I bought my '80 GS850G (21K mi.) from a local Seattle guy here a few months ago... all original and stock as far as I've been able to research so far. I don't know how many owners it's had (this guy only owned it 3 years, and he didn't seem to know a lot about it) but still, with the help of a knowledgeable friend it checked out very good. It started, idled and ran great, smooth, strong, no flat spots or concerns. It's probably been garaged its whole life as it's really clean and ship-shape.
To start with a good baseline, we immediately changed all the fluids, filters and battery. I washed and waxed it and put a new Metzler on the front (to coordinate with the good one on the rear) , and for 2 months of very parttime riding it's been great!! And I'm loving it, just perfect for me, and from an era of the bikes that I was the most familiar with.
So, my new problem that just started, and yes, I'm assuming it needs to be fixed before I go on. My bike HAD been quite clean, just some slow seepage - oil, I think - around the cylinders (my friend said, no big concern, many of these old inline fours do that). And I'd told him that nothing was leaking on the ground, fine.
But in retrospect, that wasn't totally 100% true, I had been getting a very MINOR leak of something in the last month. It just didn't concern me, all that happened was occasionally when I would kick up the sidestand there would be a light brown stain on the garage floor where the sidestand had been set. But there was no smell or odor, and again it was just a stain, so I wasn't concerned. Also, a guy told me he thought I might have an oil leak out of the cam chain tensioner... and maybe another small one out of the tach cable? ... Anyway.
Now the events of the last few weeks - I don't know if these are related - I'm just trying to paint a complete picture. I did quite a bit of stop and go riding a few weeks ago - commuting kind of stuff, lots of errand running and some fun, 45 mile, higher speed juants. All this was in hot (for Seattle, 85 degrees) weather. Near the end of this fun week, somebody reminded me to check the oil level. I hadn't been too concened about this, because as I said I'd put in all new oil etc. 2 1/2 months ago... I'd only done, maybe 1500 miles since then... and I didn't have any major oil leak. But, Oopps, I was low, put in 1 1/2 qt. Crap! I felt horrible... where'd it go? Maybe I'm blowing a bunch of smoke out the exhaust pipes, I hadn't noticed anything... Crap - Crap - Crap!!
Anyway, around this same time, maybe just after... during a fuel fill-up, I added some Chevron Fuel Conditioner (I think that was the brand, not 100% sure) that the previous owner had given me - he said he thought it was a good idea to add this once in a while. I followed the directions and thought now would be a good time since it had been 2 or 3 months since the last time, and it was during this active riding time.
My fun riding continued up till a week ago, and by the way, still running good as ever, but now I've stopped. Twice in the last 2 weeks I've noticed a strong gas smell in the garage. After the first time (no leaks on the floor and none that jumped out at me on the bike - remember I'm new at knowing where and what to look for) I just kept on going. I thought, my oil level is still OK, it's still running great... and the smell went away. Normal riding continued.
Then it happened again. The strong smell I mean. And this time I'd had the bike on the center stand. This time there was a puddle on the garage floor - maybe 6" diameter, light brown, seemed kind of oily, but smelled like gas. I found a small puddle of it on the right side of the engine - there's a concave indentation, a part of the engine case up above the oil check window... I also found it, I think, on the carb side of the airbox. Hard to really pinpoint it, the whole engine area is kind of messy now, not nearly as clean as when I detailed it 2 1/2 months ago.
Help please. I've been reading this site on and off since I got my bike, and now in the last week, since the fuel leak and smell, I've done more and I "searched" and looked in Old Q&A and it looks like I might have a fuel petcock or a carb problem.
Any advice or trouble shooting would be very helpful. I've never even taken off a fuel tank before, so all this is quite new to me. I've read the carb cleaning section...Whew! Whatever real work I need to have done, will probably be done by a professional... However I'm looking for as much info as possible, a progression of things to check out... and of course anything that I feel comfortable doing, I certainly will. I don't mind getting my hands dirty... I just don't want to screw anything up and as I said I have limited knowledge, tools and time... and I want to get back to riding.
Thanks for all the advice you all can give me... all little tid-bits will help educate me and I really appreciate it. Greg
P.S. Thinking positive thoughts for all down where "Katrina" hit. Devasting and horrible.
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