• Required reading for all forum users!!!

    Welcome!
    Register to access the full functionality of the GSResources forum. Until you register and activate your account you will not have full forum access, nor will you be able to post or reply to messages.

    A note to new registrants...
    All new forum registrations must be activated via email before you have full access to the forum.

    A Special Note about Email accounts!
    DO NOT SIGN UP USING hotmail, outlook, gmx, sbcglobal, att, bellsouth or email.com. They delete our forum signup emails.

    A note to old forum members...
    I receive numerous requests from people who can no longer log in because their accounts were deleted. As mentioned in the forum FAQ, user accounts are deleted if you haven't logged in for the past 6 months. If you can't log in, then create a new forum account. If you don't get an error message, then check your email account for an activation message. If you get a message stating that the email address is already in use, then your account still exists so follow the instructions in the forum FAQ for resetting your password.

    Have you forgotten your password or have a new email address? Then read the forum FAQ for details on how to reset it.

    Any email requests for "can't log in anymore" problems or "lost my password" problems will be deleted. Read the forum FAQ and follow the instructions there - that's what we have one for...

  • Returning Visitors

    If you are a returning visitor who never received your confirmation email, then odds are your email provider is blockinig emails from our server. The only thing that can be done to get around this is you will have to try creating another forum account using an email address from another domain.

    If you are a returning visitor to the forum and can't log in using your old forum name and password but used to be able to then chances are your account is deleted. Purges of the databases are done regularly. You will have to create a new forum account and you should be all set.

Oil consumption

  • Thread starter Thread starter bbjumper
  • Start date Start date
B

bbjumper

Guest
Ok all of you GS 850 aficionados got a question for those that know this engine. My 82 GS 850 G consumes oil at an unpredictable rate. If ridden conservatively, highway speeds 70 to 80 range, no revving beyond 7000 or so, she will burn about one quart in 1600 miles, approximately. If I ride her spirited she will burn a quart in 500 to 600 miles. Valves have been adjusted, compressions on all cylinders are between 154 and 160 psi, the plugs look good, she doesn't smoke or leak. She runs great and smooth. What's normal?

Thanks Guys
BBjumper
 
Sounds like a valve stem seal issue. No big deal unless you start fouling spark plugs or fogging the neighborhood.
 
Check the airbox, you might be losing oil out the top. if the tube from the engine top to airbox is wet with oil try adding some steel wool in the top chamber to collect liquid oil and prevent it from being drawn up.
 
oil use

oil use

BB, Offer these from experiance. Oil consumption from bad valve guide seals alone, is usually evidenced by smoke on start-up & deminishes w/warming... worn guides & seals by a more consistant oil consumption, w/ heavier smoke on de-cel. with compression #'s as good as yours, and consumption varying with load, My Wild-Assed Guess is that you have some "stuck" oil rings. Some things to consider checking/doing.... 1 pop your' exhaust. a glance at what you'll be able to see of open exhaust valves (shaft & inner head) is an excellent view to their condition. if no "red flags", prior to next oil change, top oil level w/ @ 1/2 qt atf, or "rislone" (TM), & "mild ride" for @ a hundred miles or so before oil & filter change.... both Rislone & ATF have addditives which are excellent "cleaners" (they're also low viscosity, thus "mild ride".) To your' question. Fresh engines used no discernable amount of oil between changes. Your' "processing" a qt between changes w/moderate riding is nothing to be overly concerned about, tho you must be the judge. luck, g
 
I Pulled the exhaust off a few weeks ago to change gaskets and replace a broken stud. All ex. valves are light ash in color, the surrounding head has black carbon on it, nothing heavy but black in color. I don't' ever see any smoke on start up and haven?t seen any smoke on decel. Consumption does vary, I can ride for 400 mi. or so with little consumption, then in the next 100 or so it will use 6 to 8 ounces. I'm an aviation guy, a perfectionist about machines and this stuff drives me crazy. I considered pulling the head but it runs great and is smooth. Thanks for your help
 
Your too worried about it.. If it starts smoking like a two stroke It's time for a top end rebuild
 
bbjumper said:
Ok all of you GS 850 aficionados got a question for those that know this engine. My 82 GS 850 G consumes oil at an unpredictable rate. If ridden conservatively, highway speeds 70 to 80 range, no revving beyond 7000 or so, she will burn about one quart in 1600 miles, approximately. If I ride her spirited she will burn a quart in 500 to 600 miles. Valves have been adjusted, compressions on all cylinders are between 154 and 160 psi, the plugs look good, she doesn't smoke or leak. She runs great and smooth. What's normal?

Thanks Guys
BBjumper
Click to expand...

before i had my Gs1000s rebored it drank a litre of oil at a rate of 200miles at those speeds
so never had to change the oil regually and it was a 20/50 oil.
 
Oil leak

Oil leak

I think I figured out where my disappearing oil is going. Last Saturday when I stopped at a friends house I noticed a fair amount of oil (about 10 drops) on the ground just forward and inboard of the shift lever. Got down and saw it was coming out of a drain hole just aft of the cylinder and under the cam chain tensioner, saw a drop coming off of the tensioner also. I rode home, checked again and the area was dry, no drips! WTF, I ordered all of the O'rings, seals and gaskets for overhaul of the tensioner as per the tutorial on this site.

http://www.bwringer.com/gs/camchaintens.html

Anybody ever heard of this before?

Thanks Guys
 
That's the mystery hole. A drain for the starter cavity. COuld be the tensioner leaking, could also be the O ring on the starter.. My vote would be to do Both with new seals
 
Got it, never even knew it was there until Saturday. That's why I missed it, when it leaks there you don't see it anywhere on the bike. I'll get the seal for the starter. Where on the parts fische is it located?

Thanks
 
My gs1000 had an oil leak which had me baffled, if i rode about at normal speeds 50-70 mph, no leak. but over 70 and i got a few oil spots on my left boot and oil under the engine,:mad: i found it to be starter motor oil seal. changed that and no more oil leak and a clean boot.:D
 
Thanks Nut,

That's similar to what I have experienced, I'm hoping this takes care of most of the oil consumption issue that I have had. I want to take it on a 4000 mile ride next spring and don't want to add oil every time I fill the tank. This bike is such a great balance and I enjoy bringing her back to life.

Thanks
 
Hope I'm that lucky, I know the cam chain tensioner is leaking and it does use or lose oil at an unpredictable rate. I think it is speed sensitive so we will see when I get all the parts. I'm doing the intake pipes, o-rings and air box boots at the same time.
 
Intake pipes, starter o-ring

Intake pipes, starter o-ring

Just like on BikeCliff's site my intakes looked the same, all four had o-rings that were cracked, separated and as hard as my ex-mother in law's heart. The boot on one was separated from the base. The o-ring on the starter wasn't in much better shape and was defiantly leaking, installed new o-ring. Took the air box apart and cleaned, resealed and installed new intake hoses. Tomorrow I take care of the chain tensioner and the oil pressure sending unit. I'm hoping that this will dry up the leaks, oil and air.
 
The Latest

The Latest

Just an update, after completing all of the items on my previous post my "G" still had a couple of places on the base gasket where she was seeping in addition to areas around the head gasket. She was still using oil at the rate of about 1 qt per 1000. I decided I was going to get everything taken care of before spring, I've got a couple of long trips I want to take and I wanted my ride up to the task, so I tore into it.

Got her broke down last weekend and was glad I did, Oil was coming from two places, the valve seals were hard as a rock and very difficult to get off and the oil control rings were stuck to the pistons and would not expand or move due to carbon build up.

The pistons, other than having allot of carbon build up, looked great, no scoring. I still need to do all the measurements on everything but right now it looks like all of the valve guides will be fine, all it looks like I'm going to need is, have a machine shop re-cut the valves seats and lap them in. Hone the cylinders, install new rings and put her back together with all new gaskets and seals. I am going to install new studs at the exhaust flanges too.

I'll post photos later, having this site available with all of the combined knowledge and experience has made the difference. I don't think I would have tried this without it.

I'm looking forward to the "Seventh Annual Western States Rally" this year.

More to follow.
 
If the valve seats are cut, have the machine shop face the valve stems and take off a few thousands, otherwise the shim sizes will move way down the range and you may run out of sizes.

For the hone, 320 grit is about right for the GS rings. 240 will work in a pinch too but I wouldn't use anything coarser.
 
Thanks ED.

Any recommendations on what to use to get the old base gasket to go away?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top