Help! Oil Pan Continues to Leak, Need some advise on next steps

[Guest]

Guys,
As you may have seen some of my posts. I have rebuilt my 1980 GS1000G. For the life of me, I cannot get the oil pan to quit leaking. The first leak was after I bought the Versah complete kit, it had a little bead, so I tried tightening the bolts a little bit more. Still leaked. Please note that the case and the pan are clear with no signs of gasket residue...

1. Next I took the oil pan and dried off the gasket but this time tried RTV in spots where I had seen the leak left side. This time it leaked more, same spot
2. Next I took the Versah gasket off again dried it out again, and this time I used Threebond all around it. Mostly because I was pissed. Still leaked on the left side
3. Next I purchased a brand new OEM gasket and stilled it will a little grease on both sides. Tighten it up using the cross pattern to 8 ft pounds. Now leaking on the right front, the left is fine.. LOL

Please give me some advice on what to try next? Are my torque settings correct? It may be 7 ft Pounds. Should I try RTV again? Lightly sand with high grit the pan and the case.
I am new to this so be gentle.
Best-
JA

 

[Nessism]

I recommend OEM gaskets, with nothing on them. Brand new, no reusing old gaskets. Make sure both the engine and cover are clean of oil, grease, etc.

When tightening, you need to work in a crisscross pattern. Torque in two steps.

If you have a way of checking flatness, it would be good to make sure the cover is flat. Also, no gouge marks in the sealing surfaces.

Gun against my head, to assure no leaks, I'd use a very light coating of Threebond 1184 on both surfaces of the gasket before install.

 

[Suzukian]

Use Yamabond Number 4 on both sides of the gasket. It will seal. It will be really hard to remove, but use that stuff, and it will seal. I use that stuff to seal cases on my M.G. Midget, the king of leaky British cars. You run a bead of the seal around the edge of the whole surface, never on the spot only. If you case, run a bead along the top and bottom, don't go crazy with it, you don't want any sealant dripping into the engine, though this stuff doesn't run.You should never need a lot of torque on a pan bolt. only what the manual says.6.6 ft. lbs. torque max! Clean the surface,e never sand, it just takes more stock off. I use a single edged razor and gasket remover. Sent you a P.M.

 

[Supercub]

Try some machinists non drying Dykem to see if the pan mates evenly to the case. Apply an even coat all around and lightly torque the screws. Remove the pan and you can see the witness marks from the dye. Also a .001 or .002 feeler gage all around will pick up high marks. An auto machinist could resurface the cover. Any warpage or local gaps will fail the best sealant. I used Yamabond 4 on a 50's car oil pan that had a very thin sheetmetal flange. It sealed it perfectly. I usually apply an even skim coat to both sides of the gasket placed over a piece of clean glass or cardboard. The Yamabond soaks into the gasket and is in a semi dry state by the time I get it buttoned up. It is alot easier to remove than an uncoated gasket. A little heat with a heat gun on low will soften it. I've had to redo engine assemblies before for defective gaskets and the Yamabond came right off with little effort.
also. Inspect the gasket with magnification and bright light.

 

[Guest]

Guys look at this picture, no wonder the last gasket leaked. Ebay said it was a GS1000 OEM, but I'm not sure after comparing these. See attached picture

 

[Suzukian]

Is the oil pan original? If it is, then you have the wrong gasket. Best to go to a Suzuki dealer and have them look it up and order it for you. Bring in the Oil Pan with you to make sure. Show them what you are dealing with. I don't buy gaskets off of EBAY. I have purchased a lot off of EBAY, but I get gaskets through a dealership, I have one around 10 miles from me. That could be from GS1000 but what year, they weren't all the same. Make sure you have the proper data such as year and model for your bike verified by the VIN number.

 

[Supercub]

Partzilla lists the gasket as discontinued. I've been using them for genuine parts but the Suzuki dealer network can locate one and you can buy it from that dealer shipped. If it is a discontinued gasket, it looks simple enough to make yourself out of brand name gasket stock from a good auto parts store. The black rubberized stuff would do. If that one corner is the only discrepancy, use the ebay gasket as a template and adjust that area as needed. I usually cut them from the inside out, punching out the screw holes and using the screws on the cover to locate the gasket while I lightly tap the outer edges of the cover with a small ball pien hammer to cut the outer gasket area flush with the cover.

 

[Nessism]

Guys look at this picture, no wonder the last gasket leaked. Ebay said it was a GS1000 OEM, but I'm not sure after comparing these. See attached picture

Are both holes drill though the pan? I'm seeing photos on eBay of oil pans, and at least one of them looks like the inner hole isn't drilled. If that's the case with your pan, then that gasket as show should work. If both holes are drilled, then obviously, you need a gasket that covers that inner hole.

Here is the gasket you need...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/204130961561

 

[Guest]

Guys, thank you the correct part number is 45001, I ordered 45000. I cannot believe I did that. Regardless, this oil pan leak has been quite an adventure.
Thank you everyone, will keep you posted

 

[Suzukian]

Great catch! That's the one he needs. The torque settings on the are pretty low, so the pan, and engine, have to be flat, as you said, any gouges, well maybe Yamabond would help, but usually the oil finds it's way through. Though I've had that stuff seal up spots that were considered to be unstoppable on the M.G. forums I belong to.

 

[NCGS]

My favorite sealant for applications like this is a product called Hylomar Blue. It's a non-hardening sealant that gets tacky and can be wiped off with a cloth and some Brake Kleen even after it's dried. I put Hylomar blue on both the cover and the engine side very sparingly, brushing it into a thin layer with my finger and making sure there is no excess. If you let it dry for a 2 or 3 minutes it won't squeeze out of the joint when you tighten the cover and in most cases, if you're gentle when disassembling, you can remove the cover and reuse the gasket again if you are in a pinch. I've also heard some people put Hylomar on the engine side and general purpose grease on the cover side, which allegedly makes disassembly even easier although I've never tried it. I learned about Hylomar from working on English bikes but I find it works well on my Japanese bikes too.

 

[Suzukian]

I had to pull a oil pan off of my M.G aa couple of days after using Yamabond # 4 on it, the gasket split in two, right on the center plane. I fixed what I omitted to put in, applied some Yamabond to the gasket halves, just to see if I could get away with it. Hasn't leaked in 8000 miles.

 

[Supercub]

Must have been something important, like the oil pick up tube.

 

[Suzukian]

Yup, boy was I shocked to see that sitting to the right of me after I had torqued up the engine the day before. Wife had been nagging at me for doing the engine inside a not used back room. I was distracted.. Good catch!

 

[Supercub]

Good thing you found it.

 

[rphillips]

Yep, got to blame somebody, the wife thing works well, or sometimes it's the birthdays or the phone rang... but It's sure not never my fault

 

[Suzukian]

Oh, it was my fault. I lay the parts out, and that's when I found out my mistake That one was still visible.. We've been together for 37 years, and she not only knows what buttons to push, she knows how to rewire them. Ultimately, it was my fault though. I flew aircraft for a while, and it's the Pilot in Command's decision, you can disobey the Tower if you feel you need too because ultimately, it's your fault if you flub the landing. That M.G. hauls A $ $ though. This one will do around 120 mph (they maxed out at 75 mph when stock, if you were lucky), but the rear end has paid the price, I have a new solid axle to put in, but I need a heavier built one. I'll probably be changing it to a 4 link set up too. .

 

[Supercub]

Thinking I should clean my strainer since I have the gasket set for it. Nly 4,000 miles on it but it probably sat for years with the same oil in it. It's a Veshra gasket set and they look correct so far but it is missing the stator and starter cover gaskets and they are pictured in the listing. The exhaust really needs a good polishing and the bottom of the engine also. Winter project.

 

[hank2]

OP, I hope you can source the OEM gasket. I had to do a pan replacement twice on my 650G a few years ago. It had a very badly done re-ream job done on the drain plug hole. First ebay pan installed, then found it weeped oil and a small puddle overnight. Not the gasket, the ebay pan had a hairline crack in it that was nearly invisible and I didn't notice it. Sourced a second ebay pan and all new oem bolts, two sizes. Pulled the crappy aftermarket exhaust off once again. That time was good. Thankfully, you could still get the gaskets from Suzuki at that time. That and many others for that bike are now NLA. Glad that I got some others at the time that I needed later, like clutch cover and early correct cam cover gasket. Not the first time I had to do a crappy job twice.

Like NCGS mentioned the Hylomar blue is good stuff. You want it to tack up. It was recommended for things like sealing base of cylinders on old BMW airheads. I think there are a number of Hylomar tagged products now, but the Blue was it. BMW used to recommend the 3 Bond ("drei bond")? The Yama-Suzi bond sealers have a good rep but I never used them. Just checked and Suzi bond is NLA.

 

[Suzukian]

Worse comes to worse, get a roll of the rubberized gasket material and make one. It isn't that hard really. I've had to make so many, and many times they come out better than the 40 year old ones your getting from the O.E.M.