Just got a 72 RT2 360. On starting the bike there is a lot of smoke and some oil sprayed from a poorly sealed exhaust manifold onto the back of the front fender. The bike won’t run at idle. Taking out the plugs I see they are covered in oil. Is this a piston ring issue?

Did it sit for a long time before you got it and started it up? Did you dump out the pipe, and was there oil standing in the pipe? Sometimes the oil bleeds through the system from the tank while sitting a long time and winds up collecting in the pipe right in front of the exhaust port. Detach the pipe, dump it out, and it there's a lot of oil, burn the pipe out to get a lot of the deposits out of the pipe.

Hi, i answered on your other post. Won't be rings though as what goes into the crankcase gets shot up top to be burnt.

run the hell out of it, I bet it clears up!
just make sure the lube pump is bled and working properly

Not a piston ring issue. Two stroke is lubricated by oil mixed into fuel either in the fuel tank (premix) or by an injection pump (Autolube).

What tends to happen on a bike that's been sitting is the oil in the Autolube tank siphons past the check valve in the Autolube pump filling the engine with oil. Like was said, a good run will usually blow and burn out the excess oil and you'll be fine.

Sometimes the problem can be a wet side crank seal that allow oil from the transmission to be drawn in to the engine. You can check the transmission oil and see if level drops as you ride (assuming you have no external leaks) and/or sometimes the transmission oil will smell like fuel.

Most common is the excess Autolube condition filling up the crankcase as mentioned above though.

Could be an overly rich condition contributing to the problem. Lot of smoke, oil spraying out and not wanting to idle all point that direction.

These carbs are easy to access and easy to go through. That's a good first step with these old bikes, in conjunction with an oil change and fresh air filter.

Thanks for commenting. It has been sitting for some time. Having removed the pipe there doesn't appear to be a huge amount of oil in there. When you say "burn" the pipe can you elaborate on what you mean please?

Thanks for all the advice, I will check out the autolube settings and then see if I can run it a little longer, see if it clears the problem up.

If it starts but doesn’t like to run at lower speeds, I’d do a good carb cleaning. The fact that it runs suggests the ignition is good. Then I’d take it for a good ride and that may burn off much of the oil in the engine. If the exhaust in oil saturated you may need to burn it off with a propane torch. Another way is to stick it in the bbq with open ends pointing upward. Just don’t let the wife see you doing this. Paint will be burned off but is a pretty easy re-spray. I do this sometimes with 2 stroke muffler from small engines. Once burned off, tapping the side will loosen carbon off and can be shaken out. Be prepared for a major smoke show though. Good luck with your project.

Literally put it on a campfire, or a BBQ grill, or direct a high temperature heat gun through it, or a torch to burn out old deposits of oil and carbon residue. Smokes up the neighborhood, so you may want to choose another location than your back yard, if you live in the city...