82 gs850 oil leakage

[newvined]

Hey guys,
I have 2 82 gs850L's that haven't been run in 3 years. The carbs have been gummed up but they do start with help from the choke. I have been starting them up and letting them run using fresh gas and sea foam additive. I was able to clean the carbs on one of the bikes because the air box was off, but I haven't done that yet with the 2nd bike, mainly because it continues to show improvement in idling better with less choke and I was finally able to take it for a drive around the block this week.

So I had them out today, and let them run while the wife and I took a walk around the neighborhood. (Probably 45 minute max.) When I got back both bikes were smoking heavily from under the engine. (which I attribute to lots of grease/oil build up burning off) This has been a normal occurrence so far so I didn't think much of it. Then I realized that 1 of the bikes had leaked a good bit of oil as there was a small puddle under the front end of the engine at the bend in the exhaust pipes. Also with both bikes the gas tanks were hot, and the gas was bubbling.

My assumption is that the bikes simply got too hot and this is what caused the oil leak, and other issues. I just wanted to throw this scenario out there for some feedback.

Thanks,
David Newvine
proud owner of 3 1982 gs850L's
1 will be a keeper, 2 will be sold

[hampshirehog]

Be real careful about leaving these bikes running for long periods while they are stationary - they're air cooled and need to have that flow of air to cool them down. That's why using a fan is suggested when doing a carb synch.
(Didn't someone from this site 'melt' an engine a while back when he left it running overnight?)

Oil leak suggests a leaky gasket somewhere up front.

[Nessism]

Hi David,

This is going to sound harsh but that's my job as the counter-point of the super nice Mr. BassCliff who rolls out the welcome wagon for all the newbies.

To the point...you are wasting a bunch of time dumping snake oil down into your carbs. Even if you get some of the gunk loosened up, your carbs are still full of hard and brittle O-rings which should be changed. Order an O-ring kit from cycleorings.com, and don't forget some intake boot O-rings as well, and get busy. The GSR homepage has a carb rebuild tutorial so even a newbie can do the job as long as they can follow instructions.

Oil leaks are not good. Go get yourself some engine cleaner spray such as the ever popular Gunk, and hose that stuff on. It may take a couple of applications but until you get the old crud off, you will not be able to find the source for the leak so you can fix it.

Do these jobs right the first time and be done with it. Fart around with seafoam and what not, and you will struggle forever.

Good luck.

Ed

[bwringer]

And please, please, please -- remove and rebuild your carburetors properly. Use the step by step instructions in the carb rebuild series: http://www.thegsresources.com/gs_carbrebuild.htm

There are no shortcuts, and there is no magical panther **** that you can just dump into clogged carbs to get them clean. You won't unclog the carbs and you are potentially doing grave damage your bikes by just letting them run on choke until they're red-hot.

[Steve]

Yet another concurrment here to remove the carbs and do them right.

Once they are clean and running right, you can add some magical panther **** occasionally to make yourself feel good an maybe clean things up a bit. Some riders will add a capful or two with every tankful or two, others will add several ounces to one tank a month. I have tried both methods and found no difference. It's possible that my carbs are so clean that there's no improvement to be had, I don't know.

Taking the carbs off is not all that hard. Taking them apart is not all that hard. The hard part is taking the time to clean them right.

Use a can of Berryman's Carb Dip Cleaner (it's a gallon-size can with a basket), take the carbs completely apart, dip each carb body and its jets overnight. Yep, first day, take the carbs off, separate the rack, take the first carb apart. Put the body and jets in the dip, leave them overnight. Go ahead and take at least the second carb apart, maybe even the rest of them, too. Disposable muffin tins make dandy trays to keep all your parts organized. Second day, take the first carb out of the dip, rinse it with warm water, blow it dry. Put the second carb into the dip. Use a strand of copper wire to poke through all the holes in the first carb's jets, then spray carb cleaner through them to make sure they are flushed out. Use your new o-rings, put carb #1 back together, making sure you set your floats, too. The third day, you take the second carb out, put the third one in, repeat the process. The fifth day you will finally take out the fourth carb, put it together, re-assemble the rack, do your bench sync. Now you can put them back on the bike, warm it up and do your vacuum sync.

Oh, you should never leave any machine running when you are not there to monitor it. Even if you have fans blowing on it. Just too many things can happen, it makes me shudder.

.

[bwringer]

Looks like the GSR naughty filter caught us...

[BassCliff]

Hi Mr. newvined,

You received the original mega-welcome back in this thread. You can click here to receive your updated mega-welcome.

As has been suggested, it's always best to fix your carbs the right way the first time, then it's easy to use Sea Foam for maintenance purposes. I have heard of riders having a modicum of success by dumping a whole can in a tank of gas and then going for a loooong ride until that tank was empty (perhaps repeating). But that is really a hit-or-miss proposition, and doesn't guarantee totally clean carbs/jets.

Never leave an air-cooled motor running stationary for very long. It gets hot quickly and has nowhere to dissipate the heat. Let's hope the motors have suffered no internal damage. Change the oil and filter immediately.

Let's hope your oil leak can be repaired easily. The tachometer drive gear seal, the valve cover gasket, the and cam chain tensioner seals are easy to fix. The left and right crankcase cover gaskets are pretty easy to replace too. The oil pan gasket is a little more trouble. Head gaskets and base gaskets are a lot more work.

Clean the motors well. Then spay some aerosol powder (like foot powder) around the motors, run them for a bit, and you should be able to spot the leaks.

When was the last time you checked your valve clearances? Keep us informed.

Now, don't make Mr. Nessism and I play "good biker"/"bad biker" with you ever again.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff