Help RH exhaust glowing red

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May 13, 2018
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Hi looking for any help or thoughts.
I have just done my monthly bike start as it is winter and bike is off the road.
Didn’t sound to good but started ok but right hand side exhaust pipe where it comes out of the barrel started to GLOW red only after a few mins.
Engine seemed to be ticking over lumpy.
When engine stopped wiffs of exhaust smoke still coming out of RH exhaust pipe.

Any thoughts..... back to Norton maybe, out of warranty though.
 
Hi - Are you maybe running the bike in a dark / enclosed area where you normally wouldn't? I remember worrying unnecessarily after seeing this on mine when it was a few months old and I returned from a ride in the dark and let the bike stand while I unlocked the garage. A previous thread on similar subject (exhaust staining) mentioned that some J*p bikes had double wall pipes to maintain shinyness and so you wouldn't see this.
Regards,
Clive
 
Hi Clive thanks for your thoughts.
It was daylight and the bike was only ticking over for about 2 mins max, I gave it a couple of revs but could see and smell that something was running to hot.
Maybe I’m thinking the worst, but exhaust value stuck open.
?
 
If there is a problem here I would expect a fuelling (too lean) issue. Those pesky Lambda/ Temp Sensors? If one side is noticeably hotter than the other then a difference in the fuel injectors? Any other inspiration guys? Can I bet on a few 'take it for a run' suggestions?

Sometimes if my bike is a bit reluctant to start it finally fires but is lumpy with bad tickover so I shut it down, give it a minute and restart it.
 
Hi Mark,Was the bike firing on both cylinders? I was out on mine last week and my LHS spark plug had failed making the engine very lumpy as you’d expect. Sorry but this doesn’t answer the excessive heat question....HNY Steve
 
I have seen two things than make one pipe on a twin glow red; one is a burnt, bent or stuck exhaust valve or collapsed seat and the other is the opposite cylinder not firing causing the still-firing one to overheat. The first scenario is much more common.
 
Fuel burning in the exhaust port and exhaust header pipe, rather than in the cylinder where it does useful work, causes a hot exhaust pipe.

Causes of fuel burning in the exhaust port/header pipe:

1) very late timing on the hot side ..... check with timing light on both cylinders
2) burnt/stuck exhaust valve ....... do a compression test

Slick
 
Not to your original question Mark, but in response to your post: I would suggest that starting a bike monthly and not riding it is not doing it any good at all. Better to let it hibernate till spring.

All you’re doing is introducing condensation into the oil and pumping it around the engine, then switching it off and leaving it there to fester...!

You should always ride off as soon as possible after starting an engine. The idea that it should be ‘warmed up’ sitting there on tick over is WRONG.
 
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Thanks guys for all the input
I just need time to ingest and understand the information.
When I took the plug out from that side it was black and oily, other side seem ok just a little dark as it usually is .
Cheers again for all your input

Regards
Mark
 
Only two things in my experiences could cause this. Ignition timing as mentioned, or possibly that cylinder is sucking air. Air being pulled into that combustion chamber. Just something else to check. Leaks at the intake or exhaust at the head. With any trouble shooting, go back to any previous work you might have done and double check that work. Just my $.02.
Charlie
 
Thanks guys for all the input
I just need time to ingest and understand the information.
When I took the plug out from that side it was black and oily, other side seem ok just a little dark as it usually is .
Cheers again for all your input

Regards
Mark
Mark, one final thing - as it’s a pretty new bike I would work on something simple being wrong before assuming something serious. You have fuel but are both cylinders firing? I would suggest you clean up the dirty plug. Check the plug (gap should I recall be between 0.8 & 1.0 mm) and perhaps swap plugs around. Check the suppression leads are firmly engaged onto the plug. As mentioned in an earlier thread the pipes will quickly heat up at tickover. Good luck! Steve
 
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I've mentioned this before, but on a 961 it is common for the exhaust header on cylinder 2 to be significantly hotter than the header on cylinder 1. This is due to the fact that there is a balance pipe, past the butterflies, where the idle air feeds to. This balance pipe allows cylinder 1 to steal fuel from cylinder 2, resulting in cylinder 2 being leaner.

We map this out within the constrains of tolerances between engines (we cannot individually map bikes, the calibration is part of the homologation), but you will still get some bikes which present hotter than others.

This phenomenon is more likely to present on a euro 4 spec bike - because they have to run leaner and more retarded for their emissions targets. It doesn't cause any issues and I generally speaking you will only notice a 'glow' in low light conditions, and generally only when the bike is left at idle for too long.

HOWEVER - Mark's bike is euro 3, and while this is not unheard of, it is worth checking for:

- Intake air leak (can of brake cleaner, spray at all joints on the intake with the engine running and see if the revs increase)
- Leak at the exhaust header flange (sounds ridiculous, but I have seen it cause this before)
- Lincolnshire poacher's advice is an excellent idea

As always, look at the simple things before you go tearing your head off to see if you have a sticky valve!

Mark, by all means get in touch with me if you wish to discuss this further, I'm more than happy to help.
 
Thanks again guys some very very sensible and wise advice.
I will use it all in different proportions.
I will clean and check spark plugs, I fitted iridium ones, may try the originals again.
Apart from that nothing else has been changed as I have had the bike from new.
Luckily bike sorn and weather not good for riding so I have got a few months to get the beast sorted.
Again I really appreciate all of the help and advice, it is really reassuring to know help is out there.

Cheers guys, happy new year
 
Thanks again guys some very very sensible and wise advice.
I will use it all in different proportions.
I will clean and check spark plugs, I fitted iridium ones, may try the originals again.
Apart from that nothing else has been changed as I have had the bike from new.
Luckily bike sorn and weather not good for riding so I have got a few months to get the beast sorted.
Again I really appreciate all of the help and advice, it is really reassuring to know help is out there.

Cheers guys, happy new year
Mark, Funnily enough my plug that failed was an iridium one and re-fitting the original did the trick for me! Steve
 
Interestingly, I just had a brand new Irridium plug fail on me in my T140. Cos the plug was brand new, I didn’t suspect it, so it got me in a right tiz until I eventually tried new plugs ‘just to see’!

Hope this isn’t a trend as I’m a big fan of these plugs... so far...
 
Starting the machine for short periods during lay-ups does nothing good - in fact - can be very harmful.
Prepare it correctly for the season, keep the battery topped up, leave it be.
 
I saw mine glowing red at night on a fast idle. I knocked it off fast idle(plastic cruse control)& it was fine..
 
Hi looking for any help or thoughts.
I have just done my monthly bike start as it is winter and bike is off the road.
Didn’t sound to good but started ok but right hand side exhaust pipe where it comes out of the barrel started to GLOW red only after a few mins.
Engine seemed to be ticking over lumpy.
When engine stopped wiffs of exhaust smoke still coming out of RH exhaust pipe.

Any thoughts..... back to Norton maybe, out of warranty though.
I have a MK2 2016 and it has happened a number of times, especially this cold weather when the starter seems to pull to much power out of the battery even if it is fully charged, seems to upset the ECU causing the ignition timing to be thrown out I just switch off let everything go back to normal and restart straight away OK after that.
 
Hey great idea. I would have never thought of that. It was really cold when it happened to me.
 
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