Hi All,

Just looking for suggestions/opinions on my smoking Eiger.

So here's the story...

My 03 Eiger 4x4 Manual only has about 320 miles on it (Of course, it is past the 1 year warranty). I "thought" I was carefull about breaking it in for the 1st 100 miles. This past winter while snow plowing I noticed it was smoking a bit at idle. I don't know what I thought it was, I didn't pay much attention to it because snow plowing is extended low speed operating and I thought the smoke was just from the fuel mixture or something with the carb. Well, the first extended ride at the mountains this past spring, I noticed it smoking again at idle after about an hour of steady riding (avg. 25 mph). My brother also said it smelled pretty bad like oil. It also seemed to be sluggish, although top end was still over 50 mph.

I called the local shop and the tech I spoke with couldn't believe the motor was bad at only 300 miles. He told me to check the air filter. It was completely saturated with oil and the air box had a fair amount of oil laying in the bottom. He said it sounded like I over filled it with oil. (Which, I don't know how I could have done that. If anything, it was under filled because I was checking the oil level with the dip stick screwed all the way in.) I also checked the spark plug and it was completely covered with sludge. The one thing I couldn't figure out was that the oil laying in the bottom of the air filter box was bright red (like gas/oil mix) So then I started second guessing myself that I might have filled it with mix instead of gas last winter before plowing.

So, I cleaned the air filter, cleaned the spark plug, and drained the gas tank and filled it with regular unleaded gas. I also changed the oil and oil filter. The next extended ride after doing all that, it ran much better (better acceleration). I would assume most of that is due to cleaning the spark plug. However, after about an hour of riding again, I noticed it smoking at idle. The guy riding behind me said he didn't notice it smoking while we were riding. When it's smoking at idle, if I gas the throttle, it shoots out a big puff of smoke. Again, it smells like oil. After this second ride, I checked the oil level and it was a bit low. The air filter still seemed OK.

So, I topped the oil off and put it back in the shed.

This weekend, I needed to do some work with the quad and had a hard time getting it started. Once it did start, it smoked right off the bat and did not want to run too well. I managed to get the work I wanted to done and then checked the air filter. It was again soaked with oil and there was a puddle of oil in the bottom of the air box. (this time it really did look like plain oil). The spark plug was also again covered with sludge.

My question.... ( I know it took a while to get here)

How does oil get blown up through the carb? I can't be overfilling it with oil, because the last time I actually measured the exact amount of oil to refill according to the manual and checked it on the dip stick.

I already checked and a rebuild will cost around 600-700 bucks. It still runs good, as long as I keep on top of the air filter and spark plug. Should I just keep running it and putting oil in it?

I know it is out of warranty, but does anyone think Suzuki would be willing to do anything for me?

Thanks for opinions,

Mick

 

gotcha on highlifter

 

Ok, I have the same smoking problem... well, I had the same smoking problem. My machine (04 Eiger, shifter, 3007 km on it) is in a million pieces right now, firstly the rings on the piston are worn badly, but didn't hurt the cylinder walls. the valves needed to be cleaned from all the carbon build up from the oil burning and so did the top of the piston. anyhow, I found out that there are more problems than just that...either I have bearings gone on my crankshaft or else the crankshaft is bent (you can see where the weight on the left side got quite hot), so now we have to pull the whole engine out instead of the top half. I would advise that you don't drive it until you find out what is wrong with it and get it fixed. I was informed that if I kept riding it and there is a bent crankshaft, that soon I would need a whole new engine instead of a rebuild. Don't forget, that your tranny is kind of an all in one thing with the engine, don't know if something breaks inside the engine if it can screw up the transmission or not, but I would rather be safe than sorry.

 

When the tech said you used too much oil. I believe he was referring to the oil on the air filter. The airfilter needs to be cleaned and oiled regularly. Too much oil will cause a white smoke condition w/ a burning oil smell. It would also explain the sludged over spark plug. Yes, the oil is red and that explains all the red oil in the bottom of the air filter box. The air filter should never be run not oiled as it's not designed to properly filter while dry. I guess it's possible you didn't over fill the oil filter and the oil just ran off the filter into the bottom of the airbox. That's unlikely, and it wouldn't have the white smoke condition if it would have. It would also explain the sludged over spark plug.