• 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.

Oiling the boot leather.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Hap Call
  • Start date Start date
H

Hap Call

Guest
Bike: 1981 GS1100EX

Miles: 247,348

Modifications: 1166 kit, degreed cams, heavy duty clutch basket, Barnett clutch kit, heavy duty clutch springs, top end oiler, GS750 oil pump gears, oil pressure gauge, Mikuni smoothbore carbs, K&N pod filters, and 4 into 1 header.

Conditions: I was riding down the road with my best friend on the back (my wife). We were going about 70 MPH, temperature was around 80 degrees F. The engine was running smooth and there were no apparent problems. We had been riding for about 30 minutes.

Problem: I shifted gears and felt my foot slip off the shifter. I looked down at my left foot and it was covered with oil. I rode the bike to the house and parked it to inspect the problem. There was no one place that I could tell where the oil was coming from. The front of the motor was covered with oil. It was not coming from the valve cover gasket or the tachometer drive.

Two days later, I took the bike to the carwash and cleaned the oil away. I then took the bike for a 15-mile ride. I came home, put it on the center stand and looked for the leak. Not a drop any place on the bike. I have no idea where the oil came from. I would rather find a leak than nothing at all...now I am afraid to leave the house incase it slobbers on me again.

Any suggestion would be appreciated!

Hap :evil:
 
maybe it is out of oil now! LOL sorry couldnt resist it.
when you washed it and test rode it, how did you ride it? did you baby it?
take it out and starting out slow in first gear open it up and let it pull all the way up.
you want to get it good and warmed up and build up plenty of crank case presure.
did you go over all those oil lines and fittings, including the oil filter cover bolts?

where is your crank case vent located at now?

is it posible that you may have run through some oil on the ground and it was sprayed up on the front of the engine by the front tire?
 
Not to overlook the obvious - but have you checked your forks?? 8)
 
shaftzuki said:
Not to overlook the obvious - but have you checked your forks?? 8)
Click to expand...

good one Mark!! when my fork seal blew the first time, it blew oil all over the front of the engine!!
 
focus frenzy said:
shaftzuki said:
Not to overlook the obvious - but have you checked your forks?? 8)
Click to expand...

good one Mark!! when my fork seal blew the first time, it blew oil all over the front of the engine!!
Click to expand...

That's exactly what I was thinking about ... 8)
 
shaftzuki said:
Not to overlook the obvious - but have you checked your forks?? 8)
Click to expand...

I thought about that one too but my fork oil is a different color than this oil and my forks have shown no sign of leaking. It was definitely engine oil.

When I took it for that 15 mile test ride I rode it like I always do...hard but not abusive. I think I need to ride it for a good 30 minutes and see if the leak re-appears.

Thanks for the input so far...every little bit helps!

Hap
 
An intermittent fault (hopefully this is only a one off mystery!) is hard to diagnose. Crankcase venting is a one off possibility, but if it was the front of the engine, perhaps not. Getting up to peak operating temperature may be the only test for a gasket starting to let go whne the oil thins out a bit.

Were you riding close behind a Harley??
 
maybe someone threw a quart of oil at you and said "take that you you biker!"?
 
I`m lost on this one. I sit and thought and thought...could it be a cylinder stud loose??? when building crankcase pressure blowing by the stud? One of the small 8mm head studs gone? wouldn`t be leaking at the oil pressure sending switch and running through the cylinder appearing to come from the front? Loose cylinder head? leaking by the cylinder o-ring from underneath the sleeves going out fins in cylinder? Heck can`t think of any more wierd stuff. BTW seen that last one before. Let us know what you find...
 
My old GS850GT had a leaking stator cover gasket once (the underside).
Took me several test rides to find the leak. It covered my left foot with oil too, but only at higher speeds.
 
jojo said:
My old GS850GT had a leaking stator cover gasket once (the underside).
Took me several test rides to find the leak. It covered my left foot with oil too, but only at higher speeds.
Click to expand...

Getting off the subject and not helping Hap one bit........

I over-oiled my new airfilter. Thought I'd wrung it out real well - not so. When it got hot after the first run to work the residual oil ran down onto the shaft drive boot area with the bike on the sidestand. I spent a very anxious hour trying to figure out where the oil was coming from. Not a good feeling.

Hap, hope you find an inexpensive leak.
 
When my S head gaskets let go, I got oil up on my shin and thigh area.

The leak didn't happen until I was at higher speeds, over 7K on the tach.
Also the motor was very warm/hot.
I was able to make it home, about 60 miles at slow speed.

Check the base gaskets also.
I just had mine replaced, head,base and valve cover gaskets.
Also while the head was off he replaced the gaskets for the tach cable.

No more leaks, money well spent.

Good luck, hope you find it

Keith
 
Hap,
My suggestion is to go take the same ride that you were on when you discovered the leak. This time with out the wife just in case she needs to come get you.
 
i think you hit something in the road....and was your oil level correct when you checked it? if it was full couldnt have come from your bike.
 
Hi Hap,What about the 2 O-rings on the center-front head bolt nuts, they make a mess when they let go, similar to what you describe, and are not readily apparent
 
Okay, this one falls into the catagory of Big Foot, Loch Ness Monster, and the Burmuda Triangle...can't find the dang oil leak! Rode for over an hour in temperatures around 90 degrees, both highway and stop/go city and I found nothing, not even a little weeping. The motor was bone dry.

I have no clue what happened. I am beginning to think it was what Rick suggested...I must have hit some oil or something. This is the strangest thing I have ever had happen on this bike and I have had it for 22 years!

Suzuki GS1100E...Heal Thyself!!!!

Hap :?
 
I think I found the leak or at least the general area. It is coming from either the cam chain adjustor or the oil pickup for my top end oiler...more info as this issue develops...


Hap
 
Ah HA!!!! I was close when thinking it was where the oil sending unit is. Thats a hard place to see when the carbs are on. Hope you find it...I hate looking like a harley.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top