I noticed this morning that my son's bike ('95 GS500E) has leaked some oil on the left side just in front of the sidestand.  A quick look and running my hand under there makes me think I probably need a gasket for the magneto cover, but I'll look more closely tonight to see if it's coming from somewhere else and just dripping from there.

Just wanted to check with you guys to see if there might be something more serious I need to look at before I just replace the gasket.  Is there even supposed to be oil in this cover?

i believe there should be oil inside there. maybe some high-temp gasket maker at a local auto shop would do the trick too?

just a tough...
A puddle of oil or just one or two drops?
If just a drop, it might be chain lube stuck in the sprocket cover, when it heats up, it gets less viscous and it my drop a bit...

how recently did you lube your chain?

Have you had the side cover off recently? If you have, and you used the same gasket that was on it, the gasket may not seal tight enough anymore. A new one from Suzuki costs about $12. I just replaced mine a month ago after changing out the starter clutch and generator flywheel. I first tried using the same gasket but sure enough, it leaked a drop or two everyday and ran down my kickstand. Very annoying.

Mine does this Every TIME I oil the chain. I dont have any other gasket leaks.

Thanks for the replies so far.

The chain has not been lubed recently -- in fact, that's on the to-do list now that the weather is turning more wet than dry.  While I won't rule out something heating up and coming out of the sprocket area, I don't think that's the case.  The bike was cold this morning when I ran my hand along the bottom of the cover, and hadn't been ridden for several days, but what came off on my fingers was liquid.

I don't know exactly when it started leaking, but I'd say probably in the last 2-3 days.  The amount of the oil on the floor was not really a puddle, but a couple of oil spots ~3-4 inches across -- but a little oil goes a long way.  I did pretty much cover the ends of my fingers in oil from the underside of the cover.  Maybe it just hadn't dripped off yet.  If I had to say, I'd call the leak slow, but steady.

meh.  monitor your oil level and put some cardboard down. Welcome to the world of air cooled anything.
they leak oil.

if it becomes a drip, then think about changing gaskets around.

It could be as simple as your drain plug not being tight. With it leaning on the kickstand, it may just appear to be coming out the left side.

Quote from: Funderb on October 10, 2012, 09:23:35 AM
... put some cardboard down. Welcome to the world of air cooled anything.
they leak oil.

if it becomes a drip, then think about changing gaskets around.

Definitely not a drip yet (unless it started right before I checked it).  The only reason I saw it this morning was my son was going to ride to school, but I'd had his battery out to jump another bike, so had to put it back in and didn't have time to really look for leaks/trails before he left.  The fact I let him ride it this morning might give you some idea how little oil was on the floor.  Hopefully, I'll have enough time this evening to clean everything up, put some clean paper underneath, and if I have some, put some baby powder on the area to see if the oil is coming from somewhere else.

I'll also check the areas around the drain plug (the oil was changed a few weeks ago) and around the sprocket cover while I'm at it.

What I'm really concerned about is that the leak might be a symptom of something more serious, and a replaced gasket or whatever might just be a band-aid fix even though she's still bleeding out inside.  So far, no one has mentioned anything like that, which is good.  Leaky gaskets and drain plugs etc... I can deal with.

Check the oil filter cover too, for tightness,  seepage there may blow back along the underside when the bike is ridden.

When I got home from work, my son had already parked the bike, and there was a new spot on the floor -- probably a few drops worth.  I cleaned up as much oil from the bottom of the bike as I could see, so hopefully tomorrow I'll have a better idea of where it's coming from.

take the front sprocket cover off and clean it all really good, put the cover back on and take it for a spin.  after the ride, remove the cover again and check for oil weepage at one of the following point: clutch pushrod oil seal, countershaft sprocket oil seal, or shift lever oil seal.......mine is currently weeping at the cs sprocket oil seal......i gotta change it out at the next oil change.

Took the sprocket cover off after work today to go with craigs' advice, and although there was a lot of greasy gunk, the area under the push rod looked 'wetter' and there was oil on the rim of the cover below the rod, but nowhere else.  I didn't see the same wet look either around the sprocket shaft or the gear shifter.

The push rod came out of the crankcase with really no resistance at all.  I cleaned it up and put it back where it belongs and noticed that even the slightest sideways pressure on the rod would make a visible gap between the rod on the rubber seal.  So ... it looks like that's probably where the oil is leaking from.  This morning I cleaned up all the oil from the outside of the engine to see what would happen when I got home, but there was no new oil when I looked this evening.  Seems like the leak is happening while/just after the engine has been run.  This seems reasonable if the push rod seal is bad since I don't think there's normally oil up there when the bike's sitting, but there would be from oil splashing around with the engine running.

Does that line of thinking make any sense at all, or do I have it completely wrong?  Does this sound like a bad push rod oil seal to someone with more experience than I have (which is pretty much everyone)?

you have found the culprit.......get yourself a replacement clutch pushrod oil seal and replace it....good to go

craigs, thanks for the heads up on checking the seals.

This is putting the cart before the horse since I haven't ordered the push rod seal yet, but I wasn't able to find anything about replacing the seal in the service manual and I'm curious about what I can look forward to.  Going from the parts fiches, it looks like the seal is right behind the small plate on the inside wall of the sprocket area that has holes in it for the sprocket shaft and the push rod.  To replace the seal, is removing that plate (and the sprocket) all it takes, or am I going to have to take the left side of the engine apart all the way down to the clutch?

I have my CS sprocket seal on order, havent swapped it yet.  There were many threads on here about changing those seals from the outside of the motor.  As I remember, the hardest part is getting the old one out without damaging the mating surface of the motor.  Some suggestions were a small flathead screwdriver, a dental pick, etc.........I replaced all the oil seals on my 02 CR 250, but I had the motor completely torn down and just pushed the seals out from the inside because I had access to both sides after I split the cases.

Thanks.  I was asking because I think if the seal can be replaced without removing the left side cover, I won't need a new gasket, but if it needs to be done from the inside I porbably would need one.  I'd just as soon order everything at once just to maybe save on shipping costs.

craigs -- when your seal comes in, and you've had a chance to replace it, would you post up about how it went?  Thanks

No problem....It came today and I am due for an oil change.  Hopefully I will get to it this weekend.  Although, I am replacing the CS seal which is much bigger than the clutch pushrod seal and I should have no issues getting it off.

found this:
http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=54689.msg618242#msg618242