I don't know if you remember or not, but my last problem with the bike was getting the oil filter cover to seal. Some grease did the trick, but now here's the new problem, it's actually several problems.
1. My bike consumes oil like crazy, about 1 Qt every 150 miles. I discovered that when I was checking it before my 4 hour ride to school. When I was at the gas station tonight, the airbox drain hose was dripping a lot of oil.
2. The day after that ride, I tried starting the bike but it ideled roughly then died, the chocke now actually lowers the RPM to about 1K when I fully open it. I have no idea how it could do that.
3. Horrible gasmileage, I'm getting 150 miles out of a full tank. I've never had that kind of mileage even when the bike was totally messed up.
Any input is greatly appreciated.

P.S. Somehow I got 4 nails in one of the tires on my car and the new tires won't be in till Tuesday. So I really need to get that bike runing so I can get to work.

How many miles did you used to get on the tank? I thought 150 seemed about the norm for a GS?

Ok, dude, take it easy...you'll get it running right. First off what is the state of tune on the bike. Plug condition, plug wires, air filter and valve lash? Just right off the top of the head it sounds like you may have a fouled plug. Also, can you check compression? It's possible that the crank-case breather may be allowing oil to by-pass into the airbox, instead of just vapors. If oil is staying in the top-end and not draining well into the crank-case, then it could consume that much oil. I assume you haven't noticed a lot of blue smoke have you? You may be able to remove the breather cover with the cam-cover in place, I don't know, but you can try. If you can get the breather cover off, see if you can clean it enough to let it do it's job. Otherwise you may have to pull the cam-cover and see if the drain back holes  and chain guides are stopped up. Hopefully you haven't holed a piston or something that drastic. First off tho', what is the state of tune? Love that little GS and this forum is lovely also.

C.......

well, I filled it up with almost 4 gallons tonight, so 150/4 is 37.5 mpg and that's low. now the bike is a 02 has 31xx miles on it, I've had it for the last 1000 miles. I've changed the plugs a month ago. I changed the oil 140 miles before the trip, new oil filter and a clean/oiled K&N. cernunos, do you have a picture of the breather cover?
Thanks

No pic personally, you might do a search using the term "breather cover" in the search portion of the forum. The breather cover sits directly on top of the cam-cover/valve cover. Held on by (I think) 4 hex head screws or they may be socket head cap screws, I've never looked at the one on the GS. I do know that if a breather gets clogged up on any engine it can cause terrible oil consumption. You will probably have to pull the fuel tank to get to the breather. I know it's hard, but love the little bike and stay with the forum.

C.......

The breather cover is Item 6 in this BikeBandit diagram.  Item 1 is the valve cover / cylinder head cover.

Actually, I don't think you can get the valve cover (Item 1) off without removing the breather cover (Item 6) first.  So yes - you can remove the breather cover by itself.  But you most certainly DO need to take the fuel tank off to get to it.

Item 7 in the diagram will remind you of a Brillo pad, or maybe "organized steel wool" or even a small ramen noodle packet -- made out of metal.  Item 8 is a paper-based gasket.

If you're losing a lot of oil out the top via the breather cover then you should find some kind of evidence as you examine the area.

Okay, I've decided to play it safe and wait till I get the car runing then fix the GS, but just to know what I'll have to do. Assuming the cover breather is clogged, what do I do? Clean it? Replace it?
Thanks

It really depends on the type of material used for the breather per-se. As Kerry said, it will usually be a "Brillo-Pad" type of material. What happens is as the vapors go through the filter they carry vaporized oil with them. It is a small amount but over time it adds up. The oil vapors slowly collect on the filter (Brillo-Pad) and harden or "coke-up"j over that time. This effectively causes large open pores in the filter and starts allowing not just vapor but actual liquid oil to pass through the breather which starts accelerating the consumption problem. So you should be able to pull that filter and wash it in some type of solvent, depending on material it is composed of. If it is a steel mesh, just use kerosene, gasoline, just about any type of petroleum based cleaner. If it is of the cloth persuasion then you can clean it in soap and water in your kitchen sink (just don't tick off your better half!). If it is very dirty you will be amazed at the difference in oil consumption after cleaning (if it is indeed the culprit). Keep us posted, love your littel GS and cherish this forum.

C.......

Thanks guys, but that will not solve the poor mpg and the chocke problems. right?

2 more question, will I need to replace any gaskets when I take the breather cover, or just apply some sealant to the corners? What are the torque specs for those 4 bolts?
Thanks

Quote from: Aerospike2 more question, will I need to replace any gaskets when I take the breather cover, or just apply some sealant to the corners?

You shouldn't have to replace any gaskets, unless Item 8 is torn or something.  I have never removed that Item 8 gasket.  You can leave it in place if/when you remove the valve cover.  You usually only have to remove the breather cover for clearance - so you can get the valve cover out from under the frame crosspiece.

NO SEALANT needed.  Just bolt the breather cover back down.

Quote from: AerospikeWhat are the torque specs for those 4 bolts?

I have no idea -- "snug" is fine.

For the valve cover bolts the Haynes manual says the spec is 13-15 Nm.

Quote from: Aerospike2. The day after that ride, I tried starting the bike but it ideled roughly then died, the chocke now actually lowers the RPM to about 1K when I fully open it. I have no idea how it could do that.

Don't open the choke fully. This is like giving it too much gas.

sounds easy enough, maybe I'll try it tomorrow. About the chocke, sorry it wasn't clear, but it's not doing anything at any opening level but making the idle rougher.
Thanks guys.

So I finally got around to taking the breather cover off. It was really clean, so I just put everything back together and ran the bike. OMG! oil started gushing out of the airbox drain and the tach cable, black smoke everywhere and after a while it just died and wouldn't idle right even with the idle screw back all the way out. so I let it sit overnight and check the oil this morning, and it was like an inch above the full mark!!! so i just drained it all out and I got about 5 quarts out!! So here's what's been happening, for some reason the oil has been staying up in the around the cylinders and not coming back to  the cranck case. So when I took off the breather cover, I think I unlocked some sort of vaccuum lock that was holding the oil up and that's why it was so high. Has anyone heard of anything like that, or am I missing something. I also added 3 QT's today but the dipstick is bone dry, but i still can't see any leaks other than the tach drive. Does this make sense at all? btw, it's an 02 with 38xx miles.
Thanks

It sounds like there may be some sort of obstruction to oil circulation.  

Start with the basics: I wonder if something like this might happen if the oil filter were defective, clogged, installed backwards, or the wrong filter used?

Quote from: Aerospikei just drained it all out and I got about 5 quarts out!!

Yowza!  

Quote from: AerospikeI also added 3 QT's today but the dipstick is bone dry

Did you just look, or did you touch the dipstick?  Sometimes that nice clean new oil doesn't show up very well against the hash marks.  That's when I find it easier to check the level on the BACK of the dipstick, and then rotate it around to find out where in the E <--> F spectrum it falls.

Anyway, I don't doubt that your oil really is too low to wet the dipstick.  Perhaps:

    1) The bike is going into its "oil packrat" act again.  :x

    2) The oil bottles you bought contained less than a quart each.   :guns:

    3) You're checking the oil level with the bike on the sidestand?  
        (See [THIS POST] for comparative photos.)

If you're measuring with the bike vertical, all I think of is to add a little bit of oil at a time until the oil level registers correctly.

You know, the more I think about it, I wonder if Rema1000 isn't right on about a clogged oil filter?  Perhaps you should change the filter while you're "in the area".