GS450L: Name this sludge!

[lossfound]

Hi there. Just bought my first bike last week, an '87 GS450L... already posted one thread about the battery, and now that the R/R has been replaced by the shop I've got two more questions. (Pretty much all the riding I've done on my very first bike has been the eight-mile trip to and from the &#*$# shop.)

Just looked down after the latest trip back and there's a sliver of wet, brown/blackish sludge on my exhaust on the left hand driver's side near the shifter footpeg. Appears to be sourcing from the center of the shift lever, but it could be dripping down. I noticed some similar sludge earlier this week before it went back to the shop, but I assumed it was old sludge. Here's a pic as best I can muster of the fresh variety:



The bike allegedly went through a tuneup before I got it (I paid $100 for a tuneup, anyway) and is missing on idle once it warms up. I'll probably post another thread on that because I'm not really sure these two issues are related. Anyway-- as a newb, what should I be checking out here? Any guesses on the nature of the sludge?

[83GS1100E_Tornado]

Might need a new shifter shaft seal.......that would be my first guess from the information provided, and it's not that big of a deal.

[GS550joe]

or the outpull shaft seal

could be amd most likely coing from either the push rod seal or behind the output shaft( front sproket)... pull the cover and look inside... it will most likely be coated in oil.... does the chain appear not to need oiling?? and are you slinging oil off the chain??

the seal is cheap about 5 bucks from my local $uzuki shop and requires removal of the front sproket, and three bolts that hold the seal in place... two-three hours of down tims=e if you work carefully and mehodically.. experienced chaps will be done in about an hour will cleanup completed..

JP

[Nessism]

...in summary, the three most likely areas are: shift lever seal, clutch pushrod seal, countershaft seal. It's time you started to wrench for yourself before you go broke. Pull off the cover and have a look see - you will need an impact driver to get the phillips screws out - don't attempt without or you will strip the screw heads. Post back with the findings and we'll tell you how to fix.

Good luck.

[bgmart450]

Yeah, I'd expect a leak in one of the previously mentioned seals, but could be as simple as someone used motor oil to lube the chain... Tough to call without popping the cover. Easy to do, but you might wanna invest in an impact driver first, just to be sure you don't strip any of the cover screws. At a minimum get a GOOD set of screwdrivers to insure you don't make matters worse.

[jimcor]

If you're not leaving puddles of oil anywhere I'd say it's just chain lube fling off. Have you been using WD-40 on your chain? The stoddard solvent in WD-40 will liquify some of the grundge under your sprocket cover and it will run out the shift shaft hole in the cover.

[snark]

I'm with Jimcor, I had the same exact problem on my bike and it was just chain lube.

[lossfound]

Thanks to everybody for all the pointers I've had the bike for 30 miles (again, all of it to and from the shop) and haven't lubed the chain... new chain and sprocket, whatever lube is on it is what the shop used. I'll ask them tomorrow when I go back tomorrow to finish up the titlework.

[ff154]

Another vote for the chain lube. Mine does that after I wax the chain.