• 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.

Slight oil leaks due to synthetic oil?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Dr.T
  • Start date Start date
D

Dr.T

Guest
I put synthetic AMSOIL into my GS550 last year and have noticed more leaks popping up intermittently. Nothing to the point of dripping but I smell it burning and sometimes see smoke from it. Should I switch back to regular oil? I've heard the synthetics aggravate leaks.
 
Amsoil is good oil. Hope you used the motorcycle or diesel engine variety.

Synthetic oil does not cause leaks, however they may exploit weak gaskets.
 
Last edited:
They "clean" better so can sometimes remove sludge that was previously slowing down a leak but they do not directly cause them....

Have you changed grade of oil? A lot of Full Syn is 5w-XXw. The thinner the oil the more you will burn in an older engine (tolerances are not the same as modern water cooled engines).

:)
 
I used motorcycle oil the same grade/weight that is on the oil cap on the engine (I think it was 5w-40). I did forget to mention that this bike is from 1980. Should I revert back to another oil or what would you recommend?
 
As mentioned, the synthetic oil does not directly cause leaks, but the high detergent content might have cleaned some sludge that was blocking a leak, allowing it to show up. If you go back to a "regular" oil, it will still probably leak there. You could put in 'thicker' oil, but that will only slow it down, and will also slow down oil delivery to the smallest oil passages inside the engine (not good).

Suggetsions? If it's not dripping, just wipe if off once in a while. If it's dripping, replace the gasket.


By the way, not sure if there was 5w-40 available in 1980, so your cap probably says 10w-40.

.
 
Dr.T said:
I used motorcycle oil the same grade/weight that is on the oil cap on the engine (I think it was 5w-40). I did forget to mention that this bike is from 1980. Should I revert back to another oil or what would you recommend?
Click to expand...

5W-40 is fine; the 5W is thinner than 10W, but only at low temperature. Once the bike is up and running the oil is 40 weight, which is appropriate for the GS engine.

If I were you I'd fix the leaks. Looks to be coming from the valve cover. How long since you adjusted the valves last and did you replace the valve cover gasket when you did? Did you remove the half moon seals and reseal them along the curved bottom area?
 
That valve cover gasket looks incredibly thin to me. Who made it?

Eric
 
Dr.T said:
I haven't done any serious engine work on it and to my knowledge none of the previous owners have either. It's probably due for some but I'm not really experienced with engine work. Maybe with a tutorial....

I'll probably just run it as it is for now but with dino oil until the leaks get worse. Any hope for an oil conditioner that claims to fix leaks? http://www.lucasoil.com/products/display_products.sd?iid=83&catid=7&loc=show
Click to expand...


Performing a valve adjustment is not "serious engine work", it's a very simple basic maintenance procedure. The service manual calls for checking the valves and adjusting as necessary every 4000 miles. Failure to do this will damage the valves and maybe the cylinder head as well.

Basscliff has a valve adjustment tutorial on his website. You best get busy, and order an original Suzuki valve cover gasket in advance.

The oil is fine; Amsoil is first rate oil which is very expensive. It's foolish to blame the oil when root cause of the problem traces back to poor maintenance. Sticking monkey snot in the crankcase as a bandaid would be pure stupidity.
 
I remember finding sawdust in a transmission once-Anything to stop a leak I guess.
Maintenance is king.
 
Hey guys. This year my leaks have gone from slow to rapid. They seem to be coming all from the front of the head under the exhaust pipes. Does that sound like gasket issues or is there anything that I might have done to the exhaust pipes that could have caused it?
 
If you are lucky it could be the cam chain tensioner. Hot oil swirls everywhere.
 
Dr.T said:
Hey guys. This year my leaks have gone from slow to rapid. They seem to be coming all from the front of the head under the exhaust pipes. Does that sound like gasket issues or is there anything that I might have done to the exhaust pipes that could have caused it?
Click to expand...
Unless you tapped an exhaust thread and popped through to the oil galley behind, then there is nothing I can think exhaust-related that would cause an oil leak
 
on some suzukis there are drains for the spark plug wells that come out right by the exaust, check the valve cover gasket
 
Where is the cam chain tensioner? Thanks for the replies. I'll post some pics in a little bit.
 
Nessism said:
Amsoil is good oil. Hope you used the motorcycle or diesel engine variety.

Synthetic oil does not cause leaks, however they may exploit weak gaskets.
Click to expand...

How gasket materials reacts to different liquids determines how effective the gasket is.

A couple of years ago I did a massive amount of research on gasket materials as we were having gaskets made for us. What I found out is each gasket compound expands different amounts based on the liquid it is exposed to. After doing all the research I had a mix of gasket materials and exposed them to different oils and also gasoline. Some of the gasket material expanded 60% or more (and that is good - you want a gasket to fill the imperfections between surfaces). A couple of the materials didn't seem to like synthetic oil - the amount of expansion was way less that with mineral oil.

So... I think some of the gasket material in older bikes has very limited sealing properties when exposed to synthetic oil.
 
cam chain tensioner is on the back of the cylinders under the carbs
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top