new project, 81 gs550 oil consumption problem

[cfb3001]

allright I just picked up an 81 GS550t for 200 bucks, running and rideable 16000 miles on her, however it is burning oil and I mean bad, its literally pouring out of the left side pipes, I tracked it to the number 2 cylender, the plug looked like it had an oil bath, pulling the valve/cam cover reveled nothing, a minor groove on one cam lobe but nothing that could cause oil to get into the cylenders was obvious, so I then filled the cam vallies with oil, the 2 over the number 2 cylender and the 2 over the number 3 cylender seemed to leak down which I then discovered that it was leaking past the camshaft and down into the top of the engine, so, I've come to the conclusion that its gotta be either the valve seals or the head gasket because I cant see any other place that oil would get into the cylender from, any advice on which way I'm looking, I've got a good manual and have good experence on car engines I dont figure bikes can be too much different. any help would be much appriciated

[thcash]

I would suspect the seals, and check the valve guides while you're at it. Since the head has to come off anyway, you're going to have to replace the head gasket, I would be sure to also check the head surface for warpage. It doesn't seem to me that it could leak that much oil into the the cylinders without going past the valve stems, but I've been known to be mistaken - once or twice.

[feelergaugephil]

OK, I may be wrong here......
I had a GS550E for 4 years and at approx 60K it began to burn oil really badly.
I know you only have 16K, but if it's been stood for a long long time your rings are going to be stuck tightly on the pistons.....
Go ahead and degrease the whole engine, even spray "OFF" (walmart sells it in the oven cleaning section) on your (exterior) block/head.
strip it down and buy a complete gasket set (including valve guide seals)
If you can do it, get the tool that removes the valves from the head and give it a real good clean in the chambers.
And, lightly ground the valves back in (DONT GET THEM MIXED UP)

You also might have to buy new rings for it too! as if the ones on the pistons are stuck in, you probably break them getting them off....
I hope this helps you a bit........ Phil.

[cfb3001]

well I ended up putting the timing/cam or whatever the cover over the camshafts is called back on it, I drained the oil and put 30 weight in it along with some engine seal reconditioner, I know its like putting a bandaid on a gunshot wound but hey it couldent hurt, I ran it for awhile over the past couople days and so far the smoking is getting better, and the oil that had been almost draining out of the exaust has stopped, I'm still doing valve seals and a head gasket just waiting for them to get here, plus if I left it apart for too long I would have never figured out how to put it back together or lost some of the parts for it, with 3 people currenly tinking around in my garage stuff gets moved around alot so untill the parts get here I'm just playing a waiting game,