What happened to my engine??

[ralph]

My gsx1100 had a big hemorrage tonight.
I managed to ride it home after noticing some oil on the rear brake pedal
It has dumped most of its oil out of the right hand side of the engine somewhere near the head
I am thinking it must have shat an oil seal or o'ring in the head?
It was still running fine, the only indication I had that something was amiss was the two litres of oil dripping down my leg and filling up my boot.
I have a feeling its game over for this engine for the time being anyhow as I am focussed on other things
Just another big pool of oil in the shed ...and an unhappy wife when she sees the jeans she bought me on friday. yay

[Dynomutt]

Clean the oil off the motor, put some fresh oil in to top it up, then run the bike for a while and watch to see where the oil is coming from. The chances are the head gasket is not sealing around the outermost studs which act as oilways to feed the cams (assuming your GSX1100 is an old aircooled donk) The oil pressure on the aircooled GSX motors isn't particularly high as it's a roller bearing crank rather than a plain bearing, which relies on much higher pressures of over 100psi at higher rpms.
Check the camcover gasket, as these too can leak, if there has been a build up of pressure in the crankcases due to a blocked or obstructed breather, the gasket can get blown out.
You will get a surprisingly large amount of oil thrown out through a camcover gasket, and even more from a leaking head gasket around the outer oilways. Obviously if it is the oilways leaking then the oil will be coming out before it lubricates the camshafts, which can cause premature wear of the cams or in extreme cases failure of the cam journals due to oil starvation.

[ralph]

I think your right on the money Dynomutt
Its an '83 gsx and its pumping straight out of the head
I just know when I open it up its gonna need some serious dollars spent and Im not going to do it by half, so it will just have to wait.
Just means the end of my sidecar days for a while
It was fun while it lasted

[Dynomutt]

You can dry block it, by blocking off the internal oilways with small grub screws, then using external oil lines to the head, taken from the ends of the main oil galleries on either side, although the left side needs tapping into under the starter cover. I'm currently dry blocking two engines a 1260cc Zed motor I'm building for someone, and a 1340cc Bandit motor that I'm building for a guys dragbike.

[ralph]

ok, thats not my main concern though.
I have had this engine for 8000 km, purchased not running sight unseen so I went through the carbs valve clearances plugs gave it a service new fuel and it hasnt skipped a beat
It has a constant bearing noise in the gearbox and is very rattly at idle ( i dont let it idle)
It had a real clang when selecting first from neutral, that seems to have gone away
For the first 4000 km it smoked like a tyre on fire at start up and still chews oil like a toothless hooker.
Come to think of it the engine sounds a bit like a toothless hooker.
It doesnt need a heart bypass, its after the full organ transplant.. and dental work..and a haircut...and new shoes.and sox

[Hillsy]

The rattling at idle will be you clutch basket (the damper springs wear out and the basket rattles). It's a pretty easy / cheap fix to have new springs put in (it does require grinding / welding the basket backing plate).

But it sounds like your engine needs a re-build. You'll need to split the cases to get into the gearbox too, so it's $$$.

[Redmohawk]

is fooked rebuild , big HP is only money away lol

[ralph]

Yeah its only money
Ive got 3 big bikes at the moment. The money was already spread thin.
I,m commited to playing with the two left
Big hp gsx11 will happen, just not overnight

[ralph]

quote:Clean the oil off the motor, put some fresh oil in to top it up, then run the bike for a while and watch to see where the oil is coming from. The chances are the head gasket is not sealing around the outermost studs which act as oilways to feed the cams (assuming your GSX1100 is an old aircooled donk) The oil pressure on the aircooled GSX motors isn't particularly high as it's a roller bearing crank rather than a plain bearing, which relies on much higher pressures of over 100psi at higher rpms.
Check the camcover gasket, as these too can leak, if there has been a build up of pressure in the crankcases due to a blocked or obstructed breather, the gasket can get blown out.
You will get a surprisingly large amount of oil thrown out through a camcover gasket, and even more from a leaking head gasket around the outer oilways. Obviously if it is the oilways leaking then the oil will be coming out before it lubricates the camshafts, which can cause premature wear of the cams or in extreme cases failure of the cam journals due to oil starvation.


After paying your advice lip service I actually put some oil in it yesterday and it was pumping out the rocker area.
I whipped the cover off to find a missing half moon jiggy
Cleaned out the breather filament thingo with kero and stuck the half moon jiggys back in
Did a bit of a tidy upand its good to go
Just need some new rubber now
I feel like a bit of a goose for jumping to conclusions but im still pretty happy
3 days without a sidecar is 3 too many

[Dynomutt]

I've been in the trade for a long time, and taught motorcycle mechanics for a few years, I now run my own dyno, I see a lot of things like this with owners coming in panicking, which usually turn out to be something simple to fix.
Time spent cleaning a bike can show up faults in the making, and preventative measures can be taken before it gets to the serious repair stage, nobody likes cleaning bikes except for a couple of very anally retentive people I know, but it is worthwhile.