New Life -
Hey Cheeter, Goldwings are notorious for being capable of extremely high mileage with few problems. But with an unknown bike, we may be potentially looking at several issues. What kind of mileage are we talking about ? Are you trying to breath life back into a corpse that was long ago flogged to death ? There are lots of older Goldwings around that often require only some basic carb work, a battery, a couple of tires and you’re down the road with a smile on your face.
Test number one would be to warm up the engine - pull the plugs and pour a teaspoon of oil down into each cylinder. Turn the handle bar RUN/KILL Switch to OFF. Then with the key ON, hit the starter and run your compression test while holding the throttle wide open. I usually add jumper cables and a car battery to supplement the bike battery just to make sure I have enough umphffff for reliable numbers. Hold the starter until the compression gauge needle goes no higher. You had mentioned earlier that the compression was about 90 Psi. If the compression significantly improves (A Good Used Engine Typically = 120 - 150 Psi) you probably have some worn cylinders and/or broken piston rings.
The best scenario would be if the piston rings are simply stuck on a couple of the pistons. The rings must be able to move slightly within the piston lands or they can not keep the crankcase oil and the compression separate within the combustion chamber. Sometimes (as others have mentioned) if a Goldwing has been parked on the side stand for an extended period of time the cylinders on the low side may partially fill with oil. This is typically cured with some time spent in the saddle. Also you might drain the carburetors (drain plugs) and run/add a good carb cleaner through the lines while riding it for a while. Perhaps the floats had just stuck a bit after your winter hibernation.
The next possibility could be a blown cylinder head gasket which is actually a fairly easy fix. This could explain the smoke, the low compression and the oil/coolant seepage down the exhaust bolts. You hadn’t mentioned if the low compression issue (cylinder or cylinders) was on the same side.
Although many owners do, you might not have to actually rebuild the heads if you have a head gasket issue. Once the head/heads are removed simply turn them over and use a couple of coffee cans to elevate each end off the table. Fill the combustion chambers of each head with gasoline and watch for any leakage down in the intake or exhaust ports. Any leakage means a head rebuild, valve job, new valves, head swap, etc…. Inspect the interior surface of the cylinder walls for any sign of damage. There should be no scratches or wear lines that you can catch/feel with a finger nail. If there are major issues - With the cost of parts and labor, at this point a good used engine may be the best option. Please keep us posted.....
Good Luck, Michael
