Noise from Gearbox

[Guest]

Hi All.

I have a 1979 GS850. Gearbox gets noisy when I engage 2nd & 3rd Gears. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Regards.

Chris

[GSX1000E]

Apparently no one else knowledgeable about the GS850 model has logged on all day around here. Strange.
Anyway, have you drained the secondary drive unit and inspected the fluid that comes out yet?
If not, do that first and post a picture of what you find and refill it with a GL-5 rated gear oil of your choice. (I prefer and use only synthetic oils in my GS bikes and gearboxes.)
Same with the engine oil. Drain it and post a picture of what comes out. Refill it with some Rotella 15W-40 and a new filter.
Then, take it for a ride and see if it improves.

[Chris Finlay]

Really appreciate your reply, I was beginning to give up hope. I will try what you suggest tonight and let you know.

Best regards.

Chris.

[Chris Finlay]

drained the gear box and some water came out first then oil. can water access the gearbox through the hole under the starter motor .

[bwringer]

drained the gear box and some water came out first then oil. can water access the gearbox through the hole under the starter motor .

No -- the Mystery Hole under the starter drains to the outside of the engine through an empty space in front of the secondary drive.

On top of the secondary drive gear cavity, there's supposed to be a vent fitting and a small tube running from the fitting down into the Mystery Hole. If the fitting is missing, water could get into the secondary.

Undo the clamp and peel back the boot around the front u-joint. See if there's oil there from a leaking seal and check to see if the flange is loose or broken off the engine side.


Also, you are being rather coy about the nature of the noise -- please describe the noise in detail, and the exact circumstances under which the noise appears. GS850 gearbox issues are extremely rare. Issues with the secondary drive gears are less rare, which is why the first reply mentioned this.

[81GS850]

No -- the Mystery Hole under the starter drains to the outside of the engine through an empty space in front of the secondary drive.

On top of the secondary drive gear cavity, there's supposed to be a vent fitting and a small tube running from the fitting down into the Mystery Hole. If the fitting is missing, water could get into the secondary.

Undo the clamp and peel back the boot around the front u-joint. See if there's oil there from a leaking seal and check to see if the flange is loose or broken off the engine side.


Also, you are being rather coy about the nature of the noise -- please describe the noise in detail, and the exact circumstances under which the noise appears. GS850 gearbox issues are extremely rare. Issues with the secondary drive gears are less rare, which is why the first reply mentioned this.

God hopefully not this....this happened to my bike. it would make noise like yours mentioned. Post a pic of flange if broken. There's two types.

[Chris Finlay]

changed engine oil and filter and gear oil. running fine now. no noise from gear box. many thanks. still don't know how water got into gearbox.

[Nessism]

Helping a friend work on his 850 and it's developed a nasty sounding noise. Seems worse at lower speeds but not positive. I just rode the bike around the neighborhood for a while. At any rate, what does a failing secondary gearset sound like? This particular bike has a lot of rumbling and exhaust popping when decelerating, so at first I thought that maybe one of the baffles in the muffler got loose. On second thought though this may be just wishful thinking. At any rate, the noise occurred while accelerating through the lower gears under load. Doesn't seem to occur all the time. The bike itself runs flawlessly and doesn't have all that many miles on it - under 40k.