a couple days ago, i noticed in the air box where the breather lines meet the air box i saw oil puddling in the air box. i have noticed the bike smokes but the compression is good. i have noticed when i decided to check the plugs and do a comp test that 1&4 were black but 2&3 were fine which it seems that the outside cylinders are burning the oil. is there anything i can do to help

 

Uh, black depsoits on a spark plug is rich air/fuel mixture. White deposits are oil. What color is the smoke? Maybe that is fuel mixed with dirt you see puddling up, or condensation. Black smoke=Too rich mixture, Bluish/white smoke=Oil. Do you have sludgy buildup on the dipstick, or varnish? Sometimes, at least on cars, when the oil returns on the piston clog up, oil gets trapped at the oil ring and gets past the compression ring, causing an engine to burn oil. Your compression will still look ok if this is happening. Eventually, the oil will burn the valves.

 

water is what causes white deposits not oil. water will cause little white specs on the ground strap and electrode/porcline where oil can cause a black foul out problem and same with gas. if the collar of the spark plug is black sooty looking it means your idle is to rich. i know how to read the spark plugs. i cant really tell if its blue/white or black color. i know i need to do a leak down test but i do not think that will tell me anything really. the bike runs good cept for the header problem. im gettin to the point ride it til it dies then fix it up. with a gal of race gas it wasnt doing it anymore i think cuz i cleaned the filter good it helped it alot!

 

In my experience as an automotive mechanic, the only time I have seen black deposits on a plug with an oil consumption problem is when large amounts of oil get into the cylinder and the plug gets sludge on it. But I've also never seen a bike puke stuff back up into the breather. Maybe check to see if you have excessive blow-by on your piston rings. That would cause high crankcase pressure therefore forcing the pressure back out the breather. Otherwise I don't know what to tell you. Maybe the leak down will tell you if you are losing compression. If it doesn't leak past the valves and you still have excessive leak downthen your rings could be shot.