My GS850G ongoing issues and maintenance.

[Grimly]

Well, that was an unexpected series of events.
Started off by simply changing the SU needle, then fitting a new-to-me Saddlemen seat. I finished off by checking the cold start and running and set up the idle, etc.
Then I noticed the oil cooler adapter (rather, the o-ring under the OP switch) was leaking a bit. Turns out, some idle sod who'd fitted it hadn't checked the proper fit of the o-ring and it was actually a size too big, so got squeezed out at one end. Stupid git.
That turned out to be an erse of a job, because the clutch cable runs directly across the top of the take-off point for the OP, and I thought I'd take the opportunity to fit a new clutch lever perch from a Dullville.
All together now, and bone dry, but my back is the regulator of how much I can do in awkward positions... flaming sore now.

[Grimly]

The voltage meter has been waggling around a lot when revs rise over 4k, then settling down. Charging has been unaffected, so I suspected a dirty connection either at the meter feed or even at the reg-rec (SH-775).
Stuck on another reg-rec and the voltage was fine, no waggling.
Put the original SH-775 back on and ditto.
OK, cleaned up the connectors at the 775, put it back together and that's it sorted, seemingly.

Since I'd got it hot, I checked compression figures...
1. 140+
2. 140+
3. 140+
4. 145+
That do for now.

[Grimly]

I just twist tie a piece of cardboard to the front of the cooler in winter. However, I can't say my 'thermostat' has any effect at all. The cooler itself made an almost unbelievable difference; from much too hot in summer to barely 200 f winter or summer, cardboard or none. Supposedly too cold to burn off condensation in the crank case.

Has anybody ever noticed any condensation or other problems from running too cold?

Water vapour will evaporate out way below boiling point, so a good long run of say an hour or two every so often will keep it clear. Only thing I've ever noticed about water contamination on some engines is a tendency for emulsion to form under the filler cap or rocker cover - when that happens you know it's time to address the issue (by not doing so many short runs).

[Rob S.]

I just twist tie a piece of cardboard to the front of the cooler in winter. However, I can't say my 'thermostat' has any effect at all. The cooler itself made an almost unbelievable difference; from much too hot in summer to barely 200 f winter or summer, cardboard or none. Supposedly too cold to burn off condensation in the crank case.

Has anybody ever noticed any condensation or other problems from running too cold?

[Grimly]

Finally got out and about today, as the cupboard was looking a bit bare. Excellent opportunity to test the oil cooler, and since it was a day of 5degC outside, I expected the gauge to be low if the cooler was being effective.
Yep, it certainly works. Max temp it reached on the motorway was around 75degC and from the shops to my house all it got was barely off the stop, which is good.
I'm considering whether it's worth buying an oil stat or just making a cloth sock for half the radiator.
I'll try a sock first, as it will cost nothing, and my opinion on stats is not high - just something else to malfunction.
Old....



New...

[Grimly]

I was a bit concerned with the battery state when I went to charge it up after all that cranking. It never got down far enough to go slow, just a normal top-up charge. However, I discovered the so-called smart charger wasn't doing a very good job of addressing the AGM, clicking off into green status far too soon.
I ordered up a more modern charger that definitely has an AGM mode and sorted it out yesterday.
The Motobatt that's currently on the 850 is nearly eight years old and looks like it's got a good bit of life left in it yet.
I probably caught it in time, as one of the causes of early demise of AGMs is under-charging, which that old charger was doing. I'm fairly sure the bike's charging system was bringing it up enough when I was doing longer runs, but in the winter it's only in and out of the shops once a fortnight, so was getting the occasional top-up from the old charger.

[Grimly]

Dave, just curious, do you happen to be red/green color blind?

No, but I recollect this was not the first time this had happened. It stems from charging lights being red on my cars of the past (don't know how current that idiot light is on modern cars).

[Rich82GS750TZ]

Dave, just curious, do you happen to be red/green color blind?

[Cipher]

Bloody oil pressure lights.
I expected the OP light to take a little while to go out, with the extra cooler lines (although I'd filled the cooler), cranking and cranking away.
Left it then went back to it and realised I'd been waiting for the neutral light to go out - the OP light had gone out long since.

Are you colour blind? lordy my neutral is green.

[Grimly]

Bloody oil pressure lights.
I expected the OP light to take a little while to go out, with the extra cooler lines (although I'd filled the cooler), cranking and cranking away.
Left it then went back to it and realised I'd been waiting for the neutral light to go out - the OP light had gone out long since.

[Grimly]

Ugly aas can be.........did you check the oil pressure? Is it possible a hose degraded internal layer and is blocking flow?

Until now, there have been no hoses in the oil system, it's factory stock.
But... hmm... when I had the top end off, I decided to clean the oil pan and found the strainer was fairly well clogged with bits of old clutch material. I'm now wondering if there has been another accumulation of debris, but where it's come from I can't figure out. New clutch at the time, too.

There is a pressure valve that is dependent on viscosity in suzuki sump that ar eplumbed for an oil cooler. It to can fail. THere is always a nice flow routing diagram in the manual.

More investigation needed. I'll update this when I find anything or nothing.
I've got a set of 750 higher flow gears and the pump came with them, so I'll be fitting them next week, probably. That will give me an opportunity to eyeball the internals a bit more.
First thing I'll be doing when the pipery is in place is simply turn the engine over and see what shoots out the oil pipe.

[Cipher]

Still getting overheat problems, and I finally got around to physically fitting the oil cooler I bought last year.
Ugly but hopefully effective.
I seriously suspect there's something going on with the airflow under the fairing chin, as when I look at it from the side, there's a clear shot to the head and barrels, with nothing much forming a barrier to clear air flow. That leaves the possibility of some weird airflow swirl which might give rise to stagnant air right in front of the head. It's just a theory...
Anyway, decided to remove the heat from the troubled area and dump it somewhere into clean air. Not much point fitting an oil cooler right in the suspect area, where most are, so rigged it up at the nose.

GS Cooler inst 1.jpg
Not sure whether to have the cooler upside down (leaving oil in it) or fit it conventionally, but that would mean refilling it every cold start.

Ugly aas can be.........did you check the oil pressure? Is it possible a hose degraded internal layer and is blocking flow?
There is a pressure valve that is dependent on viscosity in suzuki sump that ar eplumbed for an oil cooler. It to can fail. THere is always a nice flow routing diagram in the manual.

[Grimly]

Still getting overheat problems, and I finally got around to physically fitting the oil cooler I bought last year.
Ugly but hopefully effective.
I seriously suspect there's something going on with the airflow under the fairing chin, as when I look at it from the side, there's a clear shot to the head and barrels, with nothing much forming a barrier to clear air flow. That leaves the possibility of some weird airflow swirl which might give rise to stagnant air right in front of the head. It's just a theory...
Anyway, decided to remove the heat from the troubled area and dump it somewhere into clean air. Not much point fitting an oil cooler right in the suspect area, where most are, so rigged it up at the nose.

GS Cooler inst 1.jpg
Not sure whether to have the cooler upside down (leaving oil in it) or fit it conventionally, but that would mean refilling it every cold start.

[Grimly]

Update: August 2021...
During Covid times of no travelling allowed, I was restricted from going out to the motorway for a high-speed blast, having to just toddle around the backroads to and from the shops instead, so was unprepared for what happened when I finally got out there...

IMG_20210808_151054_131.jpg

Whale oil beef hooked. Never expected that, especially when the AFR gauge is telling me the mixture is OK.
Working on the assumption that the AFR gauge might be lying to me, I decided to go richer with the SU needle, but there was only one problem - I'd pretty much reached the limit of 0.09" needles, so that left only one option...
Fit a 0.10 jet and move to the B-family needles.
Luckily I have a fair few of them kicking around from the HIF44 carb.

[1948man]

Looks to be working well but my judgement might have been clouded by the mesmerizing soundtrack.