Kawasaki Concours Forum
The C-14, aka Kawasaki Concours-14, the new one :) => The Bike - C14/GTR 1400 => Topic started by: mff on June 01, 2023, 07:24:40 AM
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2008 concours, 99,000 miles, PC3, purchased in 2008
Problem: alot of white smoke & a little oil from exhaust
My son riding a tiger800 & I left on a 2000 mile trip on Saturday- 250 miles from home , riding on hwy@75mph, son pulls up next to me and indicates to check gauges, I see nothing wrong- he then motions to pull over.
Advises that he is smelling & has seen a puff of dark smoke followed by white smoke - checked heat gauge/OK, checked oil-full/no dilution from coolant, checked coolant overflow/low but still 1" in bottom
started back up & revved the engine to 3k- instantly filled two lanes of hwy with thick white smoke, as we were 2miles from Caldwell, TX - rode bike at 1500rpm to Oreilly's in town- engine sounded good but still smoking. Clerk advised there was a Kawasaki shop two blocks away. As I tried to start the bike, the engine would not turn over- put on center stand & used rear tire to manual turn engine over- good compression & resistance .
started bike with no starting engine problem but a lot of white smoke and a small amount of oil from exhaust- rode two blocks to dealer which was closed for the holiday.
Son rode back 250 miles, got pickup & trailer, made it back home at midnight. Checked all fluids-oil ok, coolant low but still in engine as I found out pulling engine. also had 8oz of oil from the air box drain ( have never had that before,always used paper air filters chg every yr)
Pulled plugs 1,2,4 normal #3 had white ceramic & clean tip, where the others were dark brown with black tip.
Thinking a blown head gasket? ( have never heard of this problem on any of the forums)
waiting now on getting my service manual from a different location, to proceed to remove the head.
Would appreciate opinions?
Back from trip, with service manual- which states to do a compression cyl ck- bought a comp kit for mc's but the adapters didn't fit , so we could only hold the gauge down manually
cyl#1 = 140psi cyl#2=145 cyl #3 = 150 cyl #4 = 250 with alot of oil
Bought a used 2009 engine, low mileage, cyl compression test shows all cyl within 5% of 140 psi, will install & let you know how it goes
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If no.3 piston and valves look as clean as the plug then it’s definitely coolant leaking into that cylinder.
Water injection is better than media blasting for cleaning cylinders.
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Yup, head gasket is blown.
The hot coolant is pressurising the crankcase which is forcing oil through the crankcase breather into the airbox.
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As soon as I read the "white smoke" part I immediately thought of a blown head gasket. Not something I remember ever seeing posted about for a C14, though.
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Pictures after the disassembly would be educational.
Plus, I can’t be the only one that’s curious.
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Diesel fuel in tank. Drain & refill with gasoline.
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I wish it was that simple. I had gone 100+ miles since my last fillup with no problem. As I was getting ready to pull the engine, siphoned the gas out of the tank & put in lawn mower-worked with no problem. Thanks for the suggestion.
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Pictures after the disassembly would be educational.
Plus, I can’t be the only one that’s curious.
will do but it will be awhile as I have to leave on a trip today
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As soon as I read the "white smoke" part I immediately thought of a blown head gasket. Not something I remember ever seeing posted about for a C14, though.
I searched all the forums & found nothing about head gaskets on c14
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Yup, head gasket is blown.
The hot coolant is pressurising the crankcase which is forcing oil through the crankcase breather into the airbox.
That makes sense, hadn't thought of that
Thanks
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That makes sense, hadn't thought of that
Thanks
Nah, that makes no sense. The engine would have a misfire, to say the least.
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It won't necessarily misfire with a blown head gasket. It is possible, but not always present. Depends on lots of factors. The "white smoke", if coming out of the tailpipe, is almost certainly coolant in the combustion somehow. It could be leaking in another way, other than the head gasket, like a crack somewhere.
Asked my mechanic friend (who looked at the factory manual)... he agrees is it likely a blown head gasket. As extremely unusual as that might be on the Concours.
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It will be an interesting issue/diagnosis/fix to watch from the sidelines.
Hoping it goes smoothly mff.