Huge Oil Spill

[OPTheory]

My bike had been leaking oil slightly but definitely NOT to this extent.  So I'm riding along in a residential area not far from home and I come to an intersection that I need to stop at.  As soon as I give it a little throttle to get going again, the back tire spins but I'm not going anywhere.  Eventually I get some traction and I go through the intersection, I look down and my oil light is on.  So I pull over, wondering what's up and below the bike is this huge puddle of oil as you can see in the photo.  I left a nice trail that goes on for two blocks. 



Any ideas as to what happened?  The bike is used but I never changed the oil, and the level was always relatively high.  While riding around it would leak oil onto the exhaust pipe and smoke a bit but I was under the impression that it was doing that because the oil level happened to be a bit high.

Any ideas as to what went wrong?  I hope I can get this fixed

[coll0412]

Well anything that holds back a bunch of oil is your culpret. Check the drain plug first.

[CndnMax]

well theres your problem  . check drain plug and check filter cover.

[bobthebiker]

make sure you check your oil filter cover,  odds are it may have come loose.   but while you're there, since it leaked oil anyways, why not change the filter and whatever oil is still in it?

[Oklahoma_Mike]

Climb under your bike and look at were the oil came from and fix the filter cover with a new filter gasket and a snug up

[Kerry]

With any luck your engine should get out of this alive, thanks to your quick action when the oil light went on.

For a counter-example, check out my neighbor's experience ... on the freeway. 
      [NOOO!!! engine seized..]

His seized 1996 engine is still sitting in my shed, sans plugs and shims.  Any takers? 

[GeeP]

Check your oil filter cover and the drain plug.

One possible cause is a faulty form O-ring for the oil filter cover.  You can read all about my experience with improperly sized form O-rings here:

http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=37435.0

A mixture of Simple Green and water will help clean off your baby G.   

[ohgood]

Dammit man, you let the magic out !

[GeeP]

Dammit man, you let the magic out !

[OPTheory]

I really appreciate the responses guys!  I checked under the engine block and sure enough, the plug was simply gone.  The oil trail I made wasn't gradual at all, it simply started right in the middle of the road for two blocks back.  So I picked up another plug with a little magnet on the end of it (sounds like a gimmick) at the dealer in Salt Lake City.  I checked out the new GS500 and a salesman immediately approached me and he eventually said "Let's get ya a NEW GS500 instead of that old one you got!"

Kerry - I'm very glad this happened to me in a residential area and NOT on the freeway  

I feel pretty lucky today, I even got out of a speeding ticket!  My speedometer is still broken...

Either way, all is well now!  My bike is still leaking oil out of what appears to be the right side casing.  So that's something else I'll get to deal with.

Thanks guys!

[Kasumi]

Well now you've fixed the drain plug get onto the engine casting. My bet is you just need a new gasket. Take the cover off, lay it on something you KNOW is perfectly FLAT. If it sits flat and the engine side seems flat just stick a gasket in there and some gasket sealant and you should be sorted. One thing you don't want is oil leaking out, it only takes a little bit on your tyre and you really will be having that new GS.