I'm green and just bought a GSmachine

[jryanmc]

Hey, I am new to this site. It was recommended by the person I just bought an '81 GS850G from. I am looking at doing some maintenance on the bike, and need a point in the right direction. First, the bike has new tires, new battery, new fluids, all carbs have been rebuilt, and the master cylinder has been replaced. The bike runs great at roughly 29k miles. I want to keep it that way while I do some modifications to it. I need some guidance though as like i stated in the title, i am green and wet behind the ears. Not afraid to admit it. The engine itself could use a good cleaning along with the rest of the bike. Anyone have some experience and direction with this? Degreaser? Wire brush? Aluminum polish? Coke and aluminum for the rust on the chrome? Once I get it cleaned and looking good as stock, then I will build out with aftermarket parts (maybe). I want to keep it running as well as it is now though. Are there any tips with the GS maintenance? Anything that goes unseen to look for? One thing that I should mention, I am getting smoke from oil residue at the cylinder head cover. Thinking about replacing the gasket there. Other than that, thanks for reading. I am sure I will have more questions as time goes on. I hope to learn some things here.

 

[Leftie]

You may be tempted to start using full synthetic oil in it. Don't! When I switched my '81 GS850G to Mobil One back in the Eighties, I ended up having to have a new top end gasket set installed. The bike was fine after that on the synthetic, but those old seals and gaskets are definitely not guaranteed to like the stuff. I ran subsequent bikes on non-synthetic motorcycle oil.

 

[SVSooke]

First place to go is here http://members.dslextreme.com/users/bikecliff/ then look for Ed's http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/member.php?1969-Nessism top 10 newbie thread.Then enjoy the forum!

 

[Brendan W]

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?164993-Charging-System-QUICK-TEST/page4&p=1272192#post1272192

http://www.thegsresources.com/_foru...-Charging-System-Health&p=1138531#post1138531

Get stuck into the charging system. The original regulator/rectifier is known to cause stator failure, $$$, and the wiring and grounding strategy could use updating. In particular eliminating the stator loop to the front of the bike and fixing up a single point ground and thinking about a series r/r instead of a shunt unit.
As for cleaning it would be more profitable to start with the switches and plugs such as the kill switch, ignition switch, fusebox clean, coil supply plugs etc etc. Go through the electrical system methodically chasing down voltage drops ruthlessly.

 

[tkent02]

You may be tempted to start using full synthetic oil in it. Don't! When I switched my '81 GS850G to Mobil One back in the Eighties, I ended up having to have a new top end gasket set installed. The bike was fine after that on the synthetic, but those old seals and gaskets are definitely not guaranteed to like the stuff. I ran subsequent bikes on non-synthetic motorcycle oil.

Synthetic oil is just fine, been using it forever on lots and lots of motorcycles. Most of us use it all the time. The original Mobil 1 was something like 5 weight oil.

 

[alke46]

I thought that most of us preferred the Rotella Diesel oil, no?

 

[eil]

I thought that most of us preferred the Rotella Diesel oil, no?

Yes. Rotella T 15W40 is all these bikes need.

 

[tkent02]

Sure it's good. Rotella Synthetic is fine too. If the bike burns a lot of oil use the cheap stuff. If it doesn't use the synthetic.

 

[Grimly]

This has the makings of .....


An OIL THREAD

Fwiw, the past couple of years have been interesting in an oily way. I was using 5w40 synth and the old 850 loved it, it certainly ran like a Swiss watch and there was a definite liberation of a couple of extra horsepower from the reduced internal drag. The cold clutch drag totally disappeared in the winter, which was the main reason I'd gone with that oil. The only downside was a tendency for a suspicion of a base gasket leak, which had been starting to show, to get worse. The damned Achilles Heel of that triangular O-ring on the lower left was expressing itself. It was inevitable and I'd been waiting for it. I haven't had one of these engines that hasn't eventually leaked from there. On the other hand, none of the rebuilt ones has ever leaked there afterwards.
Anyway, I cba stripping it yet, so I'm changing to a bike-specific 20w50 semi-synth, and standardising on that for all the heaps, as it actually suits them better than more modern oils. No sense in having a range of different oils on my shelves when one will do.
Nice though it was, to sample the wonders of fresh new technology for a while, the much reduced price of bike-specific oils these days and free delivery to my door makes it worthwhile to make the change and see how it pans out.

 

[dantodd]

It's not synthetic vs. Dino. It's about super slippery additives. Diesel oils don't have super slippery additives, some automotive oils do. Bike clutches don't like super slippery additves because they make it harder to get good grip and some clutches will slip with certain automotive oils, particularly synthetics.

Most economical option is diesel oil which older bike in particular love. You can choose whether or not to spend the extra money for synthetic.