Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Fuel smell - Need advice

Wanted to post this in the hopes of getting some advice to understand my problem.

I started the bike up on Sunday and since it was cold, popped the choke on full. After she started I immediately noticed a very prominent Fuel smell, and then i further noticed some smoke coming out of the exhaust. It wasn't a cloud but any smoke is more than you want to see. This has never happened before and I am very concerned.

Am i just running rich? I recently upgraded the pilots to 42's and didn't notice a problem during the summer, but i'm thinking maybe it was running a little rich on idle, but leaned out after a bit and now that i need the choke to start it's just extremely noticable. Should i back down to the orginal pilot jets?

I am concerned and welcome any thoughts you folks have.

Well, from what I understand the original pilot jets are 42's. Maybe 2008, they were different, but my 04's are 42's. Does the "smoke" go away after she warms up? With the temperature changes from warm to cold, and the bike then warming up the pipes, condensation sits in the pips, and you may be seeing that get vaporized out of the pipes as it's running/ warming up.

When you say "fuel smell", is it a gasoline smell or strong exhaust smell? If you are smelling gasoline, you have a problem. A strong exhaust smell is normal. These engines are not the cleanest in the world.

Second thing to clarify is seeing smoke coming from the exhaust. If the smoke is clear, it is probably just condensation as Aaron stated which is normal on a cold day.