Ok, I bought and 02 GS, and noticed oil on the right side of the case. I took it back to the dealer they said they improperly installed the breather valve so they reinstalled it. Got it home and noticed more oil on the case. This next time I took it to a mechanic here and he said it was the clutch cover gasket and so he replaced it. Got it home last night and noticed a drop of oil under the case so I ran a finger along the clutch cover and there was alittle oil there. My question is this if you replace the gasket and use Suzuki bond will you still have residual oil coming out? Does Suzuki bond take time to seal? As you can tell I don't know too much about wrenching but I have a feeling I better learn fast. BTW the air box had a tiny amount of oil there but nothing more then usual. Thanks for your input I really appreciate the site.

I have never used anything other than just a gasket and never had a leak.

Since I just went through replacing mine, I asked the mechanics at two different dealers while I was searching for the gasket, and they said it should be "dry"- no sealant.

Are you certain that's where the leak was/is? It took awhile to really pin mine down.

pretty sure the leak was around the clutch cover gasket I know it wasnt coming from the breather tube because the oil that was there was on the outside of the tube. Also I have oil around the wire that comes out of the signal generater. It is a shame because the bike is otherwise in pristine condition with only 9000 miles. I have a feeling the previous owner really didnt take care of it though. Now I want to because it is a beauty. I digress here sorry. I am going to clean it up ride it after work and see if the leak is still there also I will call the mechanic and see if he can look at it again.

I use gasket maker to more or less, glue the gasket to the cover.
Cool.
Srinath.

Quote from: Dan02GS on June 13, 2007, 10:15:49 AM
pretty sure the leak was around the clutch cover gasket I know it wasnt coming from the breather tube because the oil that was there was on the outside of the tube. Also I have oil around the wire that comes out of the signal generater. It is a shame because the bike is otherwise in pristine condition with only 9000 miles. I have a feeling the previous owner really didnt take care of it though. Now I want to because it is a beauty. I digress here sorry. I am going to clean it up ride it after work and see if the leak is still there also I will call the mechanic and see if he can look at it again.

I had to clean up my case well, so it was dry, then dust it with talcum powder (actually Gold Bond) twice before I was certain of where it was coming from. There's the dipstick gasket, the seal around the ignition rotor, the base gasket.. a number of possibilities on that side.

I'm wondering if there is a problem with these gaskets (mine is an '02 as well, and mine apparently just shrank enough to tear). The dealer I got the part from mentioned that there was a new replacement part number, that the one I got off of Ron Ayers' web site was no longer current (didn't want to give me the new number, though). I wonder if that's because they started to see a lot of failures...

If they charged you that much to fix the leak, I'd be back there raising hell....

Thanks the talcom powder sounds like a great idea, I am so chapped right now I could use alittle myself. I just got of the phone with the mechanic and he said bring back when I get a chance.

Quote from: Dan02GS on June 13, 2007, 10:36:29 AM
Thanks the talcom powder sounds like a great idea, I am so chapped right now I could use alittle myself. I just got of the phone with the mechanic and he said bring back when I get a chance.

It makes a heck of a mess, which needs to be cleaned... but it did make the source easy to spot. You want to check it frequently, though.. if you wait too long, the oil covers too much area and you just have the mess, no answer.

Thanks again I am pretty sure the leak is fixable, I have a couple of more questions.  Has anyone ever had the seal in the signal generater leak? And what is the signal generater for, is it like an oil pump? Also does the GS500 have a special drain plug, mine looks like the head has been butchered and I d like to replace with my next oil change.

The signal generator just tells the "electronic" ignition system what the engine's position is as it goes through the cycles, so it "knows" when to fire the spark plugs. It's not a very elegant system, seems directly derived from the points-and-condenser thing, but it seems to work well enough. I've read at least one person posting that they always had some oil in that area.

There are some differences in Suzuki drain plugs, some people will tell you that they're all the same, but they're not. You can get a direct replacement from Ron Ayers, BikeBandit or a dealer. I was able to find a magnetic drain plug for mine, I can find the source if you want. The head on that was much larger, but it works fine.

I am going to order one from bike bandit and a couple of the drain plug washer too. Magnetic sounds cool though your bike must be in pretty good shape

Ok got one last question then I'll shut up for awhile. After getting the gasket replaced I went to start the bike after work and the bike wouldnt start so well. I opened the choke and hit the ignition the bike started then died so I fiddle with the idle adjusting valve and got it going but took awhile, 5:00 this morning I am in the garage and started the bike it seemed fine this time, but my wife was pissed that I am spending so much time and money on the bike. IS this what is owning a bike is about?

Quote from: Dan02GS on June 14, 2007, 07:44:08 AM

but my wife was pissed that I am spending so much time and money on the bike. IS this what is owning a bike is about?

Man, are you asking the wrong guy... at the wrong time.

The real answer is that I've only owned this one bike, so I don't have a  frame of reference.

Up until.. was it a week ago?.. my experience was pretty much like I gather most people here have, I bought the bike with just over 3k miles on it, and had an almost completely trouble-free time of it for almost 8,500 miles. Did maintenance, did mods when I felt like it, and slowly developed a very high degree of confidence in it.

Then, right after I re-did the suspension, when I was pretty tired of wrenching and looking forward to just riding for awhile, suddenly, for no reason, I have an oil leak. Since then, almost every day has been a continuing nightmare of working on nasty, filthy parts that won't budge, calling around, driving to dealers almost daily and haunting hardware stores for parts, and living in grease. If I hadn't been "between contracts" when it happened, there's NO WAY I'd have time to deal with it, I'd either be over-paying some idiots to do it and praying for a decent outcome, or I'd still be working on it on weekends in November.  And WHERE THE HELL is my impact wrench? Not that it's ever exactly WORKED on anything, but this would be a heck of a time for it to redeem itself, if it hadn't gotten scared and gone AWOL...

Sorry. I'd guess that you're going to get a wide spectrum of responses. A week ago, mine would have been on the other end of that spectrum. Now...

I've never seen so many Phillips heads on the INSIDE of machinery in my life.. IDIOTS...

I'll get over it.

Quote from: Dan02GS on June 13, 2007, 12:39:35 PM
I am going to order one from bike bandit and a couple of the drain plug washer too. Magnetic sounds cool though your bike must be in pretty good shape

It's probably overkill, it doesn't pick up much... of course, I do oil changes pretty frequently, but still, most of the metallic stuff in there is alloy, non-magnetic. The ferrous stuff is just a little bit of sludge on the plug, I just wipe it off.

The exception would probably be after major engine work, breaking in new valves and/or rings. I've seen them come out plenty furry on engines in that state, been glad to have them.

Thanks for your help, you and the rest around here make this a great site. Take it easy