Okay, here's the puzzle:
Reg's Polaris Pheonix 200cc quad (2006, I think) fumigated the whole garage and lower level of the house when they started it to go riding Sat. morning. The smoke came out of the exhaust, was light grey/whitish, thick, and smelled like something burning to the point that it had my eyes burning even after it aired out. The puzzling thing to me is that they said it started almost immediately after starting (and it was difficult to start)-- I would think it would take a bit for anything to warm up enough to actually burn, like the belt or something like that. It did not want to run, so they took my Grizzly and left it home. They changed the oil at the start of the season, and there isn't a large amount under it. There was a very small (hand sized) area of black thick oil a foot or two behind it, but we don't see how that could have been from this bike. Running a hand under it didn't show any leaking fluids, can't see any obvious issues, and it was running okay when we put it up from the last ride about two months ago.
So, anybody out there want to throw out some troubleshooting ideas, or just know what it is? Is it dead?
Thanks in advance for taking the time to see if you can help!
Mel

Is it water cooled the white greyish smoke almost sounds like antifreeze burning
Like it has a crack or a bad head gasket ,That would make it very hard to start

I couldn't remember, so I went out and looked. No radiator in sight, and the smoke is coming out of the tailpipe.
It couldn't have been hot when we washed it after the last ride (it got a good rest, then a trailer ride from Deepwater to Clinton to the car wash), but could water get into the case during high-pressure washing and cause that kind of smoke to come out the tailpipe? (Either way, not a good deal.)
Thanks~
Mel

water in the cylinder would definitely do bad things, I would do a compression test with the spark plug type compression tester and see what that says, if it has excessive pressure then I would suspect that.

Has the thing been ran much this year? If not it might just be nasty gas and crud being burned out, I never worry too much about white smoke if they are not liquid cooled, blue or black smoke is easier to figure out for sure though.

Well, it hasn't been run too much this year, and it does have old gas we have been trying to run out the old gas. We need to clean it out the old and put in some new w/ some SeaFoam. Do you think that would do it, or would we need to just take off the carb and clean it? We need to check and see if there is any kind of a fuel filter. It would be nice if that was the fix, and not water someplace it shouldn't be.
Thanks for your info!
Mel

Yeah, I would think that a compression test would definately be in order here Mel!

I'll check with my big brother and see if he has the compression tester.
Thanks, guys! Wish us luck.
Mel

Most auto zone and Oreilly auto parts stores have compression testers you can "borrow" with a deposit, you give them a check for the actual price, use the tool, take it back, and they give you back your money so its FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Thanks, Guys, for the ideas. Rickey might be off this weekend, and he and Reg can get out there and try some of those ideas. I mentioned to Rickey about the tools you can rent from AutoZone or OReilly's. I have a graduation to go to Sunday, so maybe they can work on it then, and maybe even get the quads cleaned up.

Mel

Hoping for good weather this Sunday the 16th to check out my sons atv. Anyone out there taken apart a cylinder and put in a new one with new piston and rings before on a phoenix 200? If so if the worst has happened I might need some assistance. I can cook a pretty good steak or chops whichever you prefer and supply the alcohol, either beer or wine.


Rickey

if that is an 06 its a air cooled 4 stroke, it could be a broken oil ring or water in the breather box, first thing check condition of spark plug if its black and oily most likely oil ring, if its dark grey then I would look at the breather box to see if its full of cockroaches and eagle feathers ( thats shop talk for unwanted debris and or water) - I did see a customers bike one time that a mouse had built a nest in the breahter box and had chewed thru the air filter element and all kinds of crap got sucked into the carb----my own personal opinion would be plan on doing a re-ring job.

Thanks for the information gentleman. I will first try the sparkplug then the gas. ILL let you know what I find out.


Rickey