Engine oil leak

[GreenStem]

Hello everyone

I don't post at all but visit the site everyday and do plenty of reading.
Bought a 2007 gz250 back in june and been enjoying my little bike every day and still learning. I have about 1,100 miles on it, everything fine until this morning showing up to work it started leaking oil. I noticed when i came to a full stop and smelled the burning oil coming off my exhaust pipes. I had the bike serviced at a suzuki dealer at it's 600 mile mark. I called them up and they told me to simply take it back to them to check it out. But would it be ok if i ride the bike over there as long as it has oil in there? i'm scared that all the oil might spray out as i'm riding out there. As the bike sat for the last few hours, only 4 or 5 drops leaked out, it still has most of the oil.
So should i just ride it over there or be on the safe side and haul it over on a truck?

thanks alot


http://www.postimage.org/aVoLmg0.jpg (http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=aVoLmg0)

[Dupo]

Eh, save yourself having to get a ride to/from the dealer ... if you have access to a truck, load it up and take it.

If you dont have truck access, its probably fine to ride it over there since its only leaking a few drops.

[jonathan180iq]

A slight leak won't suddenly turn into a downpour. I think you'll be OK riding it over there.

[Easy Rider]

A slight leak won't suddenly turn into a downpour. I think you'll be OK riding it over there.

Maybe not.......probably not but it depends in part on how FAR it is to the dealer.
HOWEVER......
Brand new bike, still under warranty, serviced by the dealer.........how come the DEALER is not sending a trailer to PICK IT UP!!!!! If this were MY bike, I would be insisting on that.
:cuss:

[GreenStem]

Thanks for the advice

I left the bike here at work over night and there doesn't seem to be any more oil leaking out. I didn't want to risk the 15 minute ride to the dealer so i will call them up today and see if they can pick it up.

I read through the whole manual and i didn't find any thing on retorquing bolts or what bolts to re-tighten. are there any? was the service dept. supposed to do this with the maintnance period and just didn't?

am going to check if any bolts are loose under there.

thanks guys


http://www.postimage.org/aVuy2xS.jpg (http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=aVuy2xS)

[Jaime]

Mmm, a new bike with an oil leak... Maybe a crazy mechanic did something wrong in the first oil change... :mad:
Seems that the oil sump cap isn't torqued correctly, but there's oil spattered around it too :??:

There's no special torque setting for that bolts:


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/hellcracker/torque.jpg


Anyway, if oil level is still between the marks, you can ride it for 15 minutes without risk.

[GreenStem]

thank you for posting that chart jaime

Well during lunch i took the bike out for a spin but before that i cleaned up all the oil from under the engine.
oil level was fine, so i let it idle while i looked under the frame and there was no sign of an oil leak. I rode it for maybe 2 miles and stopped to check... no leak
rode it back another two miles and parked it with the engine on , looked under and nothing. So now i'm feeling really stupid and confused because the bike doesn't seem to leak anymore.

is it possible that i ran over a patch of oil and sprayed it all over? but the front tire is clean ??? as in no oil residue, would the oil i maybe ran over get rubbed off within a mile of riding?

thanks for the help.

[Jaime]

It's possible but so rare.
Also, sometimes small oil leaks get "auto-sealed" by the oil itself.

[Badbob]

There's no special torque setting for that bolts:

Yes there is.

See service manual under oil changes. Page 2-9 PERIODIC MAINTENANCE near the bottom of the page.

Oil drain plug: 28 N-m (2.8 kg-m, 20.0 Ib-ft)

The torque chart is for use on bolts that do not have a torque specified elsewhere in the manual.

[Jaime]

There's no special torque setting for that bolts:

Yes there is.

See service manual under oil changes. Page 2-9 PERIODIC MAINTENANCE near the bottom of the page.

Oil drain plug: 28 N-m (2.8 kg-m, 20.0 Ib-ft)

The torque chart is for use on bolts that do not have a torque specified elsewhere in the manual.

Sorry, I wasn't talking about the the oil drain plug, but the 3 bolts of the oil sump cap.

[5th_bike]

I changed the oil and oil filter in my 2005 GZ250 right after I had brought it home, because it was two years old. A few remarks and a question, after reading the above:

1) A GZ250 oil change is Messy, to put it mildly. At first, after removing the plug, the oil flows straight down in a thick beam, but in the trickle phase after that it goes sideways onto the left exhaust pipe. If unsufficiently removed, it will temporarily give a burning smell later on.

2) A GZ250 oil filter change is even Messier. (BTW the torque on the three little bolts of the oil filter cap I measured at 7 lbs/ft when unscrewing them). During removal of the cap, a big puddle of oil comes sploosh from underneath and all over the motor and parts underneath it, including the right exhaust pipe...

Then, the question: why should it be necessary to remove the oil sump cap (I assume =the part on the bottom that the drain plug is in the middle of) for an oil change ? I only removed the drain plug and let the oil leak out (moving the motor left and right gives a little extra old oil) - I didn't know the oil sump cap needs removal too, and for what. If it does, please let me know, if it doesn't, please just ignore, thank you.

[Water Warrior 2]

5th bike, good question about the oil plug plate. Two reasons might be for a visual inspection of the innards and an easy fix(just replace it)if you cross thread or damage the plug and threads in the plate. Of course I tend to guess a lot too.

[Easy Rider]

Then, the question: why should it be necessary to remove the oil sump cap (I assume =the part on the bottom that the drain plug is in the middle of) for an oil change ?

It isn't. Where did you get the idea that it is? IIRC, there is something in there that is supposed to be inspected/cleaned every 15K miles or so (too lazy to go get the manual).

As for the messy-ness of the oil change, it should be MUCH LESS messy the second time! :roll:

It helps to have the bike upright instead of on the side stand.

[Jaime]

You don't have to remove the oil plug plate for an oil change. There's a plain filter inside that can be cleaned or replaced, but it isn't done often.
As I saw some oil around that plate, I thought that it could be leaking from there, supposing that an inexperienced mechanic unbolted it for any reason. O_o

By the way, Water Warrior's suggestions are right too. :tup:

[Badbob]

It helps to have the bike upright instead of on the side stand.

I just hold mine upright until the oil stops draining. You need to do that to get all the old oil out any way. As soon as I take the drain plug out I pull the bike to the upright position. I don't get oil all over the bottom.

[jonathan180iq]

Didn't some really nice member write a "how-to" for an oil change?

I'm pretty sure it's on here somewhere... :cool: