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81 gs850 rebuild blues

  • Thread starter Thread starter bdc0923
  • Start date Start date
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bdc0923

Guest
Just recently picked up a 1981 gs 850L. The past month I have relined a rusty tank, rebuilt the carbs and fluid change outs.
Finally got to the point to start it up and found the head gasket leaking. The PO dropped the bike and I am assumming he tweaked the head and or cylinder. When its running I can hear air leaking out when it is running and not running well. The fins on the cylinder are slightly bent didnt think much of the damage till now. Check out the pic and let me know as far as you can tell if some new gaskets and some machineing would take care of the leak.
 
bdc0923 said:
Just recently picked up a 1981 gs 850L. The past month I have relined a rusty tank, rebuilt the carbs and fluid change outs.
Finally got to the point to start it up and found the head gasket leaking. The PO dropped the bike and I am assumming he tweaked the head and or cylinder. When its running I can hear air leaking out when it is running and not running well. The fins on the cylinder are slightly bent didnt think much of the damage till now. Check out the pic and let me know as far as you can tell if some new gaskets and some machineing would take care of the leak.
Click to expand...



Not sure about the damage. Is "air" leaking from that spot? Leaking in/out... is it exhaust? Maybe just a leak somewhere else? Intake boots intact?

How many miles on the engine? ... re-tightening the head to specs is required maintenance. Maybe it was loose and the fall just jared a head that needed re-torqued anyway. Don't really know... there are many on here with much more knowledge of these matters than I..
 
Those fins can be heated and straightened out but it's a slow process. Head gaskets tend to blow outward and leak oil- they can affect your vacuum as well- but as TwoTime mentioned, possibly leaking boots. I feel your pain- but take note that once its all done and running solid- you will have a great bike that rarely breaks down.
Upside to all of it is your learning about your machine-the hard way.
You really won't know the extent of the problems until you do a teardown- you might be crossing a line of your budget and how much you want to do-
In some cases it can be better to go after another bike and cut your losses.
 
Hello and Welcome to the site....

since I got to you first, let me point you to your Mega Welcome package...

Hi Mr. bdc0923,

Just in case you missed it, here's the "mega-welcome".... :rolleyes:

Let me dump a TON of information on you and share some GS lovin'. :D

I just stopped by to welcome you to the forum in my own, special way.
big_hi.gif


If there's anything you'd like to know about the Suzuki GS model bikes, and most others actually, you've come to the right place. There's a lot of knowledge and experience here in the community. Come on in and let me say "HOoooowwwDY!"....
hat1.gif


Here is your very own magical, mystical, mythical, mind-expanding "mega-welcome". Please take notice of the "Top 10 Common Issues", "Top 15 Tips For GS Happiness", the Carb Cleanup Series, and the Stator Papers. All of these tasks must be addressed in order to have a safe, reliable machine. This is what NOT to do: Top 10 Newbie Mistakes. Now let me roll out the welcome mat for you...

carpet.jpg


Please click here for your mega-welcome, chock full of tips, suggestions, links to vendors, and other information. Then feel free to visit my little BikeCliff website where I've been collecting the wisdom of this generous community. Don't forget, we like pictures! Not you, your bike! :D

Thanks for joining us. Keep us informed.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff
Click to expand...
 
Perhaps the oil leak is just the usual tach drive seals that need replacing. ;)

Eric
 
First off I would like to thank you guys for all the help, if it wasnt for this forum/ the mega welcome with BikeCliff I would be chassing my tail on this rebuild.
The GS sat for about 9 years I went with a full carb rebuild with all new o-rings, carb boots and did a valve adjustment. Basicly followed the BikeCliff website to a "T". The gs has 23,000miles and is in good shape appearence wise and mechanicaly sound. So after all the work I have done on the bike I can't give up on it just yet.
Im not to sure on the damage myself. I can actuallly see exaust gases coming from the area of the damge, when just at an idle the leak does get better as the engine warms up. The bike does idle but it is not stable I am assuming because of the air leak, I will try and tourqe the head down again and see what happens its not going to hurt at this point. If this dosent do it I have already talked to a machine shop about taking a look at the cylinder to determine if its repairable or not just have to wait a week or so for him. thanks again! and will keep you guys updated.
Here is a pic of the bike:
 
Getting better as it warms up does sound like a bit of a crack to me, that seals itself up as the metal expands, I'd say you're right, torque it down and if that doesn't work then machine shop.
 
Good looking bike! I'd lean toward a gasket- metal cracks get bigger when heated up!
Stay at it!
 
Badooka said:
Good looking bike! I'd lean toward a gasket- metal cracks get bigger when heated up!
Stay at it!
Click to expand...

Actually, I might be wrong, but I had a car once, white smoke on start up, went away when it was warmed up. I thought it was the head gasket letting water into the cylinders when it was sat, changed it, didn't solve the problem, turned out to be cracked head, I thought that the metal expanding against itself when heated up closed the crack, maybe it's just where the crack was or the size of it.
 
EvilEnfield said:
Actually, I might be wrong, but I had a car once, white smoke on start up, went away when it was warmed up. I thought it was the head gasket letting water into the cylinders when it was sat, changed it, didn't solve the problem, turned out to be cracked head, I thought that the metal expanding against itself when heated up closed the crack, maybe it's just where the crack was or the size of it.
Click to expand...

When you turned the hot engine off, the pressure builds up in the cooling system. If there is a crack or leak that is when it is most likely to leak. In your case INTO a cylinder. When you start it back up it pushes that ati-freeze out the exhaust and burns. While it's running the compression from the cylinder keeps it from leaking into the cylinder, but will leak exaust gasses into the cooling system... Which is why the smoke goes away when it "warms up"...

Sorry, was an automotive technician for 9 years...
 
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