New Gaskets, MANY oil leaks

[Guest]

1981 GS850

I have about 5 oil leaks coming off my bike at the moment. Recently, I have replaced the oil pan, valve cover and clutch cover gaskets. With the valves, I also put in new half moons, with TV on them. All of these are leaking as well as the drain plug what appears to be the shaft boot.

I did properly torque down the bolts, in the proper patterns. On the valve cover, I did add some RTV in the corners. Last night, I torqued down the front left corner just a little more to see if that will help, as this had been leaking significantly. The next most significant leak is a huge pool of oil on under my kickstand with what seems to be gear oil from the second gear as well. I did notice I am missing the clamp around the shaft boot but I do believe this should only be a problem if my the seal was leaking into the boot.

With the clutch cover, I may replace all the bolts with allen heads to get a little more torque than the screws.

Anyone have any experience tackling any of these? I plan to warm up the bike tonight, and re-torque everything when warm and also bust out some corn starch to see if I can ID where each leak originates.

[greg78gs750]

with the valve cover, at least, more torque is worse than less. at least in my experience.

[81GS850]

Did you clean the surfaces good??

[Sphynx88]

removed all gasket residue before with SOS pad and razor blade and a once over with brake cleaner which I let dry over night.

[Larry D]

Suzuki gaskets or some other type ?

[Sphynx88]

Suzuki gaskets or some other type ?

I bought this bike in pieces with a new gasket kit from the PO. They were in a sealed envelope to protect them, but all out of their original packaging. My guess is non-suzuki. If I can't figure it out shortly, I'll be getting at least a new valve and oil pan gasket from suzuki directly.

[posplayr]

I have had issues with warped cover surfaces. I use a fine flat file (check it is flat) to clean up the surfaces. You can pretty quickly see if it is flat. Had a br5and new gasket squeeze out causing major oil leaks.

Be careful and keep teeth clean or filings will scratch the mating surface. Practice on a spare cover if you have one.

Do not remove cam towers and do top of head however. Really bad no-no.

[Sphynx88]

thanks for all the tips thus far.

Can anyone shed any light on the leak pooling under kickstand with seemingly gear oil in it from the second drive?

[bwringer]

I'm wondering if your crankcase breather is clogged -- with no place to go, normal blowby gasses can pressurize the engine and force oil out from strange places.

Check that the vent tube from the breather (on top of the valve cover) is clear and that the fitting on the airbox is clear. Sometimes the airbox fittings corrode or get clogged or damaged. And check the breather to make sure there's a path for the gasses -- the gasket should have a big square hole in the middle.

Same goes for the vent from the secondary drive gears -- this is the odd little fitting near the starter with a small tube running down under the starter into the Mystery Hole.

[Sphynx88]

Will check that all out when I get home. Bike has pod filters (with dynojet jets) and no air box. Vent hole is exposed with no hose. I'll need to check out the other breather

[Sphynx88]

Bought a genuine Suzuki valve cover gasket. I will see if that fixes my issue up top. If so, I'll move just go that route.

[eddiev]

thanks for all the tips thus far.

Can anyone shed any light on the leak pooling under kickstand with seemingly gear oil in it from the second drive?

my 82 gs1100 leaked from a vent hole by the kickstand. Turned out to be the trans gear oil overfilled. The po must have not realized there is a screw that needs to be removed to properly set the level.

[GregT]

Will check that all out when I get home. Bike has pod filters (with dynojet jets) and no air box. Vent hole is exposed with no hose. I'll need to check out the other breather

There should at least be some oil residue around an open breather with no hose attatched.....While you have the cover off, pull the smaller cover on top which covers the breather chamber and check there is free passage of air through it.
The PO may have blanked it off when he removed the airbox which would explain everything....

[wymple]

I guess I'm just old school, but I almost never install gaskets without using my favorite Aviation gasket sealer. There may be some rational against it, but I don't get the leaks afterwards. I even use it on Fel-Pro head gaskets with the sealer already built in on my small block Chevies, and it says don't use sealer. I never had one leak. It's pretty thin and good insurance.

[dorkburger]

I han an old Kawasaki that gushed oil due to a kinked crankcase vent tube.
Also be careful with the torquing. Stripped threads suck.........