lot of oil from engine breather hose, help!

[Guest]

It started with oil leaking from hole under the starter. Replaced o-ring at starter, still leaking but not from there. Replaced oil pressure sensor bits, still leaking but not from there anymore. Now I have alot of oil coming out the breather hose on top of the tranmission and really dont know what to do about it. Finally got her looking good and running good and now...WTF!? HELP PLEASE!

[BassCliff]

Hi,

My first thought is that the petcock is leaking. Gas is making its way to the crankcase, raising the level and diluting the oil. Not a good thing.

Another cause can be a plugged crankcase breather causing too much internal pressure. Check that the hose between the crankcase breather and the airbox is clear. Sometimes the breather spout on the top of the airbox will get clogged with rust and gunk.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[matt1100]

Thanks Cliff, your site is awesome. You do have me confused though: the hose from my crankcase breather does not connect to the airbox, it ends under the starter. It is new, original disinegrated when i looked at it funny, and flows oil really well, unfortunately. Does the beather plug in the motor come off? I dont smell gas in the oil, had tank off recently, PC left on and no leaks. Could my site glass be lying to me, and it simply be overfilled? I did just top it off (center of F/L)

[keman]

Are you checking the oil on the kick stand or the center stand? Not sure on the1100, but mine has to be on its center stand.

[matt1100]

checking level with bike held upright. centerstand go bye-bye

[BassCliff]

Hi,

I was speaking of the breather hose on top of the valve cover that connects to the airbox. Sorry for the confusion.



Is the oil level over-full because you put too much oil in? Or has gas leaked into the crankcase?

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[chuck hahn]

Its a shafty...we must ASSUME..since you dont list the bike year. So, if youve over filled the primary, the gear lube may be slopped out the breather tube. Remove the primary cover and then youll see 3 plugs. The drain, the FULL level, and at the top is the fill hole. Remove the FULL level and let any over fill out. Have lots of rags handy to soak up what leaks out. If its not coming out the FULL hole then your low on gear lube. Add thru the fill hole just until it starts to trickle out the FULL hole.

[TheCafeKid]

Take a picture of what you're talking about. There is no transmission breather.

[BassCliff]

Hi,

Doh!

Are you talking about the bevel gear oil? Did you overfill it?

I assumed we were talking about the crankcase oil. Forgive my density.

What bike are we talking about? A GS1100G shafty?

This? ---> Secondary Gear Oil Change


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[matt1100]

Man I appriciate the responses guys. I am talking about the breather plug/hose that is just above the transmission, who's hose routes beneath the starter and dumps into the "mystery hole' as I've seen it referred to on this forum. The bike is an 82' GS1100GLZ with 47,000 mi on it. It sat under a tarp for seven years before I rescued it from a date with the scrapyard. Pic is my avatar. I have put about 1500 miles on it now myself. Most recently installed a dynjet 1 kit and attempted a proper vaccum sync. Didn't go perfectly, but it ran amazingly better after. After the leak started I replaced o-rings and seals on the starter and oil pressure switch suspecting them. Now it pours oil from the hose. No gas or gear oil in case oil. Also have had troulbles setting valve clearences due to inconsistent readings. Compression was good when I started working on her and it screams on the street. Blowby? Valve seals? Overpressure? This sounds like an intense fix and I need you guys direction, Thanks

[BassCliff]

Hi Mr. matt1100,

I believe you are speaking of this "plug":



Are either of the engine case oils overfilled? You have two oil compartments in the crankcase, one for the engine oil and one the bevel gear oil. These guides apply to your bike.

Oil and Filter Change

Secondary Gear Oil Change

I suppose there could be a blockage in the breather system for the bevel gears that is forcing the oil out. But I'm not familiar enough with the system to speculate where. Feel free to download the manual from my little website. It may shed some light.

I have neglected to welcome you properly. So let me dump a TON if information on you and share some GS lovin'.

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

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!"....

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!

Thanks for joining us. Keep us informed.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[matt1100]

Alright fellas, persuant to Mr. Hahn's post, I drained the gear oil. It had not occured to me that this breather was for that compartment, I guess because what was leaving it resembled engine oil. Pardon my ignorance sirs. What came out was quite dark and a bit thin for mobile 1 gear oil with only 1500 miles of usage on it. It had previously been filled according to the tutorial on Cliff's site and the initial level prior to draining was a bit higher than I had left it also (it was right at the top of the fill hole!). I'm guessing now that whatever seal is around the drive shaft entering the bevel gear compartment has failed. Any suggestions on how to go about determining that? This isn't looking good...

[TheCafeKid]

Can you please take a picture of what you're talking about?
What weight gear oil did you put in the secondary drive housing? Are you sure it isn't one of the Orings around the drive or driven gear assemblies and then running out from behind the shifter cover? If you can find the exploded diagram with the oil path map in your manual, you'll be able to see how the out put drive drives the drive gear and then the driven gear. I'm not sure, but I don't think that gear oil can leak into the transmission case or it would mix with your engine oil.

Your manual will show you as well that you must take the "fill level" bolt out and fill the secondary gearbox until it starts to weep from that hole. If you fill it overfull, I'm sure it will vent somewhere. That stuff is thick, viscous oil (90 weight) and even if you dropped the level, and actually fixed the problem, it makes a horrid mess, and can take a while to flow out of whatever nooks and crannies it may be in.

[matt1100]

Here is a picture of my motor. You can see the breather hose with the water bottle top on it from me collecting a specimen when i ran it the other night. I idled it in the garage for about 3 min. in that time it probably dropped an once of fluid in the bottle. I used 75w mobile 1 gear oil, and didnt have any issues until this started very recently. I have looked through the part catalog and service manual and had a hard ttime finding a very plain picture of how the transition between oil and gear oil areas happens.

Thinking about starting it again with gear area empty, letting her idle and seeing if that cavity fills with oil...still befuddled, really blows cause the weather is awesome here in central florida and I'm grounded....damn!

[matt1100]

update: I started with empty gear oil compartment. Started and let her idle for about 3 min, removed gear oil drain plug and found a bit of engine oil in there and some metal bits stuck to the magnet on the drain plug! What would you guys do from here?

Also noticed a good little trickle of fuel below carb 2, vaccum on petcocks probably leaking right? Carbs are properly rebuilt very recently

Are the two issues related? Am I completely screwed?