| Author | Message | ||
     Wvbueller |
Alright guys, I have a 2001 Buell Lightning that has 13,524 miles on it. I have had it a little over a year and I have taken great care of it with fluid changes and etc... Anyway, yesterday my wife was following me and noticed that when I get on my bike pretty hard and shift gears, black smoke comes from the exhaust. I have a force streetfighter exhaust and other than that the bike is pretty much stock. Any ideas on why this smoke is coming out of my exhaust. Thanks guys. | ||
| Impala |
Black smoke is usually a sign that the motor is running rich. What do your plugs look like? | ||
| Buellistic |
When you shift indicates one or more valve guide seals are bad ... | ||
| Kalali |
I think it also depends on how you normally ride your bike. If you are gentle (like me), you end up collecting carbon inside the chamber/on the piston and occasional hard riding cleans the carbon thus the black smoke. Of course rich mixture can also cause the black smoke. Similar thing happened to me when I let one of the mechanics (a Buell racer as well) at the local dealer test ride my X1 while I followed with a demo CR. That was when I saw the potential of this bike when ridden by an expert. When I told him about the black smoke (very little and only during the first couple of times when he he really pushed the bike) that's what he told me. The bike did run a little better after his beating... | ||
| Kyrocket |
Pull the plugs, I'd wager a bet that they are black which would indicate what Impala said and the engine is running rich. Better rich than lean. Do you still have the original/factory ECM in the bike? | ||
| Dragonwing |
Black smoke is also a sign that you forgot to remove your stash from its hiding place inside the muffler. DW | ||
| Wvbueller |
Dragonwing, stash was removed at time of smoking..LOL... Anyway, my bike does run a little rich because of the Force Streetfighter Pipe, cant get that to lean out anymore. And I have a race ecm on my bike. I think it may be the fact that I havent rode it much this year, and when I did ride it I rode easy. Then yesterday, I was riding hard when my wife noticed the smoke. I posted the first post to see if it could be a problem or anything to worry about. I think I will ride it a few more times pretty hard and if it still smokes when I shift I will look at the valve seals. Thanks for the help, I think this site is a great tool. Thanks to all who help out and post. | ||
| Nukeblue |
oil=blue smoke gas=black smoke most likely its normal for a straight through pipe like that with a race module | ||
| Kalali |
"oil=blue smoke gas=black smoke" Exactly. I've also realized that these bikes hate short trips and NEED to be driven hard at least occasionally or some may argue, driven hard frequently. I would only worry if you see blue smoke when you either accelerate hard or let off the gas and coast with the engine at high (>5K)RPM. What is your AFV at? I'd venture a guess it is around 90%. | ||
| Wvbueller |
Kalai, not sure exactly what the AFV is, I do pretty frequent resets, but havent in a couple months since I havent been riding it much. When I get bike back, I will hook it up to ECM SPY and do a TPS and AFV reset and see it that helps. Thanks for all the info guys BAD WEBBERS RULE | ||
| Kalali |
I think the acronym AFV stands for Air Fuel Value. In a nutshell the AFV value tells you if your fuel map is rich or lean as indicated by the O2 sensor during closed loop (steady riding situation). So if your AFV is 100 after a long steady ride then your fuel map (at least the rear one) is OK. If it is >100, let's say 110, then the sensor has determined that your rear fuel map is 10% too lean (in the closed loop area) and it adds 10% more fuel across the entire fuel map. Similarly if your AFV is 90%, then it will reduce 10% fuel across the map. There is probably a lot better way to explain this in technical terms but you get the idea. | ||
| Fast1075 |
Too much black smoke for too long = reason to start making blue smoke....too rich washed the oil off the cylinder causing premature wear resulting in oil pumping.. | ||
| Nukeblue |
getting on it hard. then shifting. with a race module. a black puff of unburned fuel when you let off the gas is normal on an open pipe. |
