Oil Usage

[Greg B]

Having a weird issue. Engine is using a lot of oil. Enough that I must keep a diligent eye on the level.
Now here's the weird part. No leaks, (maybe a small drip from the shifter, just a drop or two every other week or so) not being burned, no smoke from the exhaust. Now there IS smoke coming from the breather, actually more than I would like to see.
Leak down showed 12% in #1, & 8% in 2, 3, & 4. This was on a stone cold engine. Just a little leakage past the rings. Well acceptable for a street motor.
Compression is good. Carbs just a touch fat at idle. Runs like raped ape otherwise.
But for the life of me, I can't figure this out.

There were several small areas that WERE leaking oil(which was what I thought the problem was to begin with). But I fixed all those with new seals & gaskets. And for a while, oil consumption was nil. Then it started to increase again.

Oh for info:
'85 GS1150ES, bored to 1229
GSX-R 750 cams
RS36 flatslides w/pods
Yosh header
Dyna coils

Any thoughts?

[SqDancerLynn1]

Bad valve seals? Did you mic the piston cylinders ? Check ring gap ?

[Greg B]

Everything measured up great. Valve seals, pistons, rings, pins, all new, fresh bore & hone 12,000 miles ago.
The leaks were from a damaged shifter shaft, stripped hole in clutch cover, and bad o-ring on cam chain tensioner.
Again, I thought the oil loss was from leakage.
But the leak-down & lack of smoking exhaust makes me think I'm not getting oil into the combustion chamber. But I'm really scratching my head over this one.
I suppose I could go ahead with a hone & re-ring. New valve seals while I'm at it. I have all the parts in stock anyway.
The 1150 engine DOESN'T have a separator in the breather cover as original equipment, so I installed one this weekend while checking valve clearances. Might make a difference.
Only real possibility I can come up with is too much crankcase pressure.

[bbjumper]

I have a similar problem that I posted earlier on my 82 850G. My oil consumption isn't consistent though, I can go 200 to 300 mi. with no oil consumption and in the next 30 mi. use 5oz. Really got me stumped, no smoke, no leaks, good compressions and she runs fine with good power. Always check it in the same place, on the center stand. Good Luck and waiting to hear what you find.

B

[salty_monk]

Any noticeable difference at revs?
My 1000G would use a lot more on the freeway than round town.
It wouldn't really smoke either, a bit on choke at start and when you flogged it (hard to see solo from the seat) but would sometimes drop from max to min in 500-600 miles.
New rings and stem seals would likely have cured it.

[earlfor]

The 1150 engine DOESN'T have a separator in the breather cover as original equipment, so I installed one this weekend while checking valve clearances. Might make a difference.
Only real possibility I can come up with is too much crankcase pressure.

That may be the cause of the problem. I would remove it and see if it makes a difference.

[bbjumper]

I have had my girlfriend follow me on mine, no smoke, none on start up? WTF, planning on going into the top end this winter but would really like to know what it is that I'm trying to fix first. Keep us posted, Thanks

[duaneage]

Pull the hose from the top of the engine to the air box and see if it is filled with oil. You may be pulling it up through the top. Pull the small panel on the top of the engine and see if there is any steel wool in there. I was pulling oil through there because I didn't have any number 3 steel wool in the cavities.

[TheCafeKid]

How much oil are we talking how fast? Its been pretty consistent on all of my GSes to use about a half quart every 800-1000 miles with alot of flogging in warmer weather.

My ES used to have a bit of steam/smoke from the breather. I didn't have any type of filter on it or anything. I ran a hose back from the breather and put a small KN filter on it, and a catch cup for a while as I wanted to see how much oil was coming out. It was pretty minute really. Just enough to make a mess.
I changed the mesh in the breather and it seemed to help quite a bit and that engine had quite a few more miles on it than yours. One thing I learned though was the FULL mark was not your friend. If I filled it full, especially after putting the oil cooler on it, it would find every weak or weakening gasket I had. From then on I filled it just above half and it quit blowing oil everywhere.

Also did you install HO pump gears?? That made my problems worse, but absolutely necessary if you have some beans in the motor...

[Greg B]

Yes, 750 oil pump gears.
I fill halfway between the high & low mark with the bike on a rear stand. I'm having to add approx. 1/4 quart every other week. I ride at least 250 miles a week just commuting.
My '82 Katana had literally zero oil consumption, with roughly 48,000 on the clock. And I put 46,000 of those miles on it myself. Which is why the high oil usage on my 1150 is just bugging me.
I figure I will go ahead with new rings & valve seals. This time I'm going to use
Total Seal Quickseat Dry Film Powder. Supposed to work really well.
Unless I hear some opinions otherwise.
I'm just suspect that I never did get good ring seating, although the leak-down numbers don't suggest that.
We shall see.