What causes this smoking issue?

[flightofphx]

I am looking at a local trike for sale. It smokes at start up, not bad, but still smokes. It goes away as the motor runs for awhile and heats up. Have you guys come across this in the past?

[El Camexican]

I am looking at a local trike for sale. It smokes at start up, not bad, but still smokes. It goes away as the motor runs for awhile and heats up. Have you guys come across this in the past?

What make and model is it?

[flightofphx]

84 200s - the owner says it just started doing that after his last oil change. I checked and the dip stick was a tad too full, but not to an extreme.

[litebulblsc]

Could be valve seals.

[El Camexican]

Rule of thumb is that it is better to be a little lower than the recommended oil level than it is to be a little high.

Smoking that clears (in my experience) is usually a valve seal/stem clearance issue, but there are no guarantees.

You don’t know what oil he put in it, so if you buy it, probably best to swap it out for whatever was recommended for that model, and certainly don’t use synthetic oil.

Try that and put a few hours on it to see if it clears up. (If you buy it)

[ATC200X4716]

Valve seals or piston rings are allowing some oil by. Either isn't that big of a deal to fix, but will need a few hours of wrenching. Always best to bore the cylinder to the next oversize and install new valve seals and gaskets. You won't regret doing it properly, but make sure the price is adjusted for needing work. Don't fall for the "it just started smoking this morning" bit either. Sounds suspicious.

[Scootertrash]

Don't fall for the "it just started smoking this morning" bit either. Sounds suspicious.

Or whatever story they tell you about when/why it started smoking. Or making any type of noise, or any other issue that would cause someone to try to get the seller to lower their price.

[ATC King]

the owner says it just started doing that after his last oil change.

That's because the oil was about empty before the last oil change.


I'm sort of and sort of not joking.

Like others have pointed out, that sounds like a fish tail. A sound engine won't be smoking at all and if it's enough to bother you even a little, you'll be going into the engine and on something that old, there's no telling what else you'll find.

On anything old, with an unknown history, take whatever cost you imagine to do the job and triple it. There's a lot of projects that get abandoned at the disasembly stage because the owners were'nt being realistic about potential final cost.