White smoke

Manfred

Manfred

Stuart Brogden
Joined
Sep 6, 2024
Messages
115
Location
La Vernia, TX
Bike
2010 Honda nt700v
A friend of mine is looking at a 2001 Honda ST. It's blowing a bit of white smoke. What's your take on that>
 
More info please. When does the smoking start? Does it smoke when started cold or when fully warmed up? Is it smoke or perhaps steam? How many miles? How does it run? It could be something as innocuous as a bit of water vapor (steam) boiling off after a cold start or it could be something serious as a leaking head gasket or oil consumption. Check oil for milky appearance. Inspection of the spark plugs may be revealing. Checking coolant with test strips that reveal the presence of exhaust gases may be useful as would be a wet and dry compression test. My first inclination is that it is probably not something serious as the ST engine is ultra reliable.

Hope this helps!

Mike
 
The ad didn't provide any more information. It is priced low enough that I think my friend - who is mechanically inclined - will get it.
 
Let us know more when he gets the bike. Lets face it. Its a 24 year old bike. If the white smoke is only on certain occasions, I would do what Mike says but wouldnt loose any sleep over it. Depending on how he is gonna use it, I would still check the tire dates, do a full service, and let us know the milage. Blue smoke usually is oil and white smoke on a warmed up bike is coolant. It would be possible that this bike has a leaking head gasket, although probably not common. There are ways to test for that. If a head isnt warped, maybe even retorquing the head bolts could slow it down or stop it temporarily. If the guy is a wrench, replacing the gasket isnt a terrible job but you dont want to pay a dealer to do that.
 
Coyote Chris said:
Let us know more when he gets the bike. Lets face it. Its a 24 year old bike. If the white smoke is only on certain occasions, I would do what Mike says but wouldnt loose any sleep over it. Depending on how he is gonna use it, I would still check the tire dates, do a full service, and let us know the milage. Blue smoke usually is oil and white smoke on a warmed up bike is coolant. It would be possible that this bike has a leaking head gasket, although probably not common. There are ways to test for that. If a head isnt warped, maybe even retorquing the head bolts could slow it down or stop it temporarily. If the guy is a wrench, replacing the gasket isnt a terrible job but you dont want to pay a dealer to do that.
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He decided not to buy it.
 
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