GS 450L oil leak blues.

[pete]

Good stuff, some things just aren't all that obvious to start with, learning is fun

[DacMaddy]

Alright! I finally have an update on the leak. Looks like I really am getting oil in my carbs. I got to my carbs and the butterfly valve between the carb and the intake boot had oil on it. What does this mean for me? Has this suddenly turned into a 500 dollar project to fix it?

On the photo, I put engine dye in the oil that shows up in UV light, and I lighted up the left hand side to show you.

[Broncoman75]

If you loosened the tensioner and it won't slide forward you probably need to loosen the axle nut some more and wiggle it

[pete]

Given that airflow sucks inwards, I don't see how that can be coming from the engine.

However, if you have a lot of blow-by and haven't cleaned your airbox out, then if there's a lot of excess oil in the airbox or if you have over oiled the air filter, then that would definitely result in oil on the butterfly valve.

[DacMaddy]

Hmm I see. Well I haven't looked at the air box since getting it, but how would oil be getting into my air box? What is blow by? And I did notice the actual air box is cracked where it meets with the boot. I haven't been able to find any stock ones to buy, would this be a time to consider air pods?

[pete]

On top of your motor is a hose that goes from there to the airbox.

That hose is for what's called blow by... if too much pressure is built up a small amount of oil is blown out there.

Over years this will build up in the airbox.

Some blow by is normal which could explain the dye you're seeing. How long between when you put the dye in and when you saw it in the carbs?

[DacMaddy]

Oh is that the hose that's coming out from the bottom of the airbox?

Hrmm I'd say probably 2 weeks or so. But I had noticed a leak well before I put the dye in it.

Anyway my airbox is basically shot because there are huge cracks where it meets the boot so I'm either gonna have to get a new airbox or go to pods. If I went to pods, what happens when too much pressure builds up in my motor?

[pete]

There's a hose from the breather cover on the motor (on top of the valve cover) and that's the one that lets the blow by go to the airbox.

The one from the bottom of the airbox is a drain hose.

I have pods on mine and I bought a catch tank from Pegasus Racing, so the hose from the breather now goes to that instead of the airbox. It has a drain so every now and then I open the drain screw and empty it.

[DacMaddy]

Oh I see, gotcha! Well I went ahead and checked my air filter and it looks pretty clean so that's out of the picture. I talked to my friend that works on cars and he said it sounds like a piston ring or a valve guide. I'm gonna put everything back together after I rebuild the cam chain tensioner and then do a compression test.

[pete]

Cool... but it could just be excess oil in the airbox itself... if that drain hose is blocked it will have nowhere to go.

[DacMaddy]

Hmm that's true. I'll run water through all the houses and make sure none of them are clogged, thanks for the tip!

[DacMaddy]

Alright so I did more work on my bike today. I'd say today did not go so well. I was in the process of taking my intake boots off and realized I can't get the screws out without taking out the airbox, which is basically impossible. I thought if I took the clutch cable off I could get the airbox out. So in the process of that I took the crankcase cover off, and found like 20 o rings about the size of a dime under the shaft that comes out of the clutch I think. Were these part of the crankcase cover? I can't seem to find it on a parts fiche. Also, I think I bent the linkage where the clutch cable meets the crankcase cover.... Can I just bend it back, or is there a way to replace it without replacing the entire cover?

[DacMaddy]

Ok so I was able to just bend the linkage stuff back on the clutch cable end so that it'll work again. I'm still worried about those like 20+ o-rings that just randomly ended up at the bottom of the clutch cover where the front sprocket is. Where are these on the parts fiche? I can't find them on the crank case cover page. Here's a picture of all the o-rings that fell out.

[boingk]

Judging by how mangled and dirty they are... I'd say they definitely should NOT be there.

I'd check deeper, perhaps drop your sump and see if anything else has managed to end up where it shouldn't.

- boingk

[Big Rich]

Do you have an O-ring drive chain? I bet that's it destroying itself ....

Edit: Sorry for the mini thread jack...... Boingk! Good to see you're still riding on 2 wheels!