The old girl started blowing blue smoke...

[Freaksize]

Took off from a stoplight on my 2000 Standard, one minute she was fine, hit second gear and she was blowing oil fog, thought I'd blown the motor. I'd recently changed, (less than 500 miles) the oil (5w30 Mobil 15000 mile extended performance full synthetic). I'd also noticed that the transmission was difficult to get into neutral since the oil change. Babied the old girl home, changed the oil and filter to some 20w50 castrol. Smoking subsided. Took her on a 30 mile freeway cruise, no more exhaust smoke. Any explanations for this wierd behavior? She has 79800 miles on her and has never missed a lick. The previous oil change was also Mobil Extended Performance, but 10w30, ran it 6000 miles before changing it, no probs..too thin of oil? It wasn't just a little blue smoke...it was like clouds, ticket thirty if a cop had been around...

[Hoser]

Obviously the oil was too thin.  Manual calls for 10-40 minimum.  I use 15/50 synthetic, 10/40 synthetic in winter.  Mobil 1.  Glad you caught it. Hoser  

[Valker]

Coincidence on the oil change. Your clutch plate sheared off the rivets. The pieces block the oil screen resulting in the smoke. You will have to replace the clutch. Most shops charge around $400 for that but many do their own.

[JaysGone]

I got yelled at for using 20w-50 in a motor rated for 5w-30.
Conversly the same may be true for the Valk.
Minimun reguired is 10w-40, least Id use is 10w-40 being that mine is 16 years old.
No 5W anything for the my Valk.
I do however use good old dino 20w-50 from Wally World,,,,,,,bikes happy quiet, and Im happy.

As Valker said you did probbaly blow up the clutch plate. If the engine runs fine otherwise.

[FryeVRCCDS0067]

I've been using 5w-40 synthetic oil for most of 97,000 miles in my valk with no problems.

[Jess from VA]

You may have overfilled the crankcase on the first oil change.

[salty1]

Coincidence on the oil change. Your clutch plate sheared off the rivets. The pieces block the oil screen resulting in the smoke. You will have to replace the clutch. Most shops charge around $400 for that but many do their own.

WOW! I got to follow this one. Please let's us know if you check those clutch plates what you find. I would use a heavier viscosity oil and change it more frequently for awhile.

[gordonv]

The 1st set of numbers in an oil weight, like 10w-30, is for Winter, not the weight (thickness of the oil). The winter is it's tempertur range that it keeps it's rated "thickness" before cold/heat changes it.

But the Valk asks for 40W oil, and you used 30, too thin, and therefore you had trouble.

Now you have 50W oil, it may be too thick now. But if you are running it in high heat, then it may be the right weight for your riding.

I would go back to 40W again, and at most, if it is not thick enough, I would mix 50/50 40 & 50 weight oil, to give you a 45W oil, before trying a full step to a 50W.

That is why you need to learn the weight range, and the temp of your location, then apply the winter rating, to insure that the oil does'nt become out of range. Hard work.

[Valhalla]

I have a buddy with a vintage gold wing 1000, the 4 cyl.  He did an oil change and added all 4 containers, did not notice that it only took 3.7 litres, not 4.  it ran blue smoke and he ended up taking the heads off and spending a lot of time and effort in the garage before he read the manual and realized the error.  He redid the oil change and it took a while to blow it off but finally came back to a clean runner.

The Valk is rated to take 3.9, not all 4.  might be a simple fix.

On the viscosity rating debate, the first number is an indicator of viscosity at low temperature, the high number is viscosity at operating temperature (usually SAE measured at 210).  So a 5w-30 and 10w-30 are both identical 30 weight viscosity at running temperature.  5W will be an easier crank start if outside temp is chilly but once you have made it to the next stop light its all the same. 

[Jess from VA]

Yep, and you rarely get 3.9 out as well.  You dump 4 qts in without checking the dip during the last half quart, its easy to overfull enough for blue smoke,  for awhile.

[Gryphon Rider]

If an oil says "energy conserving" in the bottom of the circle that specifies the API service, DO NOT use it in any motorcycle with a wet clutch, such as the Valkyrie.

[Rio Wil]

I doubt that the smoking had anything to do with the oil change unless you put in well over 4.0 quarts.....3.9- 4.0 makes no difference, do it all the time. The 5-30 oil is probably a bit thin for Valkyrie use, I prefer something in the 15-40 range, but 5-30 it won't make it smoke.  Your issue seems to be more at a one time ingestion of enough oil to make the smoke.....and are you real sure the smoke was from the exhaust pipes.......I would take a look at the the drool tube and see if it is full and perhaps backing stuff up into the intake, also look at the underside of the engine....do you have any oil any where that could get splashed onto hot exhausts and smoke. Is the oil filter tight and not leaking, do you have a oil pressure sending unit that might be squirting oil occasionally. Did you look at any of the plugs to see if they were all (some) oily, might help in identifying a side ingesting the oil.....did it smoke from both sides?  Sounds like your acceleration from the stop lite was aggressive (which is fine, the old girl can take it) was there any oil spilled /pooled on the engine that could have spilled onto a hot manifold due to the acceleration????

[longrider]

Took off from a stoplight on my 2000 Standard, one minute she was fine, hit second gear and she was blowing oil fog, thought I'd blown the motor. I'd recently changed, (less than 500 miles) the oil (5w30 Mobil 15000 mile extended performance full synthetic). I'd also noticed that the transmission was difficult to get into neutral since the oil change. Babied the old girl home, changed the oil and filter to some 20w50 castrol. Smoking subsided. Took her on a 30 mile freeway cruise, no more exhaust smoke. Any explanations for this wierd behavior? She has 79800 miles on her and has never missed a lick. The previous oil change was also Mobil Extended Performance, but 10w30, ran it 6000 miles before changing it, no probs..too thin of oil? It wasn't just a little blue smoke...it was like clouds, ticket thirty if a cop had been around...

when you took off from the light did you really open it up, possibly hitting the rev limiter.  this will momentarily load the engine with fuel and cause blue smoke for a few seconds

[Freaksize]

okay...took it for another ride...started doing the same thing again...something that makes me think in might be the clutch disintergating is, duting that ride, I rolled on in a long sweeper, and the clutch slipped, it has never slipped in nearly 80,000 miles....bike runs like it ever did, just smokes like a pig...blowing oil out the pipes...

[greggh]

Yep, Mine did the same.
As Valker called it..
New clutch needs to be put in.

[Freaksize]

also...difficulty finding neutral prior to the incident...

[Ricky-D]

There is no relationship between the smoke and the clutch.

There can be a relationship between the oil and the smoke and I suggest to change to a heavier oil.

There also can be a relationship between the oil and the clutch and I would suggest to change to a clutch friendlier oil.

So it seems like the thing to do is change oil.

Why haven't you already done that?

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[Freaksize]

read the original post...the VERY FIRST THING I DID WAS CHANGE THE OIL.....

[Freaksize]

So there seems to be conflicting info...Dragon rider says no relationship between the clutch and the smoke, 2 other members say there is....

[dubsider]

Mobil 1 Turbo Truck Diesel Oil works for me... 5w40.

[greggh]

Coincidence on the oil change. Your clutch plate sheared off the rivets. The pieces block the oil screen resulting in the smoke. You will have to replace the clutch. Most shops charge around $400 for that but many do their own.

A+ on the statement above. 
Your statement regarding the difficulty find neutral and the clutch slipping, was every indication that I had with my 1998 standard.  It had only 23k on it then.  When it started to smoke it was so bad that even at night or was really noticeable.  You can keep trying the oil changes or you could take it in and have it looked at.  Clearly your choice.  Good luck.
Greggh

[salty1]

Coincidence on the oil change. Your clutch plate sheared off the rivets. The pieces block the oil screen resulting in the smoke. You will have to replace the clutch. Most shops charge around $400 for that but many do their own.

A+ on the statement above. 
Your statement regarding the difficulty find neutral and the clutch slipping, was every indication that I had with my 1998 standard.  It had only 23k on it then.  When it started to smoke it was so bad that even at night or was really noticeable.  You can keep trying the oil changes or you could take it in and have it looked at.  Clearly your choice.  Good luck.
Greggh

+1  I'd say there is a clutch problem. Needs to be looked at!

[Ricky-D]

read the original post...the VERY FIRST THING I DID WAS CHANGE THE OIL.....

READ POST #13

TRY AGAIN!

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[Valker]

After rereading your original post (on a computer screen instead of my phone) I see that the smoking stopped but the clutch problems remained? If the smoking stopped, it may be cause by the friction modifiers in the Mobil 1 Extended. The smoking like a WWII destroyer smoke screen maker is almost always the result of sheared clutch plate rivets blocking the oil screen. If it stops, I'd say that is not the issue.
Sorry for my hasty posting if I read it wrong. Friction modifiers in the oil WILL coat the clutch plates and cause a slipping clutch, but I've not heard of them causing a dragging clutch or causing the smoke.
Let us know what you find out.

[Freaksize]

thanks all...

[Denny47]

A buddy's Valk suddenly began to blow blue smoke and oil running out of exhaust. He had just had a de-smog done on it by a non-Honda mechanic. Got to checking and they had accidently somehow plugged the crankcase vent hose. Got the vent working and everything was fine.

[Freaksize]

Took the vent hose off and cleaned it, also cleaned the drool hose...no difference...I'm hoping it's the clutch...

[Hooter]

If an oil says "energy conserving" in the bottom of the circle that specifies the API service, DO NOT use it in any motorcycle with a wet clutch, such as the Valkyrie.

Old OIL thread but WTH, I agree, and I see no JASO-MA rating or wet clutch compatable on the containers if this is what he used?. Some will argue that it doesn't matter what oil you use, but I beg to differ. I've seen oil without the JASO-MA rating ruin a fairly new clutch and others have a bunch of slipping when using normal car oils. Don't usually get involved in oil threads but why not? My 2 cents.

[Ricky-D]

Changing back to a clutch friendly oil will help out a lot.

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