GS 450L oil leak blues.

[DacMaddy]

I'm honestly not sure if I have an o-ring drive chain or not... How do I check?

And sorry, what's a sump?

[pete]

First off, some pic's of what it looks like under the sprocket cover will help, but I reckon Rich is probably on the right track there.

If you look closely at your chain and it's an O ring chain, you will see O rings between the outside plates and the inner links of the chain. I hope that makes sense! If it's oily and grungy it may not be easy to see.

Of course it could be a previous chain that did that and has been replaced because a lot of people don't ever clean under the sprocket cover.

The sump is the pan on the bottom of the motor.

Have a look underneath and you'll see a squarish pan that can be unbolted, and that's the oil sump.

It has the oil drain plug in the middle.

[greg78gs750]

those are for sure orings from your chain, or as pete said, a previous one.. bet a dollar on it.

[DacMaddy]

Alright! Well it has been quite some time since I have posted on here, but a lot has happened!

First, I finally replaced my intake boots and rebuilt my cam chain tensioner. In the process, I also replaced my airbox with air pods from K&N.

Sadly, I still am seeing the oil leak that I encountered before. I'm just gonna leave it alone for now since it's a really small oil leak and I have absolutely no more money to throw at my motorcycle haha.

Anyway, now I got the pods on and I need to rejet my carbs. Unfortunately, I don't see any kind of jet kits available online. Am I going to have to buy them individually and then go from there?

Also, you guys were totally right on the chain. I see only a couple links left with really brittle o rings on them.

[Big Rich]

Are they the K&N individual oval shaped pods? If so, I would recommend finding the thread that Pete started about his jetting.

[pete]

Glad you're getting somewhere!

Next service this weekend for mine and I'm doing the cam chain tensioner. Any surprises in there?

Here's the link to the thread Rich mentioned:

http://thegsresources.com/_forum/sho...d.php?t=207055

[DacMaddy]

Hey guys, sorry it's been so long, school started back up!

I'm a junior in mechanical engineering at the University of Nevada and its quite a rigorous course!

How did your cam chain tensioner rebuild go pete? That was actually probably one of the only things that went smoothly in working on my bike lol.

So I ended up taking it to a shop to be rejetted, I was too lazy :P

Although now my clutch slips, which started right after my oil change. I used Rotella oil... could that cause my clutch to slip?

And right after my bike was revived it died again. The rectifier/regulator went out (from what I surmised anyway). It just randomly died at an intersection and the indicator lights wouldn't even come back on. Before it died the indicator lights and my headlight were dimming in and out.

So I ordered a new one, and the connectors don't match, so I'm going to Batteries Plus tomorrow to exchange the connectors.

Is there a special way to reinstall the rectifier? Will I need to jump start it after I replace it?

[Big Rich]

Rotella shouldn't make your clutch slip. As long as it has the proper certification for use on wet clutches anyway.

As far as starting the bike again: just charging the battery should get it to start. I'm curious as to how you figured it was the R/R though?

[DacMaddy]

Hmm I should check the packaging on it to see if it can be used with wet clutches. So there is Rotella oil that shouldn't be used on wet clutches? Maybe I happened to get that one. If I did use the wrong type of oil, would putting the right kind in it now fix my clutch slippage? Or am I screwed and now have to replace the clutch?

Well I spoke with my friend who is a mechanic that told me what rectifiers do (regulate the ac current and turn it into dc by getting rid of half of the sin waves). I explained to him the symptoms, like the lights dimming in and out under 2k rpms, but when I went past 2k rpms it was fine. So I was at an intersection and figured that if I been able to keep it above 2k rpms I'd be ok, so I turned the choke on and it died at the stoplight. The indicator lights wouldn't come back on after turning the key over and over, and I happened to be near a service station. They tried to jump my bike but to no avail, the lights still wouldn't come on. I then pushed it home and it somehow turned on when I turned the key. So I decided to make sure it would die when I put the choke on, which it did. I am now in the process of replacing my R/R so I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow!

[GS/GR PAUL]

Seems like a fault in the ignition switch/wiring .

[DacMaddy]

Would faulty ignition switch/wiring cause my indicator lights to not even come on?

[GS/GR PAUL]

If there is a fault in the switch or wiring preventing the power getting through intermittently....yes. It would pay you to do some simple checks with a multimeter before you do anything more expensive. If there is no power going through the ignition jump starting it wont help.

[cowboyup3371]

Have you verified you have a good battery and done the charging system checks we so often recommend?