Oil leak, where is it coming from

[Anonymous]

Hello, 82 gs1100e, I have an oil leak but cant locate it. The oil is on the bottom half of the engine, it appears to be coming from underneath the boots fof the carbs and running to the front left side of the engine. Could it be a head gasket? No oily residue on the right front side of the engine. This as best as I can explain it thanks for your help. The valve cover gaskets are not leaking.

[Nobby 'C ']

Is it on the barrels or on the engine casings? If it is on the barrels then it could well be your cam chain tensioner gasket. This is a lot easier to change the a head gasket or even a base gasket. The tensioner gasket are renown for leaking on a lot of machines.

[Jethro]

Umm humm, sounds like cam chain tensioner leaking to me!. I just bought all the gaskets and seals for rebuilding my cam chain tensioner recently from Bike Bandit. About $10 and your good as new.

If the valve cover gasket was leaking, it would most likely show oil bleeding from the bump in the front of the cam chain tunnel. The valve cover gaskets almost always leak towards the front because of the orientation of the motor.

[Anonymous]

thanks

Okay,The oil is on the barrel the oil is on the cooling fins, starting in the back of the engine running to the front left side, none on the right side. I tried to look at the cam chain tensioner but cant fully see it from the left side. How hard is it to change the cam chain tensioner gasket? Once again thanks.

[KGB]

Not sounding like a smart a$$, but is it going to the left due to the bike being on the side stand?

If you put it on the center stand might give you a better indication of
where it's actually coming from.

You say more towards the rear? probablt cam chain tensioner.
Not a big deal, just not lots of room to work.
patience

[Anonymous]

Just in case you needed to hear it again, yeah that's probably the cam chain tensioner.

If I were you I'd remove the carbs to do that job. As usual the bolts holding on the tensioner will be Phillips head, so you may want to think about replacing them with socket heads. You can buy the rubber gasket for the tensioner but that's what leaked on mine. Better to use the gray RTV silicone gasket maker.

While you're at it, since it's winter time, you might want to take that chance to check your intake boots and intake boot o-rings.

[RacingJake]

FYI

The front 2 center head nuts have an o-rings that can leak causing a mess around the front of block/head area. Oil inside the head will leak past the o-rings. Bike bandit calls it a seal nut with an o-ring. If your valve cover, head gasket, cam chain, and breather gaskets are good then it could be it.

[bwringer]

I have no idea if you cam chain tensioner is exactly the same as on a GS850, but seeing mine removed and rebuilt could be helpful to you:

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

You do need to remove the carbs to get to the tensioner. Many of us here can easily remove a set of carbs in under 10 minutes. You might take longer the first time through, but it's not difficult.

Change those intake boot o-rings, too:

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

[Anonymous]

intake boots

Hello, thanks for all the info. I notice that I dont have the intake boots.

[mustangflyr]

oil leak

Replace the o-ring on the lock screw ( cam chain tensioner) before you try anything else, my GS1000 had a similar leak to that and it was just that simple. Quick and cheap.