing aside for a sec... Did the smoke smell like oil or did it have a sickly sweet smell of coolant?
Was it cloud white? or a bluish white?
Did it hank in the air? or dissipate like steam?

Slightly confused how you rebuilt the motor then let it sit all summer. Its like a crime against nature or something. Maybe the bike was just objecting...….

Ok ok all joking aside, this happened to me once. On a 2000+ mile trip. In the NY Poconos I saw the same crazy billow of white smoke in my rearviews. I pulled over and it got worse. Alarmed I parked it and called my beautiful wife to come get me with my van.
I removed the engine and replaced it since the VTR is my daily transport. It took several days in my tiny NYC garage to swap the motor as I had to build a gantry crane out of 2x6s to lift the bike over the motor.

I finished the job and started the bike. it immediately started billowing white smoke again WITH A NEW MOTOR!

This was not my best moment. In a fit of genius I grabbed the fuel tank off my single sided swingarm B bike.

After a min of running the problem was gone.

Turns out I had accidentally put diesel fuel in the tank in the middle of nowhere with tumbleweeds bouncing off me, a thunderstorm coming, the sun in my eyes and several other excuses...….

So maybe drain the tank to dry and try fresh fuel. Its unlikely but I know for sure it will be just as smokey.

Ironic right? All that smoke for SmokinJoe? Such irony.

Lubed up the valve train!