'82 GL1100 Spraying Oil!?

2004 Views 14 Replies 10 Participants Last post by Phils a winger at last, Jul 18, 2013

TheKack

Discussion Starter · Jun 22, 2013

I just purchased a 1982 GL1100 and everything was going great... until today. Today I decided to go see a friend and as I started down the main road to her house, I decided to crank on it a bit and see what the old wing could do. After I finished I looked behind me and saw a large cloud of oil smoke. Once I got to my destination I noticed that it had soaked my boots and up my right pant leg. My left boot got the worst of it. I just have to know, what the hell could this be?

Also, I sprayed the engine down to have a look and see if I could tell where it was coming from and no luck.

Thanks in advance.

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Bike...and Dennis

· #2 · Jun 23, 2013

You say it's getting both sides? My guess would be the front of the engine then. Main seal, transmission gasket, maybe a cam seal. Could also be on top of the motor like the oil sending unit, or maybe the cover for the timing opening.

These kind of leaks should be easy to find. Get on your back and clean the whole motor, then ride it for 5 minutes, then dust it with baby powder.
Not only do you find the leak, but the bike smells nice, too.

Oh, and welcome to the forum.

Erics

· #3 · Jun 23, 2013

Hi you dont say if it effected the running of the bike??

Do you have a dip stick installed at the front of the motor, if so check to see if the oil is maybe comming out the top of the dip stick..

Cornpone

· #4 · Jun 23, 2013

Based on what you've said, I'll wager a dollar to a donut that your crankcase breather bottle is full, so the crankcase can't vent. Not familiar with your specific bike, but on most it's down near your LEFT footpeg. If I'm wrong, I owe you a donut!

DaveO430

· #5 · Jun 23, 2013

Cornpone said:
Based on what you've said, I'll wager a dollar to a donut that your crankcase breather bottle is full, so the crankcase can't vent. Not familiar with your specific bike, but on most it's down near your LEFT footpeg. If I'm wrong, I owe you a donut!

The bottle being full will not cause the crank case not to vent, it will just build up into the air box and spill over into the intake. However if the crank case vent is plugged (the hose on the left side) it will cause it to blow oil out everywhere.

Ansimp

· #6 · Jun 23, 2013

Plugged vent sounds better than a blown seal!

fender316

· #7 · Jun 23, 2013

definitely try spotting the source, easier to check when parked than flying down a road oil going everywhere. i had a decent little drip out fuel pump and valve cover but i swapped the cover seal, made sure everything was clean, and it was a bad bolt on fuel pump that wasnt tightening so i replaced it and voila no more oil drippin on my right foot and spraying on saddlebag

DaveO430

· #8 · Jun 23, 2013

Ansimp said:
Plugged vent sounds better than a blown seal!

Yes and it will happen, I had 1 that did have a plugged vent and it leaked from everywhere. After I cleaned the vent it quit leaking completely.

TheKack

Discussion Starter · #9 · Jun 24, 2013

Awesome advice guys. I'm going to go through all of your ideas tomorrow.

As for having an effect on the ridability, it doesn't. It only affects my ability to crank on the throttle. I took it for a ride tonight (80 miles round trip) and didn't have anything happen until I accelerated hard to make a light before it changed with me in the middle of the intersection. Otherwise, there were no issues.

A side note: I love this bike. It's comfortable, quick and so much fun to ride. As an added bonus, there are great forums out there for them. I'm pretty stoked I bought this instead of the CB750 I was looking at.

Erics

· #10 · Jul 3, 2013

Hi any feed back on this issue ??

TheKack

Discussion Starter · #11 · Jul 14, 2013

Sorry for the delay guys. I got it all cleaned up and had a good look around, turned out to be slight weep from the valve cover (replaced the gasket), and then a couple drops from the tach seal and the spray came from the shifter seal. All told it was about $60 and three hours (shifter seal would NOT come out) bolted it all back together. However, I did have an issue with the valve cover bolts. Someone over torqued one of them and when I tried to pull it out it snapped. After a few days of searching, I did find the last eight in a 100 mile radius came back and proceeded to try to easy out the bolt and, while drilling it bounced and ate the aluminum around the sleeve. After ANOTHER trip to the parts store, I got the helicoil in and it wouldn't completely bite... Pulled it back out and put a bit of JB Weld on the back end, re-inserted it, added a bit in front to ensure that it wouldn't wiggle, let it sit for 30 hours, reassembled the valve cover, added oil, started it up, went for a 30 minute ride and cranked on it a few times, got home and... NO OIL DRIPS!!! I'm so happy to have my bike back. Thank you all for your help.

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Erics

· #12 · Jul 14, 2013

Thank for the feed back, did you replace the tach seal? If so did you use a original seal or an 'O' ring.....

canuckxxx

· #13 · Jul 15, 2013

TheKack said:
Sorry for the delay guys. I got it all cleaned up and had a good look around, turned out to be slight weep from the valve cover (replaced the gasket), and then a couple drops from the tach seal and the spray came from the shifter seal. All told it was about $60 and three hours (shifter seal would NOT come out) bolted it all back together. However, I did have an issue with the valve cover bolts. Someone over torqued one of them and when I tried to pull it out it snapped. After a few days of searching, I did find the last eight in a 100 mile radius came back and proceeded to try to easy out the bolt and, while drilling it bounced and ate the aluminum around the sleeve. After ANOTHER trip to the parts store, I got the helicoil in and it wouldn't completely bite... Pulled it back out and put a bit of JB Weld on the back end, re-inserted it, added a bit in front to ensure that it wouldn't wiggle, let it sit for 30 hours, reassembled the valve cover, added oil, started it up, went for a 30 minute ride and cranked on it a few times, got home and... NO OIL DRIPS!!! I'm so happy to have my bike back. Thank you all for your help.

Did you check the breather? If it is suddenly leaking from those places then maybe there is pressure build-up. Seems odd that the valve cover, tach drive and shifter seals would all fail at the same time.

Brian

JerryH

· #14 · Jul 15, 2013

I still don't understand what you did with the valve cover bolt, but I hope it holds.

I have a 1200, and it has a very complicated crankcase vent system. When I got it, all the hoses were rotted, and the plastic bottle was cracked. I removed all of it, got an appropriate size piece of car heater hose, slipped it over the crankcase vent fitting, ran it across the engine, and down under the bike, where it functions like a road draft tube like old cars have. My bike has never leaked a drop of oil, and the oil stays clean for 1000 miles when I change it. It's never low, so it does not seem to be burning oil either.

Phils a winger at last

· #15 · Jul 18, 2013

i thought i was the first to do the hose pipe, my 1100 would gass me at traffic lights with crankcase fumes and eventually coat the air filter in oil

still to try it on the road and hope its cured the smell

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