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I lost two quarts of oil in 30 seconds

  • Thread starter Thread starter jfman
  • Start date Start date
J

jfman

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My trusty 1980 GS400 has let me down for the first time ever tonight.

I got out of work, cranked her up and it was idling on the kickstand while I was puting my gear on.

I sat on the bike and as I was backing out I saw oil on the ground pouring out at the speed of an oil bottle being emptied.

I shut the bike down right away but the leak continued.

In a matter of 30 seconds what looks like two quarts of oil leaked right out of the bike. I had to go talk to the security guy because there was so much oil that it was dangerous for the passerbys. So we laid some newspapers over the puddle Big Daddy style.

It seems to be coming from the sprocket area.

Now last month I ordered all new seals for this bike because I was going to replace them this winter. The seals are at my folks home in the states. I was gonne get them to bring them to me next time they come visit but now I'll have them ship me the parts.

However the leak was so sudden and so massive that I wonder if it's not something much worse than a leaky seal.

Can a bad seal make a bike empty its guts in 30 seconds? The leak was so bad I thought someone had removed my drain plug. :eek:

I will have to get the bike to my place sometime this week to look into this.
 
sounds like one of the seals has blown out completely. pop the cover off, it will soon become obvious
 
First thing check the sump plug, then the oil filter cover.

Next I'd be looking at the clutch pushrod oil seal behind the sprocket cover and the oil seal around the gear shifting shaft under the same cover.

Off the top of my head those would be the most likely I would think...
 
Bet you a beer its the clutch pushrod seal. There is oil pressure behind the seal so when it fails, it can create a big time oil leak.
 
Well today I brought my set of phillips sockets to work along with a few tools to see if I could not fix it there and save me a tow.

Turns out the PO has already done a very good job of stripping the head of a few of the bolts so I will have to bring it home to work some magic with a hammer-screw remover and a cut off wheel and flathead.
 
Do yourself a favor and replace every phillips head with allen head SS fasteners. I've always drilled out those crappy stripped screw heads. Just use a bit large enough that it covers the head and drill it till it's gone and stop. Once the case is off, take a vise grip and unscrew it the rest of the way out.
 
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mrbill5491 said:
Do yourself a favor and replace every phillips head with allen head SS fasteners. I've always drilled out those crappy stripped screw heads. Just use a bit large enough that it covers the head and drill it till it's gone and stop. Once the case is off, take a vise grip and unscrew it the rest of the way out.
Click to expand...

Are kits available to save hunting down individual bolts?
 
I got my kit from Z1 and it contained most of the bolts I needed. and a fwe extras.
 
Aaaand! it is the clutch rod seal that has popped right out... (Nessism was spot on)

I popped it back in with a 19mm socket (my parts havent come in yet) put two quarts back in. Cranked the bike up and the seal popped righ back out again.

So I guess my question is: Is it normal that to have a lot of oil pressure behind the clutch rod seal?


hopefully with a new seal in place it wont be an issue.
 
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Yes its normal...the rod goes thru to the clutch basket and is subject to any crankcase pressure that builds up. The thing is that rubber looses its valcanization properties over time and shrinks and it doesnt take much pressure to push it out. So therefore it may just be that the runner is shrunk to the point its not gonna stay in..least now you know.
 
Ask around, but when the new one comes in I think that a good clean seat surface and some gasket glue wouldnt hurt anything.
 
I'm not sure how the 400's work, but somewhere in the 450 revisions from 80 - 82 they changed the seal from a flange type to a non-flange type and added an external retainer instead.

I suspect they had a lot of issues like you're experiencing and the non-flange type seal with the retainer must have resolved a lot of them.
 
mrbill5491 said:
Do yourself a favor and replace every phillips head with allen head SS fasteners. I've always drilled out those crappy stripped screw heads. Just use a bit large enough that it covers the head and drill it till it's gone and stop. Once the case is off, take a vise grip and unscrew it the rest of the way out.
Click to expand...

I have seen this down south, and I envy you folks that can get away with this, but in most of Canada, you really can't do this. A bit of salt and water from the road, and the aluminum engine cases and stainless bolts from a battery that will corrode the aluminum away. The bolts will look great in 3 years, but the threads in the case will be a mess.
 
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