Weird carb issue and oil leak :confused:

[Guest]

OK, I have a 82 gs1100gz. Bought the bike a year ago with plans on halfway decent resto. I ran out of time and my wife finally made me just take it to a shop because she said it was taking to long. Anyway, if anyone is familiar with the Galesburg, IL area I took my bike to charlies cycle, a very reputable shop which has worked on all my buddies bikes at some point in time. Needless to say I do trust him. So my bike will idle fine and run in the lower and higher rpm range while in neutral. As soon as you hope on it and take it down the road and get over 4 grand it starts to really back fire and after 5 it bog's down . Charlie says he thought it was a carb issue so he pulled the carbs and looked them over. He told me they were spotless, thanks to the carb cleaning series on the site which i followed to perfection. He has had the carbs off 3 times now and still cant figure out the why it backfires and bog's down. He told me he tried adjusting the jets, air screws, float levels, needle valves and even checked for air leaks and nothing changes. So tomorrow I will be taking him my other 2 sets of stock carbs that came with a parts bike. I would much appreciate any ideas on what the problem could be. And now for the oil leak. I for some reason have oil puddling up under my starter. Charlie said he couldn't fine a reason why this was happening. He pulled the starter to check the o-ring and it was fine and there aren't any cracks or anything. He has cleaned it out 2 times now and it happens every time he rides it. Has anyone else had something like this?

[Steve]

I think the '82 1100 had a newer ignitor with the ignition advance built-in. If, by chance, it failed and someone replaced it with an older-style ignitor, you don't have enough ignition advance. You would have to check the part number on your ignitor and compare it to the parts fiche for the '82 and '83 1100s, then pull the ignition cover off the right end of the crank to see if you have the mechanical advance weights there. If you have weights, you need the older ignitor, if you have no weights, you need the newer style.


Oil pooling under the starter can also come from the cam chain tensioner. It will simply drip down and collect under the starter, but it's not an easy trip to get there. Clean the entire area on the back side of the cylinders, dry it off, then spray some foot powder there. You will soon see if there is a leak there.

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[70GT]

oil leak could also be the grommet the stator wires run thru . Located behind the cover if its leaking it will leave oil in and around the starter bay . It will also leak from the mystery hole if your bike has one . My fix for this is cleaning up the cover and putting gasket sealer on it where the grommet goes .

[adam]

Good info I will check all things mentioned. There is a mystery hole. What was it for?

[Nessism]

The mystery hole is to allow starter cavity drainage.

You have not mentioned what maintenance you have performed. Before you can diagnose running problems it's critical that all the bikes maintenance is up to date.

Please check the Newbie Mistakes thread linked in my signature too see what to avoid. For example, if the airbox and/or air filter is not 100% fully functional and sealed the bike won't run at rpm like you describe unless you rejet the carbs.

[rustybronco]

One thing you might want to check is fuel delivery out of the petcock.

[bbjumper]

Adam, the mystery hole is just a drain in the bottom of the starter cavity. Also check the drain line from the secondary drive, if it sits in the bottom of the starter cavity it will pick up moisture when the bike gets wet. Not good for the seals in the secondary drive..

Ask me how I know

[adam]

OK looks like I am getting oil coming from the mystery/drainage hole and it only does it when the bike is above 5000 rpm. I just sealed it and that fixed it. As far as draining anything from the starter bay I did put a rubber grommet in the hole on the back side of the bay and around the wires coming from the starter bay. It is a cone shaped tapered grommet with the cone part on the outside of the starter bay to prevent any water, cleaners, ect. from getting into it. I also made a gasket (from an old bike inner-tube) for under the starter cover to seal it so nothing can get in. So no need to drain. Don't think it will hurt anything but we will see. That was the only place the oil was coming from. Motor has been thoroughly cleaned now. I did check the cam chain tensioner and it wasn't leaking at all. Maintenance is all current and up to date according to the newbie guide and Charlie from charlies cycle. The only issue is the miss-firing when actually riding the bike. It will only do it on the road/under load not while sitting in neutral or even when throttling the engine and shifting gears on the center stand. The carbs are immaculate and set perfect as stated earlier. I do have the part numbers for the two different cdi that were on the Z and D and I will have that checked tomorrow. I did find out that the two parts are kind of interchangeable and one is cheaper than the other. I call the guy I bought the bike from and he said he did change the cdi however he didn't know there were actually two different types. I do have a parts bike that has the correct one on it so it that is the problem then I am that much closer to being done. This frustrating miss-fire is the only thing left to try and fix. If anyone has any other suggestions please let me know. thanks all.

[rustybronco]

OK looks like I am getting oil coming from the mystery/drainage hole and it only does it when the bike is above 5000 rpm. I just sealed it and that fixed it.

Sealing it fixed nothing.

[kawfeedave]

OK looks like I am getting oil coming from the mystery/drainage hole and it only does it when the bike is above 5000 rpm. I just sealed it and that fixed it. .

You sealed the drainage hole? Doesn't that stop the drainage, and not the leak itself? You might end up with oil pooling in your starter cavity.

[adam]

Oil leak fixed. The bike was ridden about 70 miles today and no leaking or dripping after parked for about 3 hours. Contacted a Suzuki dealership that had someone that knew about the older gs's and after talking to one of their techs for about 30 minutes came to the conclusion that the "mystery/possible drainage hole" isn't necessary on my bike. Some bikes needed it however. Covering it was a good move for me though. Now all that needs done before the beautification process is started is to figure out the ignition issue. Thanks for all the input.

[BigD_83]

Adam,

I am not sure but it seems like you are missing or ignoring the point made few times already. If you did seal the mystery hole, then you have solved the problem of oil ending up on the ground, but you haven't figured out from where the oil was coming in the first place

There must still be a leaky seal/gasket somewhere.

[Nessism]

Oil leak fixed. The bike was ridden about 70 miles today and no leaking or dripping after parked for about 3 hours. Contacted a Suzuki dealership that had someone that knew about the older gs's and after talking to one of their techs for about 30 minutes came to the conclusion that the "mystery/possible drainage hole" isn't necessary on my bike. Some bikes needed it however. Covering it was a good move for me though. Now all that needs done before the beautification process is started is to figure out the ignition issue. Thanks for all the input.

Maybe we are not talking the same language. The "mystery hole" allows water and possibly other fluids that may fall down onto the back of the engine and collect in the starter cavity to drain out. That passage must remain open, otherwise fluids will puddle up and damage the starter or worse. This is just a drain hole and not the source of leakage. Please tell us you did NOT plug this drain path. If you did, go back and open it up and find the real source of leakage. As mentioned, could be the cam chain tensioner, or valve cover. Worst case is the head and/or base gaskets are leaking. Fix the leak at the source, don't just plug the drain path.

Photos below ripped from bwinger...