2003 b1200 smoking excessively

[gary03b12nc]

Hi guys , old member returning for some help .  I have a 2003 b1200s , this is my problem .  bike was running fine , parked it for a couple days ,  went to start it up and white grey smoke bellowed from the exhaust. Ran just a minute and died. I had heard about the fuel pet cock going bad .  So pulled the tank , air box full of fuel,plugs fouled. Cleaned the carbs  ,put in new plugs and air filter,rebuilt petcock...now this is the bad part, went to start her up ran for about 15 seconds and the smoke starts bellowing again. stops running I guess fouled the plugs..was this caused by fuel being left in the cylinder or do I have a much bigger problem.... the bike has never given me any trouble until now..it has always been adult ridden ,,by me only, and no I don't loan her out.  have any of you had a problem like this ????  I have searched on the internet for any help ,  none to be found.  If anyone can help me , thanks in ADVANCE      Gary P  n.c.

[chiral]

Blue/Gray smoke is oil.
white is coolant - so we can rule that out :)

Check your oil level make sure it's not over filled.
What do the plugs look like, are they clearly oil fouled?
Check compression (you can get a cheap compression tool from auto parts if you don't own one).

[zeebandit]

Also change your oil if you have'nt already.

[gary03b12nc]

thanks guys, all the bike needed was an oil change.  the fuel had leaked into the crank case . probably 2 or 3 quarts of gas. drained the oil and replaced the filter the smoke stopped..still has a little gas oil in the exhaust but I guess it will burn off with a little riding.  I should have a real clean motor on the inside now... I guess I got in to much of a hurry to think of the oil    thanks for the reply....if any of you remember the ride at the meadows of the dan ride a few years back, iwas the silver b12 with the full lower fairings,,,also did the ride up in canton nc..

[lethal dose]

gas leaked into the oil? not good. check your petcock and seats in your carb. sounds like something failed.

[gary03b12nc]

the old bandit is back to normal,,the best I can tell , the petcock gave way and let the fuel flow free. I have changed the oil and filter twice in the last couple of weeks....I have talked to a few bikers about this problem and they are saying it is the ethanol that is being put in our fuel it is causing problems with all kinds of gas engines. found a service station close by that sells pure 100% gas,,will buy from them now on..but so far so good. fall is coming so its ride , ride ,ride

[lethal dose]

Yup. Ethanol is the devil. I've used startron along with 10% ethanol gas with great results. I always try to buy non ethanol, but it's not always available where I ride.