Please Make The Smoke Stop

[Karl H]

So I had a series of oil leaks that are all fixed now but I got oil on my exhaust wrap and so whenever I pull up I look like I'm about to burst into flames. Any ideas for getting the oil out other than time or replacing the wrap?

[shinyribs]

Been there,done that. Unfortunately,there is no easy fix. I just blasted mine at freeway speeds ( 70+ mph makes the smoke blow off almost completely unnoticeable ) for about 20 minutes. Cured!

[Karl H]

Had a good long ride to day and it cooked most of it off, but looking at it now it looks like i have a bit of a leak from the bottom fitting of the oil cooler. Would Teflon tape help stop that?

[shinyribs]

If it is a threaded fitting,yes. Teflon is impervious to oil so it would hold up just fine. Just make sure your fittings seals by the threads,as opposed to o-ring,crush washer, compression or flare fitting.

[Karl H]

Yeah its a threaded fitting so hopefully I'll be able to do that soon. But wait! There's more!! I seem to have sprung another leak from where the tach cable plugs into the cam holder. Is there a seal in there or is it coming from around the base and i just need to use more RTV

I swear my bike has something against me. I'ts my first bike and every time it starts running well and I start getting some good rides in it brakes down on me.

[LukeM]

Yes, there is a small seal where the tach cable enters the engine.  It's an easy fix. Depending on the seal's age and condition, you may have to use a small dental pick to get all of it out.  Make sure you know which end of the seal is up when you remove it. Get new seal, oil it up, put it in place, and use the tach cable end to gently push it home.  Make sure the cable end meshes nicely with the cable drive, then push it on and secure it with the screw.  All done.

One of the first fixes I put on my bike.  Amazing bit of engineering in that seal.
Luke M

[Karl H]

The seal is on order!

and I've seem to have run into another problem. I went for a ride yesterday and everything was fine for about half an hour, then all the power just sort of disappeared (it felt a little like if you try to hill start start in 5th gear) it wouldn't idle at all either I had to hold the throttle half way just to keep it at 2000 rpm or so any lower and it would sputter out and die.

I switched it over to reserve but that didn't do anything. Luckily I was near my work so I stopped there to look at it. It seemed really hot to me so I'm wondering if it overheated. This would be strange because I was just cruising around the back roads not riding hard or sitting in traffic.

Could it be running too lean? or could it be a sync issue? I really have no idea whats causing this

[Lucky 1]

For forum members to help you you need to tell us everything about the bike.
A picture is always helpful.
For all we know you have a rat bike.

Type of intake.
Type of exhaust is always extremely important.

[Karl H]

oops sorry guys

its a 1979 cb750K 2 into 1 exhaust and stock intake. I don't have the iridium spark plugs but im thinking about getting them soon, as well as a new air filter as mine is getting kind of old.

The bike was a freebee from a friend and I've been slowly resurrecting it. I put in a new engine I got off ebay about a month ago. The new engine came with a oil cooler (i don't know what brand).

hope that helps I'll get pictures up tonight after work.
let me know if there is anything else you need to know.

[shinyribs]

First thing I would check is see if all four pipes are getting hot where they attach to the head . Sounds like you may have lost a coil,but dont let that scare you until you check. I had a coil wire fall of one time and it was sudden and felt just like what you described. Sudden problems are almost always electrical.

[Karl H]

I started it up today and it didn't seem to have any of the problems it had before. All the pipes were warm so all the cylinders are firing. The idle is a little rough and has an occasional pop. I'm guessing this is a sync issue?

Also here is a picture of the bike

[shinyribs]

Bike looks good dude!   That pop may be a sync issue or a vacuum leak. Both can cause rough idle/pop.