OIL LEAK - GS850L

[bwringer]

What the heck is THAT a picture of?

Those special nuts with the o-rings don't look like anything I've ever seen on the three GS850 engines/cylinder heads I've dissected. (An '80, '81, and '83).

Some of the cylinder head studs use copper washers as oil seals, since oil is pumped up along the stud passage and onto the cams. Some just use ordinary washers, since they're just there to hold the cylinder head on. The outside nuts use nice looking chrome acorn nuts as shown, and the inner ones that are hidden use regular nuts.

But that special nut with the o-ring just ain't there in reality or on any microfiche that I've ever seen.

Enlightenment and/or corrections, please.

[daveo]

What the heck is THAT a picture of?

Those special nuts with the o-rings don't look like anything I've ever seen on the three GS850 engines/cylinder heads I've dissected. (An '80, '81, and '83).

But that special nut with the o-ring just ain't there in reality or on any microfiche that I've ever seen.

Enlightenment and/or corrections, please.

My bad...the pic is only good for a 16 valve 1100 or 750, the 850 ain't got 'em!

[bwringer]

Man, I thought I was going crazy for a minute there! I was all set to go home tonight and stare at my GS850 cylinder head for a while.

The point about the copper washers is a good one, though -- if one of those doesn't seal, you could have a hard-to-track leak in that area. If the nuts are properly torqued, I can't imagine how the copper washers could leak -- the copper isn't going to get old and brittle over the years like a rubber o-ring (is it?).

I suspect we're not going to find out until he tears into it this fall, though. It's time to riiiiiiiide!

[Anonymous]

And I will disagree with the disagreement. My cam chain tensioner was missing a bolt (head broke off) and it was leaking oil. The oil made its way to the front fo the head, 2 or 3 fins up from the cylinder-to-crankcase gasket, right in the middle. The oil looked for sure like it was coming from the front of the engine but even at highway (and more) speed it was seeping forward through the passage in the center of the cylinders from back to front.

Also the bike ran horribly, rough idle, racing etc. until this was fixed, probably just enough slack in the cam chain to allow for valve timing fluctuation but not enough to skip a tooth. I think the least amount of slack in a dual cam setup is enough to throw things off kilter...

[Anonymous]

I'm glad we got that straight about the pic as I was a tad perplexed as well.

Now don't get me wrong but I really can't see oil travelling up the back of the engine from the cam chain tensioner and rolling toward the front at a much higher level. It just dosen't seem natural.

I realize the cylinders are not perfectly perpendicular and are slanted forward at a slight angle but to say oil will flow up and backwards, just say it aint so.

I'm checking the cam tensioner for loose bolts tomorrow morning.

Anything's possible I guess and I won't rule out any weird happenings from you all. I've been riding bikes for almost 40 years and thought I've seen it all, but then along comes something like this.