Oil leak from gear lever

[Kaizer]

I just discovered a strange leak pooling underneath the gear shift lever on the left side. Any idea what is causing this and what can I do to fix it?  The gear shift lever is also very loose but I tried to tighten it and it won't tighten. How can I make it fit tighter? Thanks.

[Chilly Willy]

Someone just posted about something like this.  It turned out to be a build up of chain wax in the front sprocket cover.  Try taking that off and scraping out whatever you find in there.  As far as tightening goes, try cutting a shim out of a soda can and fitting it in the gear shift lever bracket.

Chilly

[Chilly Willy]

One more thing, according to my Clymer's manual, there should be a indicator mark on both the gear shift mounting bracket and the "bolt" it mounts on to that should be aligned before tightening.

Chilly

[Kaizer]

We blew out some stuff out of the casing, but not much to worry about. It isn't worth taking it apart. There have been more tiny weeps developing along the bottom of the engine. Nothing significant, just some wet oil weeps along the seams. The previous owner told me not to worry about it til I saw a puddle underneath the bike. Is that correct? It just worries me. The gear shifter was tightened and positioned appropriately and it works well now. Let me know about what is normal seepage and what isn't. Thanks.

[Chilly Willy]

Well, "normal" is no seepage.  I guess it's relative.  If you can live with it, do.  If not, order a gasket set and go through your engine and replace your gasket.  It sounds like the leak is coming from your oil pan.  There are a few ways to make sure.  One is to completely degunk (there's a spray that can do this for you) your engine, dry it, and watch where the leaks are coming from.  The other way is to do the above, but add an indicator dye to your oil.

What I would do first is just make sure that all of your engine bolts are tightened down according to spec.

Chilly

[Kaizer]

Sounds reasonable. Where would I pick up this indicator dye? I can see seepage from a particular nut. I will try to tighten them a little bit and see what happens. DO I need a torque wrench to do this? The oil is also really dirty and not clear. This started when the bike was vandalized and dropped on the left side. Could this have shifted the oil pan? Thank you for your help.

[Chilly Willy]

I'll check the torque specs when I get home, but I'm guessing that snug should do it.  If your oil is really dirty, you may want to change it first.  Check an auto parts store for the dye.  The tricky part about leaks is tracking them down.  Again, I'll check the specs, but DON'T OVERTIGHTEN the bolt.

Chilly

[sledge]

Oil dye... Geeezz?  Why spend money on dye to tell you its leaking when you already know its leaking???    . It can only be the crankcase gasket, sump gasket, drain plug crush-washer or the selecter shaft seal. Just clean everything off, put some newspaper under the bike and see where the leak is coming from. My guess is the crankcase gasket. Buy the dye if you want to but wouldnt it be better to spend the cash on a workshop manual instead, Haynes is the better one and far more useful than oil dye. It will tell you exactly how to identify leaks and replace suspect gaskets and seals as well as specifying torque figures plus just about every other bit of repair/service info you will ever need to know..........but its your call I guess  . The lever and shaft are splined, the reason for this is so they will grip together, even if the bolt is slightly loose. If its loose chances are its been loose for a while and vibration has worn away the splines. A steel shim between them will prevent the splines from engaging correctly, better to use 1 turn of insluation tape, its softer and it gives and compresses to fill the gaps between the worn splines. Note its a pinch bolt arrangement that holds the lever on, as long as the bolt is in place lever will not slide off the shaft. The position it goes back in is not that critical, just find one you like and are comfortable with when changing gear. Dont overtighten the bolt , you may strip the thread or even snap the the lever boss and if you snap the head off the bolt you really are up sh**-street.

[Chilly Willy]

I sort of agree with Sledge.  I find the Clymer manual to be more useful myself, but I own both and go back and forth between them frequently.  You seem to have a pretty good idea of where the oil is coming from, so don't go with the dye.

The torque specs on the oil pan bolts:  10 Nm or 7 ft. lbs.--in other words, take it easy--very easy on these bolts.

Chilly

[sledge]

From where are you quoting the torque fig of 10Newts`? My Suzuki service manual quotes 12-16Newts` (call it 14). Looks like someone has something wrong. You should always aim for mid value of the specified range, most torque wrenches used by home mechanics never get tested and calibrated and as such are not always 100% accurate. If you go for mid point you will still just about hit the barn door even if the wrench is reading up to 15% under or over.
Clymer or Haynes? I own both and they are both very good but its a matter of personal choice. I think Haynes was complied with the European user in mind and Clymer leans towards the American.

[werase643]

personally I like the factory Suzuki GS500 manual

less errors in the conversions

[Chilly Willy]

From where are you quoting the torque fig of 10Newts`? My Suzuki service manual quotes 12-16Newts` (call it 14). Looks like someone has something wrong. You should always aim for mid value of the specified range, most torque wrenches used by home mechanics never get tested and calibrated and as such are not always 100% accurate. If you go for mid point you will still just about hit the barn door even if the wrench is reading up to 15% under or over.
Clymer or Haynes? I own both and they are both very good but its a matter of personal choice. I think Haynes was complied with the European user in mind and Clymer leans towards the American.

Table 2 Lower Engine, Oil Pan Torque Specs, Clymer manual.

Chilly

[Cal Price]

Nine times out of ten oil on the gear shifter turn out to be gunk from chain fling. Eliminate the easy and the obvious before picking up a wrench.

[sledge]

7-27 of the factory service manual quotes 12-16Newts for the sump bolts......hmmmmmm 

[Chilly Willy]

Yeah, I wish I had the factory service manual.  My bike came without it (it's 3rd or 4th hand).  Kaizer should go with the factory specs.  Keep us up to date with how the leak-fixing goes!

Chilly

[3imo]

This thread is worthless w/o pics. 

If I were to guess, I'd tell you what SLEDGE said.

[Kaizer]

Yeah, I will try to take pics and post them. However, what I find interesting, is that there is NEVER any accumulation of the oil/sludge on the ground. I am not even sure if I am losing any oil as I ride. That could be a possibility. Where do I get a Haynes or a factory manual? I own the Clymer and a small yellow one. That one has the basics for the suzuki. I don't have a torque wrench yet, but I will go back to the original owner and maybe work on it. The gear shifter is now fine. We crimped it a bit and it fits tighter. I will keep you posted as to the oil leak situation. The oil is not dirty when you check it. However, it is dirty where it is accumulated on the bottom of the engine. I just don't want to take the entire casing off, since we used a high pressure air hose to blow stuff out. Anyway, one more question, would vibrations loosen up the bolts off of the casing over time?

[Chilly Willy]

I bought my manual off Amazon.  One of the two, I forget which, can be ordered via a link on gstwin.com and it supports the site.

Bolts can loosen over time.  That's why it's important to do periodic checks.  The gstwin.com page has a periodic maintenance schedule that provides a guideline as to when to check your engine / frame bolts.  Sometimes Locktite can help, other times it can be a detriment.

As far as the oil being dirty on the bottom, that's normal.  When you do your oil change, though, keep your eyes open for metal bits in the oil--that's problematic.

Chilly

[werase643]

http://www.repairmanual.com/

[Kaizer]

Thanks for the manual link. They didn't have the manuals for the gs500 so I wrote them to order some. Also, I am looking at buying a torque wrench. Any recommendations? There are so many models out there it is confusing. I will look over the bike more carefully tomorrow. Today in general was a bad day to be out cruising. Thanks.