White smoke on startup

concours said:

Many modern oils smoke white.

The old rules of smoke color are not so clear cut anymore.

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Maybe, but can't you smell the difference still? Burning oil vs water vapor?

BrianK said:

Maybe, but can't you smell the difference still? Burning oil vs water vapor?

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You don't need your nose for that.
Color is only ONE attribute.

Water vapor immediately disperses, SMOKE hangs in the air, and blows away on the breeze.

To the trained eye, it's EASILY identifiable.

And yes, the odor of burning oil is still there. It too has changed, compared to the dino oils 50 years ago.

Regarding the "maybe" part, I challenge you to find BLUE smoke on the road.

The only blue smoke you see is big rigs, suffering along at limp mode power, while the chicken urea used to regenerate is burning off particulate.

concours said:

You don't need your nose for that.
Color is only ONE attribute.

Water vapor immediately disperses, SMOKE hangs in the air, and blows away on the breeze.

To the trained eye, it's EASILY identifiable.

And yes, the odor of burning oil is still there. It too has changed, compared to the dino oils 50 years ago.

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Got it and agree, concours, my point was simply that it ought to be pretty easy to distinguish whether the smoke is from oil or water - it sounds like you agree. When I got my commando, it had bad rings, used to let out clouds (ask my wife, she was usually following me....) and you would have no doubt what was burning. I used Redline synthetic 20w-50 from the start, which is about as modern a lubricant as any I think. Smelled like any other oil, to my untrained nose.

Thanks for your inputs, I'm not arguing, I'm discussing with you! - B

BrianK said:

Got it and agree, concours, my point was simply that it ought to be pretty easy to distinguish whether the smoke is from oil or water - it sounds like you agree. When I got my commando, it had bad rings, used to let out clouds (ask my wife, she was usually following me....) and you would have no doubt what was burning. I used Redline synthetic 20w-50 from the start, which is about as modern a lubricant as any I think. Smelled like any other oil, to my untrained nose.

Thanks for your inputs, I'm not arguing, I'm discussing with you! - B

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I understand, I try to be CLEAR because there are people looking at this information who have ALL LEVELS of skill, preconceived notions, old myths, sacred cows, etc., or worse, just browsing looking for something that aligns with their beliefs.
My posts are based on real world experiences in the industry.


For example of a sacred cow, remember the cars back before 1973?
Tailpipe color from black to chocolate to coffee with creme to near white. Spark plugs too.
Since the advent of UNLEADED FUEL, 1973 on, spark plug and exhaust is no longer any indicator to fuel mixture, unless it's WAY too off the map rich.
But yet, the the quest for "coffee with cream color" rages on.

Cheers, make yourself known, I'll buy you a beer.

concours said:

I understand, I try to be CLEAR because there are people looking at this information who have ALL LEVELS of skill, preconceived notions, old myths, sacred cows, etc., or worse, just browsing looking for something that aligns with their beliefs.
My posts are based on real world experiences in the industry.


For example of a sacred cow, remember the cars back before 1973?
Tailpipe color from black to chocolate to coffee with creme to near white. Spark plugs too.
Since the advent of UNLEADED FUEL, 1973 on, spark plug and exhaust is no longer any indicator to fuel mixture, unless it's WAY too off the map rich.
But yet, the the quest for "coffee with cream color" rages on.

Cheers, make yourself known, I'll buy you a beer.

Click to expand...

Yes, certainly exhaust, and probably spark plug (to a lesser degree - I still maintain I can read those to some degree short of detonation...), reading are lost (and because of new fuel formulations, probably unrecoverably so) arts.

Up for that beer anytime!

concours said:

I understand, I try to be CLEAR because there are people looking at this information who have ALL LEVELS of skill, preconceived notions, old myths, sacred cows, etc., or worse, just browsing looking for something that aligns with their beliefs.
My posts are based on real world experiences in the industry.


For example of a sacred cow, remember the cars back before 1973?
Tailpipe color from black to chocolate to coffee with creme to near white. Spark plugs too.
Since the advent of UNLEADED FUEL, 1973 on, spark plug and exhaust is no longer any indicator to fuel mixture, unless it's WAY too off the map rich.
But yet, the the quest for "coffee with cream color" rages on.

Cheers, make yourself known, I'll buy you a beer.

Click to expand...

You are right - I should have specified when using the oil that bike was designed to run. Who knows what anyone sticks in there these days.

Direct quotes, me: "The engine was not designed for modern synthetic oil, for one thing, there are real hot spots not found in a water-cooled engines". Reply: "Ya, but the modern synthetic oil has all those yummy additives."

I use the same oil as I always have Castrol GTX 20W50 after the first change and Castrol GTX 20W50 Classic after an engine rebuild (would use all the time, but too expensive/hard to find). Dino oil and will smoke bluish.

You're also right that condensation dissipates almost immediately and oil smoke hangs in the air.

Regardless, it's all been ignored as a data point so everyone can keep acting like my doctors and throw another part to change at the problem