Recently my friend got his first bike and now hes gotten me interested in getting one myself. Since it is off season for riding I've been searching craigslist for a first bike. I stumbled upon a 2002 cbr 600. The bike has only 5000 miles and has been sitting for a while. The guy is selling it for 2000 but I think I can negotiate a bit.
He says that it dies when he gives it throttle. But when he feathers the throttle a little bit of white smoke comes out. I did some research on the symptoms and found out that the white smoke is caused by leaking coolant or condensation in the gas tank due to old gas (correct me if I am wrong please). Now the hard part the bike dies when throttled; I did research on that and found that it could be a bad head gasket or fuel pump or a multitude of other things.
My question is could this also be caused by old gas or is it that its too good to be true and most likely will need a new head gasket (searched on bike bandit and it cam out to 1600 for the assembly i think) which is really expensive. I'm kind of nervous in asking him if he drained the old gas cause then he might keep the bike if it was that simple of a problem. I'm not a a mechanical wiz so I could be wrong since all my info is based on Google. I would go visit but its about 88 miles away. If you think going there in person is the best idea ill go for it but i might as well exhaust all resources before I go.

Oh yeah he also said that there were no codes displayed on the bike which I thought was weird.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks

 

Pass on it. Too much potential for a serious problem. And you admit you're not mechanically inclined so you forgot to add a mechanic's rate into all that. If it is the head gasket, you'll pay more fixing it than it cost to buy it.

Total out of pocket will net you a newer F4i or 600rr

 

+1 on the pass.

if you still want to pursue it, then you should at least do a compression test on the bike before purchasing it.

 

It very well could just be really old gas and the spark plugs being gunked up, best case scenario. If nothing else get the PO to drain the crap gas and put some fresh stuff in, and go from there.

If it seems fine after the new gas ie: no more white smoke, then consider negotiating. If nothing else you can move along and find some thing else, the best idea is definitely patience as, I waited about six or so months to find the right deal when I was trading my Shadow for my CBR.

 

Could be old gas. But i wouldnt touch it without a compression test and inspecting the oil for coolant.

 

I want you to read my post... I just bought an 02 F4i myself off craigslist and this will explain everything to you and what your looking at with a craigslist bike

https://cbrforum.com/forum/general-t...d-help-144670/

Be aware Ive had the bike for 2 monthes and have less then 20 min on it... Currently in the shop and will cost me an additional 500$ in work

 

Read all of the comments and updates I have bellow as well

 

Thanks for all the advice. I guess I'll pass on it. Its just that it seemed like a great deal. But you know what they say if its too good to be true it probably is.

 

Halzinky holy crap, After all that i probably would have parted out the bike.

 

My GF and I have been fighting for about 2 weeks now but im not giving in... Im to stubborn and im to invested in the bike now... Its a mistake I made and Im fighting to fix it by throwing more money at it... Lesson Learned and now I can prevent someone from making the same mistake I did

We are left with 2 options to fix my bike atm... New ignition or entire new wire harness... Im willing another 350$ but that dont work my garage will look like a chop shop...