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Bad Gasket?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Anonymous
  • Start date Start date
A

Anonymous

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Hi:

I've got a 1981 GS1100E. I purchased it in July of last year. I rode it about 1,100 miles from August - November and stored it for the winter. I'm pretty stupid about mechanical issues, but I'm working on that and now I'm just dangerous in the garage - upgraded from absolute disaster.

I woke the GS up last week. I had a starter motor rebuilt over the winter. I installed it last week, but it would not crank the engine - the newly rebuilt starter just spun. That is not the subject of this post, but any suggestions would be welcome.

Anyway, it was a bitch to bump start. After two unsuccessful tries, I removed the air box, and the third time down a steep hill was the charm, and it sputtered to life.

I replaced the air box and rode it about 5 miles to warm it up. During that time, I had the choke out about 1/3 way. When I pulled back into my driveway, my wife said she needed me to clean up something in the attic - thinking I would be doing that for 15 minutes or so, decided to keep the engine running to "warm-it-up".

45 minutes later, I came back to my bike, now running rather hot. There was oil pooled all over one of the cooling fins on the right side of the bike (leaned because of the kick stand). There was some smoke coming from the engine - either an exhaust leak or burning oil. This bike never leaked oil last year, and I did not move it from a spot in the garage for 4 months and there was no oil on the floor before I woke it up, so the "leak" does not occur when the bike is not moving.

Anyway, why would the oil pool this way? Could this be a temporary problem caused by the stupid way I woke up my bike? The oil only gathered on one cooling fin. I'm hopeful that the oil came out of the valve cover, which I hear is common. The center bolts of the valve cover was covered with a dried, black gunk, so it appears that it's thrown off oil before.

But, when I traced the oil pooling from my cooling fin, it appeared to be the head gasket (I think it is the head gasket) was closer to the seam where the cooling fin that the oil pooled on was.

Is this indicative of a long term problem, or may I have overheated my bike causing it to throw oil temporarily?

Yesterday, I only had time for a very short ride - it started right up (bump start) and I did not notice any new oil on the fins. The "smoke" looked like it was coming from my second cylinder exhaust tube instead of oil burning on the engine - I need to tighten the exhaust bolt or get a new exhaust gasket. For the week I had the bike in the garage from the wake-up to yesterday, the oil never hit the floor, it just pooled on the fin.

Did I mess up my bike? Is it common for an aircooled bike to leak oil if it is standing still, is running rich (choke) and hot? Would not having started for 4 months make the situation worse?

ANDYS116
 
Oil is not supposed to leak no matter what. Even if you left it running for 45 minutes, or days. It could overheat and seize, but not leak oil.

I have just recently finished my first head gasket change, and I have to admit it was a lot easier than what I expected.

Find a gasket set ( I got mine from ebay for $65 and it included just about every gasket you'll ever need)

There is lot of great help here, and if you should chose to do the work yourself, we will help a lot.

It is very simple. Few things to think about are:
you'll need a torque wrench if you dont have one (about $30 for basic craftsman).
there is a good chance one of the exaust bolts will brake, so get easy out (about $15 for a nice set)
It's a pain to clean the old gasket. Get some gasket remover, and razor blades...

Finally to make sure you know where the leak is comming from here is a painfull but bulletproff method of finding it. Clean the bike from as much oil as you can. Then get a bottle of oil die for about $5 and a black light if you dont have one. Put the oil die in the oil and run the bike. Then with black light look around the engine and you will see CLEARLY where the oil is comming from.

Good luck!
 
If it's the head gasket, try retorquing the head. It's easy and might be successful.
 
Another way to find an oil leak is to use a spray can of cheap foot deodorant once you have cleaned away the previously leaked oil. Spray the deodorant on the engine in the vicinity of the leak, then run the engine and look for the source of the leak.
 
DO NOT AT ANY TIME LEAVE YOUR BIKE IDLE FOR 15 MINUTES OR 45 MINUTES It is an air cooled motor and needs air flowing over the engine for cooling Even if you are working on it you need to put a fan in front of your bike
 
DO NOT AT ANY TIME LEAVE YOUR BIKE IDLE FOR 15 MINUTES OR 45 MINUTES It is an air cooled motor and needs air flowing over the engine for cooling Even if you are working on it you need to put a fan in front of your bike
Click to expand...

What if its 34deg F like its supposed to be up here (Wisconsin) this weekend? :wink:

Had to ask...
 
Swingline said:
DO NOT AT ANY TIME LEAVE YOUR BIKE IDLE FOR 15 MINUTES OR 45 MINUTES It is an air cooled motor and needs air flowing over the engine for cooling Even if you are working on it you need to put a fan in front of your bike
Click to expand...

What if its 34deg F like its supposed to be up here (Wisconsin) this weekend? :wink:

Had to ask...
Click to expand...

It still will NOT have air flow. The air needs to flow over and around the cooling fins in order for them to disapate heat.
If the motor is stagnant, no air flow, the fins will not disapate the heat fast enough.
 
Yep, kaboom.
One of the reasons you had to pull the old volkswagons over in parking lot traffic and shut em down. No movement means no air cooling which means overheat boom!

Dm of mD
 
Not that I'm an expert by any means...

But I am familiar with basic thermodynamics. If the ambient temperature is low enough, there is absolutely no need for forced air flow. Air flow is the layman's term for forced convection. Forced convection transfers heat significantly better than natural convection (no air flow). There is a great deal of "black magic" here revolving around fin design - too many, too few, too thick, too thin, too much space between, too little space between... the fins have to be designed for a range of air velocity in order to be effective.

Now, I've done NO testing and have no idea how hot the block gets on these bikes or what a "safe" temperature is. But there has to be a point where leaving your bike at idle to warm up for 15min will be fine without any fan blowing over the block. My comments were initially just to have a little fun, but since it was taken seriously, I thought I'd post something a little more advanced :) In NO WAY do I recommend "experimenting" with this - I'm just saying that there is an ambient temperature at which it would be OK to do.
 
Swingline,
I don't dispute your theory. It does make sense.
I don't at what temp,ambient air temp, it would be ok to leave a bike running and it will not damage the motor or overheat.

I look at it as better safe then $$$$$.

Interesting to find out what temp it would be, probably not "riding" temp :lol:
 
Detman101 said:
Yep, kaboom.
One of the reasons you had to pull the old volkswagons over in parking lot traffic and shut em down. No movement means no air cooling which means overheat boom!

Dm of mD
Click to expand...

the old Volkswagons had a cooling fan to keep them cool, it is/was best to let them idle for a couple minutes after exiting a freeway to allow them to cool down some or they would vapor lock.

I have had my bike get to cold on me before, running slow with the temps in the low to mid 20's, had to put the choke back on!
 
The finning is designed to shed heat with airflow coming at the front of the motor. Heat from a stationary bike will create some updraft which is nowhere near as effective as forward motion at any temperature.
 
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