Fuel in crankcase

[Anonymous]

I have a 1981 GS650E

It has been stored since November of 2004. I changed the oil and took it for a ride yesterday. The bike runs great. This morning when I was getting ready to leave for work, the cluch cable broke. Which turned out be a good thing because if it had not I would not have noticed that a considerable amount of fuel had leaked into the crankcase.
I spent a lot of time this morning reading though the forums and I now belive this was caused by the fact that I had left the petcock set on Prime. (Which I incorrecty assumed to be primary.) I think the petcock was on prime for most of last year.

My question is, after I change the oil, should I be good to go? or is it possible I have caused damage to some other components? I love my GS and would hate to cause unnecessary damage to the bike. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Anonymous]

I'd do a complete drain of all your oil, including replacing the filter. Fill it up with fresh oil and go ride a few hundred miles. Change it again, and you should be fine. The fuel, to some degree, acts as a cleaner of your crankcase, as it breaks down all the grime.

The gs engines are known for their bulletproofness, so you should be fine.

[Jethro]

There are two functions that control the shut off of fuel to the engine when the bike is off. The first is the petcock, when in the on position it is vaccum actuated, that is when the bike is running, a small vaccum line opens a diaphragm in the petcock to allow fuel to flow. When in prime, the tap simply always flows fuel as long as there is demand- which bring me to the float valves. In the float bowls, there is a small valve that is actuated by the float arms. Once the fuel level in the bowl is correct, the valve shuts off, when it goes down, the valve opens back up again to allow fuel to flow into the drains. Kinda like the way a float valve works in a toilet- which is exactly where I would like to put my carbs right now, but that's another story. Something isn't right with these valves, or the o-rings that seal the valve housing. Even if you leave the bike on prime, you shouldn't have gas running into the crankcase becasue of these float valves.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the replies.