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1981 GS550 severe oil leak and fork oil leak

  • Thread starter Thread starter kltrkmpf
  • Start date Start date
K

kltrkmpf

Guest
hi guys,

I am having some rather embarrassing oil leaks on my bike, as the oil is dripping on top of the exhaust manifold, whenever I came to a traffic light or junction, I'll be covered in smoke as the oils are evaporated by the heated manifold. Drivers would wind down their window and point on me bike and goes "dude i think your bike is on fire!" and I'll have to answer "nahhhh thanks but no worry buddy it's just oil leak." and give them an OK hand sign.

Usually it didn't bothers me that much but until recently I rode the bike to a 1000km return trip, the oil is leaking all the way and my friends are complaining their bikes were all covered by oil after the trip. Also on the second day on the road it somehow became really bad which eventually the oil tank is actually emptied. I don't understand how, on previous day we traveled even further and longer, i assume the oil pressure should be even higher but the oil leak is as usual, just dripping drop by drop. But on the second day we only rode for 1 hour but the oil leak is "gushing", as describe by my friends. So at the end it cost me another 200 of our local currency just for the oil, which is about 70 US dollars.

The bike was overhauled a while ago, all gaskets are supposed to be replaced as I do pass a complete VESRAH gasket set (frm eBay) to the shop, but unfortunately the engine it's still leaking, among a whole lot of other issues that I expected the shop to take care of but unfortunately they never, yet still charged me a bomb. So I lost trust with the shop.

The leaking is only from one point as far as i can observe, the location is:
  • Left side (gear shifter side)
  • Near the first bolt of parts 33 in the following picture (courtesy of CMSNL.com), pointed with RED ARROW
GS550-Oilleak4.png


Closed up pictures of the leakage
GS550-Oilleak2.JPG


GS550-Oilleak3.JPG


The oil pan and the bottom of the engine, which I think shouldnt be leaking but just in case...
GS550-Oilleak1.JPG



I'll like to try if I can get it done myself, but I don't really have a clear idea of where the culprit is, could it be where the GREEN ARROWS A and B is pointing? or it is actually somewhere else? Definitely in need of pointers and guidance from the experienced masters here on the forum... :)

Another severe leak is at the front fork, though I replaced the fork seal (not original one though because I couldn't find one), but it is still leaking. According to a few friends, it should be caused by the rust/oxidization on the fork. My forks are shine and chromey, except it has some little black dots on it, really really tiny dots, is that really the problem? Should I change:
A. The entire fork tube because of the little black dots can not be fixed?
B. Sand off the black dots?
C. Don't bother about the dots just get an original fork seal?​

Thank you!
 
Can you shrink those photos a little. Makes reading your post very difficult since a lot of scrolling is required.

VESRAH gaskets suck. Sorry you missed all the threads here bashing them.

If your bike is leaking on the header the first thing I'd look at is the valve cover gasket and half moons. You should retorque the head and check the valves after the rebuild anyway. Make sure the gasket surface is perfectly clean.

Good luck.
 
Can you shrink those photos a little. Makes reading your post very difficult since a lot of scrolling is required.

VESRAH gaskets suck. Sorry you missed all the threads here bashing them.

If your bike is leaking on the header the first thing I'd look at is the valve cover gasket and half moons. You should retorque the head and check the valves after the rebuild anyway. Make sure the gasket surface is perfectly clean.

Good luck.

Thank you so much Nessism! Sorry about the oversized pictures, got thm resized already. =)

May I know what gaskets are better? I checked back my old pictures and find out the one i got is not exactly Vesrah, only the product number is according to Vesrah, sorry for the wrong infomation bro ... but is this one OK?
gasket.jpg


The worst part is not really the engine head (though oil stain cans be observed from the seams), but at the bottom, near the shifter, any idea where should I check?

Thank You!
 
Green gaskets mean Athena. Never seen an Athena kit with only one green gasket though.

So torque that head and check the valve cover. Some times a chunk of old gasket material will keep the new gasket from sealing.

And Scott is right about original Suzuki gaskets. They are more money but cheaper in the end.

Good luck
 
Shift shaft oil seal maybe. Or the o-ring on starter motor leaking down behind countershaft cover thru weep hole.
 
You'll probably have to remove the chain cover to see what's happening behind it. The oil leak would have to be pretty bad to cover your buds with oil and spend that much for replacement. Could be the drive shaft oil seal that's leaking. That would sling oil all over.

As for the forks, if the pits are sharp and are within the normal range of motion then it's likely that the forks are eating up the new seals. You can try to smooth out the pits, but I'd just find a new (used) set of fork tubes. You can find them on ebay all day long.
 
As stated, valve cover gasket for header drip

Left side leak, remove the cover and clean all the oil off the motor, start it up and see where the oil comes from

Could be the clutch shaft seal, the shifter seal, or even the mystery hole
 
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