Debris in carter pan (GSX550)

[MartijnGP]

Hi all,

Yesterday I lifted the valve cover off of my GSX550ES (86k km, 1986) and I found a valve adjuster screw missing. I found the screw itself under the camshaft, but the little locknut is still missing. I turned the bike over on its side to open the oil pan hoping it would have ended up in there. I didn't find it, but I did find another problem.



Now what the heck is that? It's some kind of lockring, and two pieces of some kind of orange piece of what I think is a plastic. Can anyone identify these bits of shrapnel?

I kind of lost confidence in this engine. Who knows what's in there that didn't make it down to the oilpan yet..


If anyone could shine any light on this, that'd be great. I'm thoroughly in doubt about whether or not I should try to fix this engine..


Regards,

[Cipher]

brownish bits look like gasket
silver is part of a circlip

[chuck hahn]

Im going with then circlip and washer from the oil pump drive gear. 22 and 24 here.

http://www.partsoutlaw.com/oemparts/...ump-oil-filter

[Brendan W]

Could the brown bits be stator winding binder ?
Over the life of a bike many things can end up in the carter or sump.
Not everyone goes to the trouble of retrieving them.

[Cipher]

my sump gasket material oem looks like that after a few thousand kms. Gets hard and plastic like. As does stator gasket iirc. But hey

[MartijnGP]

Im going with then circlip and washer from the oil pump drive gear. 22 and 24 here.

http://www.partsoutlaw.com/oemparts/...ump-oil-filter

That circlip could very well be it. I'll have a look at it tomorrow. I suppose I have to remove the clutch basket for that.

The washer seems unlikely to be. I only found two pieces which appear to be part of some kind of circle that would be approximately 15cm in diameter. It's pretty thick as well (2mm, I guess) and tapered towards one end.

Could the brown bits be stator winding binder ?
Over the life of a bike many things can end up in the carter or sump.
Not everyone goes to the trouble of retrieving them.

Noted, will take a look at the stator as well. Judging by its size that could be it.

And I know. Unfortunately. But I do not like the feeling of loose crap lingering near my gearbox doing highway speeds. I've had the honor of crashing once, that's enough. I think the bits of plastic won't harm the engine too much (it's quite brittle) but I'm more worried about the circlip and whatever it is that it's supposed to keep in place.

my sump gasket material oem looks like that after a few thousand kms. Gets hard and plastic like. As does stator gasket iirc. But hey

I've had the sump of yesterday. Some previous owner just removed the gasket altogether and filled it up with liquid gasket... I doubt it's remnant parkts from the oil sump gasket but again, I'll have a look at the stator.


Would be great if I can at least find out where this is coming from. Hoping it's the oil pump, but then I still have to find the tappet locknut..

Thanks for thinking along! I appreciate it.

[Cipher]

That brownish stuff also looks a bit like the glue on the stator magnets

[MartijnGP]

I'll check the stator tomorrow

Was just looking at the clutch basket, in order to check up on the oil pump. On my GSF I can quite easily pull out the entire clutch assembly to get to the oil pump, but am I correct in that this is not possible on a GSX? I attached a picture of my bikes' clutch, but it seems the big gear on the back will prevent me from pulling it out without splitting the engine. I just want to see wether the circlip on the oil pump is indeed the one that is missing.

IMG_20170715_165412.jpg

(Oh, yeh, that exhaust will be replaced, don't worry :P )