New guy with bad problem

[oneliterbeater]

Hello everyone. My name is Joe and I just picked up a 79 GS1000. About half way home from picking it up, I noticed oil spraying on my leg from somewhere. I stopped at a gas station to check it out, but couldn't tell where it was coming from. Couldn't see any oil in the sight window, so I started adding oil. I ended up putting 3+ quarts in it and still couldn't see any in the sight window. I started it back up and it was pumping oil out faster than I could fill it. So, I ended up calling a friend and hauled it home. By then it was dark and I was disgusted, so I just rolled it into the garage.

Today after work, I rolled it out and started it and the oil is pumping out of a tube at the top of the engine. From the tube that is in a picture in this post :

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum...crankcase+tube

I assume it is the crankcase vent tube spoken of in the post. I tried searching for a few hours last night on your forums here, but that's the best thing I've found so far. My problem seems to be quite more serious than a "leak" as it will pump out a quart of oil in less than a minute at idle.

Is there supposed to be a hose connected to that tube? Or do I have some sort of catastrophic failure coming on?

Any help will be very appreciated. It's been a long time since I've owned a bike and I'm excited to get back on.

Many thanks,

Joe

[Octain]

Linky no worky..

[Suzuki mad]

If your talking about the breather on top of the engine it should go to the airbox but as you say its loose then I'm guessing that the bikes running pods.

[TheCafeKid]

That's a massive amount of oil to be coming out of the breather. Either you have some serious blow by going, which I think anyone with a brain would notice by the oil, smoke, and terrible racket coming from the motor if it was this bad, or perhaps you've way overfilled it, your petcock may be leaking dumping gas into the crank case, and it's just blowing everything out.. That's pretty amazing, that much oil and it's still running. Why don't you try draining it all out, and starting over to make sure it's not over full. Just because you didn't see it in the window doesn't mean it wasn't good on oil. It needs to sit for a few minutes for the oil to reach it's mark after running. If you just shut it off for a second and started pouring oil in it's probably way overfull. Hard telling without seeing, but I'd drain it first, check it for gas, and go from there.

[BassCliff]

Greetings and Salutations!!

Hi Mr. oneliterbeather,

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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. Now let me roll out the welcome mat for you...



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!

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Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[hampshirehog]

It does sound like you over filled it. The thing only holds 2400cc, roughly half a UK gallon and you put in much more than that.

[oneliterbeater]

Thanks for the responses so far.

No abnormal engine noise. Didn't smoke out of the pipes (still doesn't). When I noticed the problem, I shut it down as soon as I could. I only started it this afternoon to see if I could tell where the oil was coming from. I didn't run it any longer than 30 seconds.

I'm far from a motorcycle mechanic, but I've spun a few wrenches in my life and maintain all of my other vehicles and equipment.

After further searches here and looking at the bike, I see where a hose should be connected from the crankcase tube to the air box and it is missing. Can I get some hose at a parts place? What kind?

If this hose was missing, could it cause oil to come out of the crankcase tube? I might have been wrong about how much/ how fast it was coming out, as it sent me into alarm mode. But it is definitely coming out faster than a leak.

I'm going to drain the gas tank because I filled it when I picked it up. Then I will remove it and take a better look at exactly what I have going on here.


I hope to find a relatively simple and inexpensive fix. For the short time I got to ride it so far it ran and handled great. Now I want to get it into shae so I can enjoy it.

[Nessism]

My guess is the petcock allowed gasoline to leak down the vacuum line and into the engine. And what you thought was no oil, was actually a completely filled sightglass.

I suggest you drain the oil and check to see if the petcock is functioning as intended.

[Steve]

One other possibility on the oil level:

Did you have the bike on the centerstand when you checked the oil?

Or maybe on the side stand?
If you filled it to the sight glass while on the side stand, it's WAY over full.

.

[oneliterbeater]

An update:

I drained the fuel tank and oil today after work. It doesn't seem like the petcock is leaking, but I don't know for sure. There was definitely way too much oil in it though. I haven't measured yet, but it's way over 4 quarts in the drain pan.

I'm not sure why I couldn't see anything in the sight glass. If it was overfull because the crankcase was full of gas I could see where it would look like there is no oil, but when I drained it, it was all oil colored and consistent. I did not start the bike before I drained the oil today, so it shouldn't have mixed. Maybe it did.

I guess there are a few factors that might make a difference. This bike is not stock. It was turned into a hardtail bobber. Maybe it sits at a strange angle from stock and doesn't read correctly in the sight glass anymore.

I'm going to see if I can find an oil filter and a replacement piece of tube to connect the crankcase vent to the airbox, fill it back up (with the correct amount of oil this time) and see what happens. Unless anyone has suggestions otherwise.

[1948man]

As others have asked, was it on the center stand when you looked at the oil sight glass?

[Mysuzyq]

Or maybe on the side stand?
If you filled it to the sight glass while on the side stand, it's WAY over full.

My $ is on this....actually quite a common mistake for new motorcyclists.

[TheCafeKid]

If it's been bobbered and lowered it likely doesn't have a center stand anymore. And if it did you'd be hard pressed to get it up on it as it being lowered makes it pretty tough to get leverage on it compared to stock.
As already stated, when checking the oil the bike needs to be upright and as close to level ground as you can get it on. Once you change the filter and oil you'll wanna fill it that way till you see the oil fill to the F mark and then start the bike for a few seconds or so. Shut it off, let it sit for a few minutes and check the level again. When doing a filter change you need to cycle the oil through the motor and then check the level again as it will drop once oil is pushed into places it wasn't after you drained it.
Unfortunately, since it was likely overfull you're probably going to find gaskets that will weep a bit now, as if it was that full it would have tried to push oil out of any already weak gasket it may have had (valve cover, cam chain tensioner, half moons and maybe the starter snout oring) so bare that in mind.
Btw, you might have a whiff of your oil. If it was full of gas, it may not change colour much, as the gas will wash dirt out of passages, but it will smell like gas instead of oil.
A quick test of your petcock would simply be to disconnect the hose leading to the carbs. Turn it on "prime" gas should flow. If you turn it to ON or RES and it still flows, it's bad.

[Big T]

Did the oil you drained out smell like oil, or like gas?

The sight glass is really sensitive to the bike being vertical. When you change to oil, add 3 1/2 qts and check from there

You can get a filter at the dealer, online ,just about anywhere - just be sure it includes the O ring

You should test your petcock - any fuel in the vacuum line?

[oneliterbeater]

As others have asked, was it on the center stand when you looked at the oil sight glass?

It was not on the center stand (which is still there) but I did stand it up straight and waited for a few minutes to check the level. I put it up on the center stand today to drain the oil. It was a bit of a bear to get up there though.

The oil did smell a bit like gas to me and I siphoned the gas tank just so I could get it out of the way. Maybe I will put some in tomorrow and check the petcock.