Help with engine issue
Pro
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 623
Likes: 4
From: Stuart Florida
might have had a problem with some production runs involving one
color.
Yep manual GS is a dry sump engine, and they hydrolocked it by
starting it with twice as much oil as it should have and broke something.
The white smoke is coolant being burnt.
Last edited by Triumph Jerry; Jun 5, 2014 at 07:59 AM. Reason: correction
Le Mans Master
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 8,514
Likes: 235
From: Currently somewhere in IL,IN,KY,TN,MO,AR,MS,AL, or FL
As you see from the other responses, white smoke MIGHT be oil or fuel but it is most often water from a ruptured head gasket. This will probably result in water in the oil. Check for white foaming of the oil. Also watch for larger than normal changes in water level between hot and cold. You could also have piston/ring damage that could be noticed by different sounds. The mechanic knew nothing about your engine so probably assumed, like all other engines, it had only one drain plug. It has two and when the second wasn't drained the engine was overfilled and the pressure could have done a lot of damage. It isn't running without oil that is your issue, it is running with too much. That is why the supervisor drained ALL the oil and refilled properly.
Maybe you got lucky and the mechanic underfilled at first expecting to top it off after it was running but stopped the instant it smoked. More likely you have significant engine damage that will eventually show up. The sooner you determine which is the case the better.
Drifting
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 1,616
Likes: 11
From: Newport, RI
