Hello All and thanks in advance. Sorry about the long post. Bike is 2006 GS500f
OK Here is what has happened. My son had my bike out last night. We have had a bit of an issue with gas leaking into the airbox at the beginning of the season when it was cold out. Took it apart, cleaned out the carbs and have not had a problem in almost a month and my son take my bike out quite often. Well last night he was meeting some friends when all of a sudden he had a hard time shifting gears. Said bike was running fine before that. But when he got to the next parking lot he noticed that it was staring to leak form the air vent hose of the air box. Just as the gas had done in the past. Then it started to, as he put it, piss out. He said he flipped it to reserve and it stopped leaking. After I got there to help him out I noticed it was oil not gas (could have been a mixture). It was a fairly large puddle area. I had check the dip stick, not the kid the one on the bike, and the oil was gone. Nothing. So went home, got some spare oil so that I could limp the bike home as it was only a few blocks away but when I tried to start it gas was poring down the vent tube. Decided to wait next day and bring it home on a truck. Now I have taken the carbs off and at each step of removal I looked for some sign of oil. Nothing. Nothing in the air box, nothing near the carbs, nothing from the vent hose from the engine, and I can't see any residue of oil anywhere. The only place I see any signs is from the cooler at the front down the left side. And the horn was completely covered in oil and dirt. Any suggestions as to where else to look? This has me completely stumped. Any help is welcome.
Thanks
Howler
The only source of oil to the airbox would be out of the crankcase vent on top of the valve cover. This won't "piss" oil, though, it's against gravity. More than likely any oil that came out when it was "pissing" gas was collectively in the airbox just from the passage of time.
Gas in the airbox is almost always a sign of either worn needle/seat or improper float height. I'd start with the latter, hooking a piece of clear tube to the carb bowl drain nipple, holding it up in the shape of a 'U', opening the drain, and seeing where the fuel level rises to. It should be even with the gasket surface.
Horn was covered in oil? I'd suspect a bad valve cover gasket, potentially a cracked oil cooler as well or a bad oil line to/from the cooler.
Thanks Watcher. I will be doing a carb rebuild over the winter. It is only leaking gas when its really cold. Around 3 to 5 Celsius mark. Even then its touch and go. So I think the needles are on their last legs.
As for the oil. That is what has me confused. Like you said the crankcase vent would mean the oil would be in opposite direction of gravity. I am just not sure where else to look to see if where the oil could have come from. It does not seem to be from the airbox but would appear to be from that area of the bike. Also It has not leaked since I put the oil in to get it home. So that leads me to believe that it has to do with a pump or something while it is running. Otherwise I would think the oil would have drained out while sitting. Do you( or anyone) think that a leak at the cooler would produce the pissing of oil near the airbox drain? It seems unlikely to me but thought I would get other opinions. Any other areas I should look for leakage? At this stage I am not sure where else to look for such an oil leak.