GS to the circle AND beyond !!.

[adidasguy]

A little update after a call from him this morning.
Things were very wet.
They'd go for a while and 10 minutes Dora (formerly Trey) would starve for fuel. Again, 10 minutes and starve for fuel. Water in the tank? bad gas?
Well, and here's a lesson for all - it was the tank bag.
With it wet, it made a perfect seal on the gas cap. No air could get in the tank to let the fuel out.

Keep that in mind if you have fuel issues. That is also a case for checking the tiny hold in the gas cap - the vent hole. Even if no tank bag, if the vent hole is plugged up you won't get air into the tank to let the fuel flow out. The GS500 is gravity fed - no fuel pump to force gas out.

They are back on the road as of the latest message and all is OK now that they took care of the tank bag cutting off air from the tank.

[Snake2715]

Good pictures so far. Get the small kinks worked out now and its smooth sailing.

Good note on the tank bag, I recently picked one up and would not have initially thought of that.

[The Buddha]

Oh yeaaaaay ... Dora has crossed over into Canadia not being a registered canadian ... Dora is now an illegal alien ... whooo hooo ... Dora's gonna get deported. Too bad, she's gonna get deported into the US ...

Yea ... my life sucks.

Anyway tank bag issue is well documented ... werase643 posted it ... I had it but that was before the internet ... heck I think it was before written language matter of fact ...

Cool.
Buddha.

[NortwestRider]

End of day 2,what a day !!!
It started out with Dora behaving badly,she kept starving for fuel and dying.After she did this 2 times and a call to Pat from the side of the road in the middle of nowhere we got her going again.I don't really know what the problem was/is but we removed the tank bag and turn the fuel to prime and made it 250 miles to Prince George.Every time we stop you can smell fuel but she ran good.Now there is a NEW problem.She has sprung a oil leak!!,It seems to be leaking from the right side front of the engine,there's alot of oil all over the underside of the engine.There's a pretty good amount of oil down the right side cover and it's dripping onto the exhuast and smoking.It's to hot to check it right now but later I will have a look at it.





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[NortwestRider]

More pics.




Me working on Dora before I called Pat.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[NortwestRider]

Oil leak...




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[NortwestRider]

So I just had a thought ( I know thats dangerous )  the day before we left I changed the oil and used Castrol part synthetic 10-40 MC oil.And our first day it rained hard all day so I would not have seen or smelled the oil leak.So maybe the syn oil has exsposed a leak that was already there ??.Just thinkin ..


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[adidasguy]

Try a slight torquing of the cover bolts.
Clean and see where it comes from. baby powder then go for a few miles.
Only small leak he had before was the cam chain tensioner which we knew about. Possible that got worse and oil is going down the back, between the cylinders to the front. (There is that space between the cylinders that probably was to let water drain from the back of the cylinders.)

Not sure if the change in oil opened up something. I never had the side covers off nor had I torqued the cover bolts. The head was never off. Only thing ever off was the valve cover to do valve adjustments. Otherwise, I had never cracked any of the covers. It will take some watching to see where it is coming from.

I often smell gas around bikes. I figure some of it is gas venting out of the gas cap - when sitting it heats up and gassy air comes out the vent hole. Never seen leaks when I smell it so I figure that is what it is.

Could it be too much oil? Remember to check oil on center stand.

[NortwestRider]

It wasn't really down much on oil so we'll keep a eye on it today.We are riding into some HEAT today,85+ degrees.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[john]

I'd still tweak the cover bolts.  Just a tad can make a big difference.

[NortwestRider]

Ok found the leak,but we were 100km from ANYWHERE. So after laying under the bike getting eatin alive by huge mosquitoos I checked the right sidecover bolts and the front 5 or so where loose.The leak was so bad that her rear tire was dripping with oil.After tightning them up I found the gasket on the top one had blown out and the leak was still there.So creative use #987 for a Tampon.

So we left the side of the road with a tampon zip tied to Dora and went searching for some JB Weld or Silicone.The second store/house we came to ( about 50km ) had some silicone gasket maker and a can of starting fluid to clean off the oil.SUPER nice guy here at the Windy Point store,brought tools and we took off the right side crash bar and siliconed up the area.


So now we sit and wait for the silicone to dry and chat with the owner ( from the Netherlands ) and enjoy the Moose walking by!!.
Hope to find a sidecover gasket in Dawson Creek of maybe Fairbanks if we make it that far !!.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[codajastal]

I am so jealous of the fun you are having. All these issues build character and I am loving the stories.
Well done guys, keep it coming.

[nutmunk]

Finding your and your wife's story amazingly inspirational...just seeing what a 'little twin' can actually do. Got me all itchy to try some touring now.

Love the pics and amazingly jealous.

Edit: sorry...touch screen phone and fat fingers...hit the wrong emoticon...

[NortwestRider]

Well the silly cone held for 350km's and Dora is dry and ready for tomorrow.






Oh ya and we are now at MILE 0 of the ALASKAN HIGHWAY !!!.
yippeeeeee



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[attachment deleted by admin]

[adidasguy]

I am shocked at the sudden oil leak. I never would have anticipated that. Now that Trey has become a girl - Dora, could it just be that time of the month? You did put a tampon on the leak. 

This reminds me of Apollo-13. Shortly after leaving, disaster. Ingenuity and resourcefulness and all returned OK.

We honor you for your skill.

[NortwestRider]

After I got it cleaned up on the side of the road,I had Kate start her up and I grabbed my pen light and started looking and it was really pumping out.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Snake2715]

Do you need someone to coordinate a few towns ahead and order a gasket in, so its ready for you?

[adidasguy]

I have the gasket set. If he wants it, I will overnight it. I will send a complete gasket set just in case anything else happens.

[bombsquad83]

Dora really is a girl.  She lost her nuts!

EDIT: Now I see that's where you took off the crash bars to get better access

[attachment deleted by admin]

[NortwestRider]

Ya,the 5 minutes it took to take off the crash bar made it alot easier to clean the area.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk