LeMans 1 blowing oil out of the exhaust

[Nappy]

Hi,
I recently purchased a '77 LeMans 1that has been stored indoors for a couple of years with all fluids drained, I put in a new battery, some fuel and oiled her up (10w/60 motorex power synth 4t)and she started right up! With 5 min of carb adjusting the bike starts and idles fine and responds well to the throttle, though I haven't taken her on the road yet because the front brakes need to be rebuilt. Anyway, when I give the bike a handful of throttle for a few minutes it sprays oil on the ground behind the bike, and seems to do more out the left side than the right, also the right cyl valve cover is warm to the touch (not hot, just warm) and the left valve cover is cold...both sides are firing, pull a plug cap and it slows down equally on each side. Also, the left spark plug is a little black and wet but not overly so and the right is very white on the tip (the part that you can bend to adjust the gap) and sooty black everywhere else (has the dyna ignition btw). I checked the compression and it's 130 on the left and 150 on the right.... lastly, it smokes more than I'd like though the smoke seems to be pretty white and dissipates fairly quickly so it could be the cold, but my Husqvarna doesn't put out any smoke in the same weather.

Any thoughts or input appreciated

Nappy Mike

 

[Series4]

Assuming it was all OK when parked if it's been siting for a while odds are you could have gummed rings which should clear themselves with riding and the exhaust could be full of goodness knows what that's being spat out. Start riding and see what happens. From the sound of the symptoms I'd probably also check the choke plungers are returning fully and the float levels are OK

Peter

 

[ghezzi]

Seen exhausts filled with oil for storing, big mess on start up, they will smoke for miles when hot.

 

[Penis Rotor]

Are you sure it's oil? Not just condensate dripping out of leaky joints on cold pipes.

Pete

 

[gstallons]

I would ride it a few miles w/new plugs. Replace them and ride another 100 mi. then check them. You want to make sure you have problems before you tore into it.
I don't know which models/yrs had chrome cylinders. Great idea but very impractical.

 

[Chris R]

a 77 lemans should have iron bores - unless someone has swapped them.

130 to 150 is a tad low but compression checks are subject to 'operator error' ie. throttle full open, battery charged, no more than 20 seconds. I would expect 160-180 with decent rings.

Given the age I would swap coils and leads left for right and see if the plugs read differently. I would out of hand replace the now fairly ancient coils, wire and caps with new solid core wire, NGK caps with a 5k resistor and Bosch blue coils or solid state ones like dyna, accel etc.

The only way oil can get into a cylinder is through the return from the cylinder head, very bad rings and or guides and none are likely to produce a 'spray' of oil. It may be residual oil from the PO putting it into storage as suggested.

The guzzi is about the easiest engine to take apart - it takes about an hour to remove a cylinder and bore and put it back on. It is highly likely the rings are stuck and need freeing. I would dig in just given the age of the bike. While in there I'd also check the tappets for pitting and, of course, the valve guides. The cost boils down to a pair of head gaskets which is not a lot.

Have fun,

 

[Nappy]

Thanks for the input everyone. I've owned Eldo's and Ambo's in the past and am comfortable digging in to the top end if I have to, though it looks like running it for awhile may reseat the rings with any luck The bores on the Lemans are Iron, and this has the original cylinders so it's definately not a flaking chome issue.
As for the ignition suggestion, it has the Dyna ignition upgrade with new coils and plug wires already so I don't think that's an issue, actually it came with several of the desirable upgrades like
-Dyna electronic ignition
-La Franconi exhausts
-New fork springs and cartridges (not sure what was put in)
-Koni rear shocks
-Braided steel brake lines
-De-linked brakes
-Top pull carburetor tops on the original PHF36's
-Currently has K&N filters, need to get velocity stacks (not sure if there has been any jetting done)
-New oil lines (I need to look again and see if it has the Agostini oil cooler upgrade, not sure)
I'll run the bike for awhile and let you all know what happens

 

[john zibell]

Nappy,

I'd recommend keeping the K&N filters over velocity stacks. I hate putting un-filtered air (which contains abrasives) into an engine.

 

[Nappy]

Ny friend Jason at Moto International said the same thing, now all I have to do is find velocity stacks that willwork with the filters :?

 

[Chris R]

As for the ignition suggestion, it has the Dyna ignition upgrade with new coils and plug wires already so I don't think that's an issue, actually it came with several of the desirable upgrades like

One thing to be mindful of is fitting resistor caps WITH resistor plugs. I like the NGK caps as they are cheap enough that I wouldn't think twice about getting a spare, work fine and the resistor is replaceable. The original Bosch ones are a short waiting to happen. The combined resistance can cause weird problems - where it gets spark and idles ok but misfires/loses power as the engine gets higher on the BMEP curve.

I would personally get stuck in and pull the heads and barrels and see what is up. The rings have to rotate.

If you have the budget and gilardoni's are available buy them! They are the single greatest improvement to the lemon 1. And replace the tensioner with an aftermarket one - they suck.

I'd fix your problem before I'd worry about velocity stacks - BTW the typical italian velocity stack you see for the delorto is a very poor thing with sharp edges and not the nice broad radius needed for improved flow. Indeed in my flow bench tests they are worse than a K&N (the oval one not the round one that K&N recommends for the Guzzi).