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Is there any reason the carbs would be leaking oil?

  • Thread starter Thread starter freki
  • Start date Start date
F

freki

Guest
My 1980 GS850L looks like the carbs are leaking a little oil after it runs for about +5 min. I notice the oil collecting on the bolts on the underneath side of each carb body.
 
Oil winds up weird places. Probably coming from the engine and collecting there.
 
Never heard of carbs leaking oil !! Maybe it is a defective PCV allowing some engine oil/oil fumes to migrate back into the airbox and eventually
to the carbs. This is just a guess. Never heard any oil in the vicinity
of a subsystem (carbs) where only gas should be present. And you
mentioned dripping oil fom the bowls.

Mmmmmmm. If it was dirty gas, you would know this immediately by
the density of gas versus the viscosity of the oil. And the discoloration
and microcontaminates in the gas.

This is a very good problem, and is quite perplexing. I'll get back with you on this friend !!

:-D\\:D/
 
Maybe you have an oil leak somewhere else, and it is splashing onto the exterior body of the carbs. If this is internal, and it is leaking out from
within the carbs, then engine oil must be migrating somewhere to the carbs.

Is the oil mixing with the gas fouling your plugs, and burning oil ?? Does
it run like crap ??

Let me know friend.

:-D\\:D/
 
Another thing that really confuses me about this is that the oil looks like it's dripping out of the bolts on the underneath side of the bowls.
 
Please take close-up pics for us. I want to see this. Very interesting
where gas is mixing with the oil. Never seen this !!

Thanks friend.

:-D\\:D/
 
Sounds odd to me. Clean the whole engine with heavy duty degrease so you can see no oil. Then run the bike and watch the following:

Check your breather hose to be sure its not leaking.
Check your Auto Tensioner and make sure its not leaking
Check your oil pressure switch and make sure its not leaking
Check your Head/Base gasket and make sure they are not leaking

Did you check the compression of your cylinders? Maybe oil is leaking in around the pistons?? But you would have some pretty crappy performance from the bike....
 
check camshaft cover gasket.

check camshaft cover gasket.

If oil from the engine is getting inside the carbs and then getting to the outside of the carbs would require some serious leaking of seals and gaskets i doubt that is the cause. It is probably spraying onto the carbs and running down to the lowest point where it drips off. I have blown the camshaft cover gasket twice in ten years and it blew two more times before i had it, i would look in that area. Or the crankcase vent tube has blown off the engine or airbox right over the carbs.
 
The air box could be filled with oil from the breather tube and sucking into the carb. This happened to me on my 80 1100ET. The ringland area on #2-3 piston caved in, filling my air box with more than a quart of oil.

Check inside the air box in front of the air filter for oil residue. Or like others said maybe its the breather tube dripping condensation and oil onto the carb.
 
The experienced guys here are teaching me that it's better to eliminate a couple of simple problems (like the ones Mortation mentioned) first before trying to solve an interesting (but unconfirmed) mystery that involves rebuilding the carbs or removing the head.

In other words
1.) Maybe it's your carbs, but probably not.
2.) There's plenty of simpler reasons the bike could be running crappy aside from ring failure or similar.

Oil leaks are sneaky. I was sure I had oil coming out of my exhaust header one point (which is about as likely as dripping oil from your carbs) and it turned out to be a cam cover gasket failure dripping down by my #3 sparkplug, through a hole between the fins and out the front of the block - right behind the exhaust flange. If you see a drip 5 minutes after startup, that's probably how long it's taking for the oil to flow from wherever it's leaking to your carbs and start to collect.

My suggestion would be to clean the heck out of the engine, start it up, and then watch like a hawk while shining a bright light in there. I get fast cleaning results with spray degreaser and the self-serve carwash (just let the engine cool for a while before degreasing and watch where you direct high-pressure water). Then I use spray foot powder (another GSR's idea) on the dry engine to make it more obvious where the oil's coming from. Others use talc.

Last time, I just plunked right down at the car wash after cleaning and watched the engine. Found the leak in about 2 minutes then rode home and fixed it in 20 (it was just a shifted cam cover gasket).

Any luck on pics of the problem, by the way? I'm really curious.
 
Roostabunny said:
I get fast cleaning results with spray degreaser and the self-serve carwash (just let the engine cool for a while before degreasing and watch where you direct high-pressure water)..
Click to expand...

Good advice overall. Can you explain which areas to avoid with the high-pressure wash? Are there sensitive area on say, the carbs?
 
Are you sure it is in fact oil? My GS850 had a seepage of gas past at bowl drains and there would appear some drops of what "felt" and "looked" like oil on the brass plug. Occasionally it would drip onto the starter cover and leave a brown filth there. It actually was gas that was being turned into "varnish" by seeping out. I guess heat and air caused it to thicken into what appeared like oil. It smelled faintly of turpentine. I pulled out the drain plugs, wrapped some Teflon tape around the threads and put them back in. Problem solved.
 
Dogma said:
Good advice overall. Can you explain which areas to avoid with the high-pressure wash? Are there sensitive area on say, the carbs?
Click to expand...
Actually, my main concern was to avoid water getting forced into the crankcase or something incredible like that, but around the carbs I usually still go with a lower pressure or stand back a little further. They don't get nearly as baked as the engine itself, so the grime comes off with less effort.

As an aside, I know I'm a geek, but I actually bring a water-filled spritz bottle with me to ease/speed up the cool-down process. The mist is too light to hurt anything, but it helps the headers and fins cool down much faster than plain air. Take one whiff of vaporized degreaser and you'll know why I care about getting the engine to a reasonable temp.
 
Roostabunny said:
As an aside, I know I'm a geek, but I actually bring a water-filled spritz bottle with me to ease/speed up the cool-down process. The mist is too light to hurt anything, but it helps the headers and fins cool down much faster than plain air. Take one whiff of vaporized degreaser and you'll know why I care about getting the engine to a reasonable temp.
Click to expand...

Heh. I think I'd try for the rinse cycle on the power washer. Nothing but water, and at lower pressure too, IIRC. The thermal shock should be similar to a rainstorm if you go easy on it. How long does it take for you to cool the engine your way?
 
Dogma said:
Heh. I think I'd try for the rinse cycle on the power washer. Nothing but water, and at lower pressure too, IIRC. The thermal shock should be similar to a rainstorm if you go easy on it. How long does it take for you to cool the engine your way?
Click to expand...
You're probably right about the rinse cycle - take it easy and you should be fine. As for my procedure, I mist the headers and fins with about a pint of water then give it an additional 15 minutes, then spray the degreaser and give that another 5. The engine's still warm (which helps the degreaser IMO) but not so hot you get a toxic cloud that knocks out the poor person washing their car in the next bay.

Truth is, I think I started using the spray bottle because I was too cheap to put in another set of quarters. The time would always run out while I was letting the degreaser soak.
 
This may seem completely unrelated, but what is your oil like? Is there mysteriously more than there should be? or is it very thin or light. Lighter than 10w-40 should be?

If either of these is the case, the I suspect that you are getting gas into your oil, with the excessive volume causing it to splash up and out the vent at the top of the valve cover, which would then deposite it on your carbs. This means you likely have a faulty petcock, which could also explain why your bike is running, but badly.

How is your engine performing? when does it cut out? does it bog down?

does your petcock work? If you disconnect the fuel and vacume lines, does it pour fuel properly on prime? does it leak when set to on?
 
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