I have a 94 gs500e. Mt  problem is I lost a lot of oil in my bike upon recently checking it. I checked it approximately 2 weeks ago after riding it for a month and it was low so I filled it up. In the process I overfilled it and the bike wasnt running right so I drained the oil and ultimately made a mess as I couldn't get the bolt back on again. After all the oil spilled out I got the bolt on and refilled it to the proper line. Now I go to start the bike after not having rode it in a week and I am out of oil again. There are no massive puddles of oil on the driveway so I do not think it leaked all the oil. And I dont see how the bike could have burned through quarts of oil after being driven for only about an hour. Any suggestions on likely problem/ possible fixes? Thanks.

Well, after you drain the oil and replace the filter, when you add oil it does not automatically jump into the filter. It's pretty typical that you put in 2 qts and it reads "full" but then after running it for 5 minutes it will be low again. Lesson is, add according to measurement, and re-check immediately after filling.

Quote from: ivany on May 12, 2009, 12:43:58 PM
Well, after you drain the oil and replace the filter, when you add oil it does not automatically jump into the filter. It's pretty typical that you put in 2 qts and it reads "full" but then after running it for 5 minutes it will be low again. Lesson is, add according to measurement, and re-check immediately after filling.

Agreed. If you look at the service manual, they tell you to add different amounts of oil depending on what you've done to the bike. If you change the filter, it needs more oil and if you overhaul the bike, even more. You'll notice when you change the oil and filter, the oil pressure light is on for a few seconds right when you start up. This is the time in which the pump is sucking oil from the sump and pumping it through the filter but before it has actually gone anywhere. If you're worried about loosing oil, just check it every week or so. Look for spots under the bike and suddenly dirty parts of the engine. Oil leaks are really messy, even small ones, and you'll notice pretty quick if you have one. Unless something very sudden happens, like your drain plug falls out, you'll smell and see the leak long before it becomes any kind of danger to the bike. I've ridden my '94 with a pretty severe leak for a couple of weeks while waiting for the right combination of gaskets and free time to occur and besides making a mess, it did no harm...