Oil stuck in back compartment of GL1000

[Rat]

After you install the new rear drain plug, you will be able to tell us how much oil is stuck back there …

Gord

[cfairweather]

Yes. I will provide some results after I have the chance to drain it a few time. I have a gut feeling the engine speed may have something to do with the amount that is in there, but who knows. For example, if the bike idles for a while before being shut off, does that allow more or less in the rear compartment. I will also have the bike running at over 4K for a few minutes before shutting the engine off and then see how much is in there. The main thing we will learn is how much typically comes out. I will also test the pump before installing it.

[tlbranth]

cfairweather: I fear cnastyweather might be in your future. Those who attempt to outsmart Beelzebub with such trickery as dadoeing their frames at the sites of unreachable bolts and screws, using paint, 5,000 watt lights, large mirrors and neck braces in feeble attempts to foil the designer's timing roadblocks or, God forbid, attempting any sort of modification to the oil pressure/fan switch setup in order to make them almost accessible with less than a week's work may expect to be visited with boils, lice, locusts, pestilence and even some really nasty stuff. You'd best leave that oil in the back where it belongs eh?

[Fred Camper]

The back of my engine was certainly very clean, I have used Shell T6 synthetic for the past 12 years so that may be a factor but I do not want another leak point in the back cover so I will leave well enough alone.

[Old Fogey]

Oil is also fed directly through the gearbox main shaft and out through a squirter hole to lubricate the clutch. I don't have a shaft in front of me but I seem to remember that there is an alloy plug in the end of the shaft with a small hole in it. With the pump hitting anything up to 60psi, that is going to sqirt a fair amount of oil.

[CYBORG]

I have found that the engine design, who or what did it, to be good enough to go half a million miles on my 78. perhaps someone in the past, has installed a money saving after market gasket that was not really up to the spec of the original. I admit I don't meaasure every drop of oil that comes out when I change it. Or the exact amout that brings it up to the proper level when I refill it. And I change it every thousand miles. So there might be something to what you are saying. But as a problem I don't think it amounts to a hill of beans. keep it full, and change it often.

[cfairweather]

Do you really have 500,000 miles on your bike? That is very impressive. You must be in the Iron Butt Association. Congratulations.

[CYBORG]

No iron bike. But Ive had it since new. Rode it everyday, and everywhere. Several trips out west. several to the Florida keys, Canada. It adds up

[cfairweather]

Here is the link to the Iron Butt Association. https://ironbutt.com/

A good friend of mine is a member and he makes very long rides every year. He is going on two rides this summer and the shorter ride is over 5000 miles. He rides BMW motorcycles, which I also like. My main bike is a 2013 R1200RT.

[CYBORG]

The cloest I ever came to an iron butt wqs a thing called the California 1000. Kind of a weekend thing with check points. A ride from the coast, thru the mountains and back. Started on a fri. night, and finished on a sunday morning. A 1000 miles only stopping for food and fuel. But I was younger then.

[Shadowjack]

Changing the oil pretty often would keep any residue diluted with fresh oil.

[redglbx]

Back many years ago when I was convinced that my 76 that I had bought new was a a total POS I ran into a group of 5 or 6 older guys on 1000 wings at my spring gas up, the wings weren’t all that old at that time. One of the guy’s that was in that group was a man named Carl Hinsey president of the Classic Wing Club, we had a very long and interesting conversation over all the troubles I had with my bike.

The really interesting thing was that of those 5 or 6 bikes 3 of them had between 100k & 300k miles on them with the 300k bike bought & scheduled to go back to Honda for disassembly and review, that was a yellow 76 and I was totally blown away because my 76 bike only had around 10k. I became involved in the CWC not long after that.

Also to all of this I’ll add that before I retired I worked for a major OE brake supplier in the truck dept specifically working on their hydraulic brake boosters and because of that did a lot of oil testing which entailed testing many different oils at -40f up+300f and measuring parts for wear along with analysis of any sludge or varnish.

So what’s the point of all this ? I believe if you look at the quantity of high mileage wings out there with a number in the impressive Cyborg range of miles that this whole oil in the rear compartment thing is a moot point so long as you do your proper maintenance. Is it ideal??? No ! But is it a real problem ?? I really don’t think so.

Plus the “Curse of the Tibranth” scares the heck out of me ! My .02