Small exhaust leaks question

[gbw]

Greetings smart GSR'ers

Been having a little trouble getting my new 77 GS750 to start with the electric starter the last week or so. Its been pretty cold here in Chicagoland. So I got me a new trickle-charger and hooked it up. I was really glad to see the ol' girl start right up today.

I was letting 'er warm up a little and just checkin' 'er out. I love this thing. Wish I could ride, but to much snow and ice on the ground for that.

Anyway, to the question. As I was looking everything over I notice a little puff of steam coming from the bottom of the muffler. A quick inspection showed a pinhole in the middle of the bottom of the muffler. I checked the other side and there are two on that side! Keep in mind that these are very small holes. Litterally pin sized.

Now, this bike runs pretty good, but only gets about 30mpg. I've been reading tons of technical posts here in the GSR forum and am planning to do the full blown tune up once the weather gets warm enough again to work in the garage.

So, is it advisable to do the tune up (all the carb cleaning, adjusting, syncing, and valve work, etc) with small leaks in the exhaust or do I need to fix the exhaust first?

Any wisdom/advice is apprecatied.

Thanks,
G

[Nessism]

Small exhaust leak won't hurt anything. Do your tune up and don't forget to replace the intake boot O-rings and carb o-rings while you are cleaning the carbs.

[psyguy]

fix it

ideally, when tuning up, you shouldn't have any leaks anywhere from the point of air intake to the end of the exhaust (as this affects carb settings, etc)
however, you're describing only an insignificant leak and at the very end of the exhaust so i'd say it's not a big worry (not at the moment, that is)

but you may want to fix those holes as they're only going to get bigger in time - and all your current work tuning the engine/carbs will eventually suffer because of the ever increasing exhaust leak

[tkent02]

Those little pinholes are probably caused by water from starting the engine and not getting it completely hot before shutting it down. Don't start it unless you are going to ride a half hour or so.

[Steve]

Are those "pinholes" about the same location on both mufflers, and right about where the collector pipe ends and the official muffler begins? It also happens to be about the lowest point in the exhaust system, right? Don't plug those holes. The holes are there to drain condensation that forms in the mufflers. Originally about a 2mm hole, but could be slightly larger due to age. Two holes on one side? Evidently the original hole got lonely. 8-[


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