Motorcycle Repair: starting, drain coolant, coolant levels


Question
Bill,

  1979 CX 500 Custom, I finally got it running. The carbs were so far out of sync. I got them dialed in perfectly. Its still a little hard to start. I have another question to ask you. After its been running at normal temperatures and then shut down. If you crank it up a few minutes later, I get a lot of smoke, white in color. It smells a little like anti freeze. Once it burns off, it runs normal. It doesn't happen all of the time. Any idea what may be causing this?

Thanks,
Gary  

Answer
Gary, watch your coolant levels. IF it smells like antifreeze and you get white smoke from the exhaust, then the head gasket(s) are seeping antifreeze into the motor.
You might see signs of it on the spark plugs.

With a pushrod motor design, changing head gaskets is pretty easy on these engines. Drain coolant, Pull exhaust pipes, unbolt the intake manifolds from the heads, pull valve covers, rocker arms, pushrods and unbolt the heads.

Be sure to bleed all the air out of the system when you refill it with coolant. Probably best to change the oil afterwards, as coolant often runs down inside the crankcase when you pull the heads.

Bill