Sparks/Smoking/Weird Smell

C

Chili

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Apr 9, 2002

8,062

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• Sep 12, 2002

• #1

My son just called and him and his friend were riding after school today and his friends 00 RM80 started having sparks come out of the silencer. He said there was not a lot of sparks but the odd one every other turn or so when he got back on the gas. He also said the silencer can seemed excessively hot compared to the rest of the pipe and engine. He also stated that he thought it smelled kind of strange but couldn't put a finger on what kind of smell he thought it was, the silencer was also smoking for a short period after he turned off the bike, kind of like a gun barrell after it's been fired he stated with wispy smoke rolling out.

The bike is an 00 RM80 that appeared to have almost no hours on it when he bought it last week (no paint worn off anything including the suspension/linkage pieces) could this be as simple as the silencer packing burning up? Or should he be looking at it more seriously? They called because I won't be home from work for several hours and they wanted to continue to practice tonight but are afraid to run the bike now for fear of damaging something.

 

I

IrishEKU

A General PITA.

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Apr 21, 2002

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• Sep 12, 2002

• #2

The material in the silencer won't burn under the heat of exaust. If the bike does have like 0 hours the weird smell is the paint on the exaust cooking, that will go away after somemore heat. The sparks are a more serious issue that I can only speculate about. Where was the bike stored? Who did he buy it off? How long where they Riding? I ask this because if the bike was set up and stored some place (Even in a shop) little critters could have gotten in the silencer and pipe. I've known Mud Dobbers and other Hornet typ insects to nose around my exaust while the bike was sitting in the garage, hence when I park the bike I always put the washing plug in after a ride(cold pipe). So the the sparks could be foreingn(SP) material in the pipe and silencer.

My .02
Phillip

 

C

CC_RIDER

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May 15, 2001

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• Sep 12, 2002

• #3

Just a guess here Chili, but if the bike has as few hours as your description implies, then it probably has never been run as hard as the boys are doing now. After almost three years of easy run time, a good bit of oil has probably collected in the silencer, along with dust and dirt dauber nests. Once heated up sufficiently, alls these things finaly start to burn out, causing all the symtoms you described. Remember, the silencer packing is like insulation (in some cases it is!) and thus the can will stay hotter than the pipe, and for a longer time. I've had the same thing happen to me in the past, and no damage occured what-so-ever. If this continues to be a problem, then the silencer may need to be cleaned and repacked.

Hope this helps.


Oops! sorry IrishEKU, I didn't mean to almost clone your answer. You must type faster than me! :confused:

 

Last edited: Sep 12, 2002

Z

Zenith

Member

Jan 11, 2001

483

0

• Sep 12, 2002

• #4

That used to happen a good bit on my previous bike, before I started replacing silencer packing regularily. I've seen sparks like that on plenty of bikes, and the smouldering after the bike is turned off, and the smell of the packing smouldering so I'd say it is nothing more serious then the packing needing replacing! Replace the packing and it should sort out the problem.


Philip

 

J

jboomer

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Jan 5, 2002

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• Sep 12, 2002

• #5

Also, if the jetting is a little rich, some oil will find its way into the silencer and the packing. If he's revving the bike and getting the engine hot enough, my guess would be some of this oil would burn or at least heat up enough to smoke. Probably some foreign material in the packing to cause it to spark (this is why they created Spark Arrestors, no?). My guess is that he would be oK to ride it, but it wouldn't hurt to repack the silencer.

 

C

Chili

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Apr 9, 2002

8,062

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• Sep 12, 2002

• Thread starter
• #6

The bike was run for four races in the 00 season by an experienced 80's racer and then parked when the kid had a nasty femur break, it had been sitting since. My son's friend has run the bike for about 2 weeks now and ran 4 moto's with it last weekend without incident.

The critters scenario is one that I never thought about but when he purchased the bike he mentioned finding a mouse nest in the air filter and that the filter was destroyed :think: hmmm maybe some remnants remaining that he finally got hot enough to burn out of the pipe...

The silencer will be checked and repacked as will most everything else now that he is nervous enough to prod his dad into looking at it further but they were more concered with the right here right now scenario :) gotta love the impatience of youth !

 

J

jboomer

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Jan 5, 2002

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• Sep 12, 2002

• #7

Good for him for asking though! A lot of kids would conveniently forget in order to get more seat time. That shows maturity and respect on his part to stop and inquire on a potential problem!

 

S

smb_racing

Master of None

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Jul 31, 2000

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• Sep 12, 2002

• #8

the sparks are actually carbon that's gotten hot enough (from exhaust gases) to ignite and come loose from the core. These are carried out with the flow of the exhaust gases, and yes this is the reason spark arrestors were created. Time for a repack sounds like :)

 

P

Peer Lovell

Member

Nov 25, 1999

600

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• Sep 14, 2002

• #9

Check that the previous owner didn't pack the silencer with steel wool.

 

G

GMX

Member

Jul 23, 2002

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• Sep 14, 2002

• #10

HAHAHAHAH!

 

B

Big Tuna

Member

Nov 29, 2000

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• Sep 14, 2002

• #11

...gotta love the impatience of youth !

Click to expand...

I don't know if this is just a youth thing Chili, I have been known, on occasion, to be up early waiting in the parking lot for the parts departmet to open up. :)