<2000 mi since MOH, base gasket leaking

[Guest]

I have restored this bike to the best of my ability, spent way too much money, complete engine overhaul. It's been about 14 months and < 2000 miles since major overhaul. Retorqued the head at first thermal cycle then again at about 500 mi. Just got it running the way I want today. And what happens, the base gasket starts leaking! I'm ready to dump gas on it and light it right now!!!! I noticed it after a carb sync. this morning. The bike may have gotten hot, but not that hot since I had a freaking 30" drum fan set to HI on the bike during the process. I'm in no mood to work on this thing so I'll throw the SOB in the corner of the garage until winter so I can tear off the top end, I love re-doing $hit. Thankfully I have other bikes to ride. Not saying its the gasket, but it was a Vesra. I won't know for sure if the gasket is the root cause until I tear it down, but I'll use OEM this time. Bike is leaking in the back, between 3 and 4, it did not leak before the overhaul. I inspected all gasket surfaces prior to re-assy. Just had to vent.

[Nessism]

Are you sure its not the cam chain tensioner?

[bwringer]

Are you sure its not the cam chain tensioner?

Yeah, what he said. Don't rule out something else.

Also, I installed Vesrah gaskets last summer which failed in several places, including the base gasket, the base gasket o-rings, and the cam chain tunnel o-ring. Caveat emptor -- they used to be great quality, but I know the set I used sure wasn't.

[ron bayless]

When i rebuilt the topend of my gs 1000 i had the choice of vesrah and oem.I had them both in front of me.To me, the vesrah looked like crap, i went with the oem.never had a problem.i know guys here used to sing the praises of the vesrah, but i still dont see why.man that is a pain in the ass to pull off the heads, redo everything, get the cams and timing right again, al that crap.If the cam tensioner gasket is leaking, then you wouldnt have leakage up high, but down low, and surely you replaced its gasket since you bought a whole set most likely.But, I still dont see why the gasket would be leaking this far out from the rebuild, except for its bad original quality.

[salty_monk]

Didn't Vesrah have a problem last year with one of their large distributors sourcing their own counterfeit gaskets marked "Vesrah" & selling them on?

Dan

[feelergaugephil]

Didn't Vesrah have a problem last year with one of their large distributors sourcing their own counterfeit gaskets marked "Vesrah" & selling them on?

Dan

Yeah! I was one of the suckers that bought one of those sets, they lasted 400 miles and leaked, so I tore my 1000 down again and bought oem and no issues since, well, I have only done 300 miles since rebuild and that was 2 years ago, but I crank it up once a month and ride it 2 miles..........

[BlackStar]

Are you sure its not the cam chain tensioner?

I wish it were. The leak is too far to the right for that, but I'll certainly check all other options before tear down. I'm not ready to blame the gasket yet since I don't have any hard eveidence. I'll definately be looking at the sealing surfaces very close for a defect, this coming winter. I'm gonna start getting OEM gaskets together, except the head gasket since I'm overbored. If I recal correctly a Cometic came with the piston kit.

[Don-lo]

Nice looking bike. What city in Indiana?

[BlackStar]

Nice looking bike. What city in Indiana?

Roanoke, About halfway between Ft. Wayne and Huntington.

[BlackStar]

After a liitle more research, the oil is coming from the base gasket / o-ring where the oil passage goes from the crank case to the cylinders, right hand side. Puts out a nickel size pool on the crank case in about one minute. The leak developed suddenly, not there one day, there the next. I suspect the aftermarket o-ring was made of the wrong material and has hardened and cracked.