[alexvitara]

My SV620 has a steamy exhaust

It didn't steam when i was buying it a month ago but now when starting it lets out a massive puff of white steam that dies down to a constant small amount of steam as it idles. If you put you hand near the exhaust after starting you get black dots on your hand but they look like carbon rather than oily. After a few minute you don't get any black dots, just a wet hand. Shortly after starting there is drops of water in the end of the tail pipe and the ground under/behind is wet.

Exhaust doesn't smell oily
Engine oil and coolant both look normal with no contamination
It is not using oil or coolant (except a little bit of oil from a leak)
It's not overheating
It runs like norma

Last night i took it for a run through the hills. I was driving it hard for an hour before stopping and having a look and it was still steaming a little bit. Checked everything this arvo and all vitals are normal.

It's doing my head in, where can the steam be coming from if it's not using coolant???

[atari4x4]

i'd answer this but apparently my avatar is just too damn cool.

[alexvitara]

So you're not going to help me because you have a problem with another user?

[JrZook]

Condensation with this wet/humid weather we are having. H2O is also a by-product of combustion, so if the exhaust is not hot enough the moisture will collect and form water droplets

[atari4x4]

alexvitara wrote:

So you're not going to help me because you have a problem with another user?

pretty much

if i was you i'd take it to a mechanic & the the rad fluid tested for exhaust gasses, could be a number of things but that will eliminate the dreaded head gasket.

[atari4x4]

JrZook wrote:

Condensation with this wet/humid weather we are having. H2O is also a by-product of combustion, so if the exhaust is not hot enough the moisture will collect and form water droplets

not sure what the weather is like up there but surely after an hour of thrashing it in the hills there would have been enough heat in the exhaust to burn off any moisture?

[alexvitara]

But shouldn't the condensation steam off quickly and not be there after an hour of driving?

H20 in the title is referring to the engine code not water, sorry if that's confusing.

So a mechanic can test weather exhaust is leaking into the coolant and therefore coolant leaking into exhaust?

[atari4x4]

yeah & they can also pressure test the cooling system.

[JrZook]

Its been rainy and shit here the past few days. My bike (even being air cooled) still steams once I make it to uni. Air is very moist atm

[JrZook]

If you really want to check something, pull your plugs out. If it is using coolant then the associated cylinder will most likely have a really clean plug/piston crown.

[atari4x4]

JrZook wrote:

moist

[alexvitara]

Ok. I was going to compression test it so I'll check the plugs while I'm at it.

What do i need to disconnect to comp. Test a coil pack motor to stop it firing?

[fordem]

Pull the FI fuse - it stops injection & spark

[droverdave]

If its not losing coolant than you got nothing to worry about?

Nowhere else for water to come from other than coolant, combustion or condensation.

[alexvitara]

Ok I've pulled the plugs and they all look normal except one got covered in oil cause the sparkplug tube was full of oil (rocker cover gasket?)

Did a exhaust gas test and there is no exhaust gases in the cooling system.

Hard to tell if it's using water cause its not daily driven so I'm going to mark the overflow bottle and drive it all weekend and see if level changes. But i think it may be using a bit.

Still very wet exhaust, if i rev it up it shoots water drops out the tail pipe.

Is there some way coolant could get out thru the EGR or something?