Topic: CB550 Overheat and smoke after long ride

[felicious]

I just got back from a 2h ride on PCH. It was a very hot day and the last 20-30 min. were mostly stop and go. At the last 2 stop lights I noticed some white smoke coming from my engine and the engine idled very roughly. I had a hard time keeping the engine running and stalled the bike twice.

I barely made it into my garage which is where I stopped and took this video. I felt like the smoke was coming from the area where the oil spilt(?). The smoke is less noticeable in the video but I could see it coming from the engine with my own eyes.
Honda CB550 smoking

The bike started again but died pretty quickly.
Honda CB550 dying

Does that look remotely normal too you?
I will try to start the bike again tomorrow to see if it still idles rough.
The next two things I have on my list is to swap out the spark plugs and to make an oil change but this list will be adjusted according to your guys's advice. :)

Thanks,
Felix

[toytuff]

Lot of oil on the lower head that I can see. Interested in seeing the plugs.

tt

[Bailgang]

Just curious but was the clutch slipping at all during the 2 hr ride? The reason I ask is that when I first got my 550 up and running years ago I took it out and let it go on a straight, I was new to bikes at that time and was using motor oil that had friction modifiers in it which I later found was a no-no for wet clutch bikes and this made the clutch slip like crazy as I wound it up and it too was smoking when I got home. In my case the slipping clutch combined with a full throttle blast pretty much toasted the oil and overheated the engine.

[felicious]

Just curious but was the clutch slipping at all during the 2 hr ride? The reason I ask is that when I first got my 550 up and running years ago I took it out and let it go on a straight, I was new to bikes at that time and was using motor oil that had friction modifiers in it which I later found was a no-no for wet clutch bikes and this made the clutch slip like crazy as I wound it up and it too was smoking when I got home. In my case the slipping clutch combined with a full throttle blast pretty much toasted the oil and overheated the engine.

Hmm possible, I had problems not stalling the bike. I also just checked the oil level and it looks like it might not have enough oil. I checked with the kickstand so I will repeat that with the bike upright. Do you fill it up where the oil stick goes? I'm going to check out where to fill up the oil.

Or should I just do the oil change tomorrow and see if that helps?

[toytuff]

Just curious but was the clutch slipping at all during the 2 hr ride? The reason I ask is that when I first got my 550 up and running years ago I took it out and let it go on a straight, I was new to bikes at that time and was using motor oil that had friction modifiers in it which I later found was a no-no for wet clutch bikes and this made the clutch slip like crazy as I wound it up and it too was smoking when I got home. In my case the slipping clutch combined with a full throttle blast pretty much toasted the oil and overheated the engine.

Hmm possible, I had problems not stalling the bike. I also just checked the oil level and it looks like it might not have enough oil. I checked with the kickstand so I will repeat that with the bike upright. Do you fill it up where the oil stick goes?

Or should I just do the oil change tomorrow and see if that helps?

You really didn't mean that did you?

You better get a service Manual. Soon.

tt

[felicious]

Yes I have it and the clymer manual too.
I'll look it up.

[bollingball]

If I were you I would NOT start the bike back up. You need to sit down with the service and operators manual. You need to get a good understanding of how you bike works before you do some serious damage. I'm not trying to beat you up just trying to save you some unneeded headache's
Ken

[felicious]

If I were you I would NOT start the bike back up. You need to sit down with the service and operators manual. You need to get a good understanding of how you bike works before you do some serious damage. I'm not trying to beat you up just trying to save you some unneeded headache's
Ken

Do you think it is an oil related problem?

[Stev-o]

We need more info:

What kind of oil is in it?
Does the bike have stock exhaust, air box, jets?
What do the plugs look like?  Lean or oil fouled?

[Tews19]

Looks like one hell of an oil leak on the head gasket..... cam tensioner sounds rough.. Could be the engine and lack of oil.... Also, I noticed you keep the petcock on when not running....Always turn to off when not being used....

[felicious]

We need more info:

What kind of oil is in it?
Does the bike have stock exhaust, air box, jets?
What do the plugs look like?  Lean or oil fouled?

Oil is whatever the PO put in (that's why I want to do the oil change). Exhaust is stock.
Haven't touched any other parts yet.

[goldarrow]

If oil is what the PO put in, then this is the time to do your 3k tune up.  Perhaps you're way past due.

[Bankerdanny]

You definitely need to take care riding on hot days. Air cooled engines and heavy traffic don't mix well.

I got caught like that one night on my '77 550. An accident had traffic stopped for long stretches and even though it was night it was still mid to upper 80's. By the time I got past the accident an could ride at a regular speed I could smell the heat coming off the engine and it was not idling well. Once you got it home and shut down you probably should have left it alone until the next day so it could fully cool off.

It is possible to overcook the oil and to seize up an air cooled engine in traffic. Sometimes the best thing to do is just pull over and shut it off for 10-15 minutes so that it can cool down. I sometimes shut mine off in traffic when things have gotten really bad. But you have to be confident it will re-start immediately to do that.

I would also be running motorcycle 20W-50 (regular though, not synthetic) for riding in the hot CA summer.

[felicious]

You definitely need to take care riding on hot days. Air cooled engines and heavy traffic don't mix well.

I got caught like that one night on my '77 550. An accident had traffic stopped for long stretches and even though it was night it was still mid to upper 80's. By the time I got past the accident an could ride at a regular speed I could smell the heat coming off the engine and it was not idling well. Once you got it home and shut down you probably should have left it alone until the next day so it could fully cool off.

It is possible to overcook the oil and to seize up an air cooled engine in traffic. Sometimes the best thing to do is just pull over and shut it off for 10-15 minutes so that it can cool down. I sometimes shut mine off in traffic when things have gotten really bad. But you have to be confident it will re-start immediately to do that.

I would also be running motorcycle 20W-50 (regular though, not synthetic) for riding in the hot CA summer.

I just got this oil:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008MISDEW/ref=oh_details_o00_s02_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
It looks like it's synthetic. Do you think that will be causing problems?

My next step will be to wipe the engine clean and follow the steps outlined in this post to locate the leak:
http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=77237.0

[toytuff]

Wal Fart sells Valvoline 20/50 Motorcycle oil for under six bucks a quart.

tt

[Stev-o]

Wal Fart sells Valvoline 20/50 Motorcycle oil for under six bucks a quart.

tt

Auto Zone $4

[toytuff]

Wal Fart sells Valvoline 20/50 Motorcycle oil for under six bucks a quart.

tt

Auto Zone $4

Don't deal with those idiots. At least not here.

tt

[Stev-o]

Wal Fart sells Valvoline 20/50 Motorcycle oil for under six bucks a quart.

tt

Auto Zone $4

Don't deal with those idiots. At least not here.

tt

My local A Z employees young females, I like.  I don't go to W M.

[seanbarney41]

Wal Fart sells Valvoline 20/50 Motorcycle oil for under six bucks a quart.

tt

Auto Zone $4

Don't deal with those idiots. At least not here.

tt

My local A Z employees young females, I like.  I don't go to W M.

just gotta jump in here and say that those are the two worst stores in the world today

[bjatwood]

I buy Rottella T oil at Walmart for 12 bucks for 3.78lts. Just enough oil for a bikes oil change and you have a nice jug to recycle the old oil in...

[Bankerdanny]

I like AZ just fine, but then I just want the parts. My local store is open 24 hoursm which is damn handy.

Felicious, that oil you linked to should work fine. It's made to work with wet clutches, so you should be all good.

[felicious]

I like AZ just fine, but then I just want the parts. My local store is open 24 hoursm which is damn handy.

Felicious, that oil you linked to should work fine. It's made to work with wet clutches, so you should be all good.

Thanks Bankerdanny for the confirmation.

[RAFster122s]

It is not uncommon to have oil leaks on old cars when switching from dino oil to synthetic oil. Bikes resurrected from periods of not running can have oil leaks with normal oil.
Just need a synthetic that is wet clutch friendly. Auto oils often are not, while many synthetic MC oils are wet clutch friendly.