oil leak at cam tensioner

[big Bird]

i have an oil leak that appers to be sputtering from the cam tensioner. what to do. what to do. how hard is it to remove? does it have gaskets? should i do it my self. never had a bike with one on it.

[Suzuki mad]

Where abouts do you have an oil leak from the tensioner?

There is a base gasket between the tensioner and the barrels then there are two rubber seals inside the tensioner both underneath the external spring part. One is easy to get at the other can be a little tricky.

Getting the unit out of the bike you have to lock the tensioner up using the 12mm nut and the flat headed screw on the drive side of the bike so that the tensioner part doesn't fly out then just remove the bolts holding it in.

Suzuki Mad
1981 GS1000ET
1983 GS(X)1100ESD
2002 GSF1200K1

[bwringer]

All is revealed here. This is a ritual every GS owner needs to perform at one time or another:

http://bwringer.com/gs/camchaintens.html

Since you have not revealed which bike you have, I don't know if your cam chain tensioner will look exactly the same or use the same parts. They all function in exactly the same way, though.

[Norseman]

Great Instructions, bwringer!

Wow, bwringer, that's an awesome job you did to the benefit of many of us. I have a GS650GLX, and I'm assuming the procedure is pretty identical? I'm doing a carb cleaning and valve check/adjustment right now, and figure this would be a great time for this. Your contribution makes it easy to understand and do, and I appreciate your time and efforts!

Norseman

[big Bird]

oil leak in tensioner

Excuse my newbie mistake this is my official first entry into any forum on the internet. i never had much use for them until i got my 1982 gs850g with a z. a buddy tore it down to nubbins, frame. rebuilt most of it the let it sit for a few years in nicely labeled boxes and ziplocks. bought new parts for most everything rebuilt carbs and head etc. bike in a box if you will. then got a deal on a newer bike, and lost interest. so sold it to me for a president grant. i have it all back togeather and running well except for a few quirks. the tensioner being one of them. thanks for the input it helps greatly. especially the pics.

[bwringer]

Wow, bwringer, that's an awesome job you did to the benefit of many of us. I have a GS650GLX, and I'm assuming the procedure is pretty identical? I'm doing a carb cleaning and valve check/adjustment right now, and figure this would be a great time for this. Your contribution makes it easy to understand and do, and I appreciate your time and efforts!

Norseman

Thanks!

Make sure you look up the part numbers for your bike first in case yours uses different seals and o-rings.

As far as I can tell, the procedure is pretty much the same for all GS models. Some have tensioners that are shaped a little different, but they all work the same.

If you have any info to add about your model, please let me know and I'll add it to the site.

[Redman]

Yes, there is base gasket and 2 o rings.

I had problem finding the 2 orings on the microfishe for my 80 GS850G, ah, the 80 850G I had. THe microfishe only showed listed one oring, which is what the parts guys would get for me, even after me explaining that it weasnt the right one. Finally I looked on microfisch for several years, think I had to go up to 83 or 84 before the microfishe showed both orings.

Welcoem to GSR.

[bwringer]

Only one of the o-rings shows on the GS850 fiche, and the seal isn't mentioned at all. Someone tracked down the correct part numbers a while back from a GS1000 or something, and I compiled all the info.

So far, I know the part numbers are correct for early (8 valve) GS750s and for GS450 (and probably the GS400 and GS500 too). Other than that, I haven't really heard back from anyone else, and I haven't gone looking through microfiches to see how many bikes use the exact same seal and o-rings. Probably a lot. And on other bikes, these parts weren't left out of the fiche, too.

[KEITH KRAUSE]

Only one of the o-rings shows on the GS850 fiche, and the seal isn't mentioned at all. Someone tracked down the correct part numbers a while back from a GS1000 or something, and I compiled all the info.

That would be me, thank you. (takes a bow)
Yes, there's two o-rings and a seal inside. I don't know why most of the diagrams never show everything. My dealer said only his '82 1100E fiche showed them all. The same part number for both o-rings and the seal showed up on many models from at least '78 through '82.