Hi, my bike has started to leak some oil from along the left side of the gasket that seals the "cylinder head cover" on (terminology from my service manual). The oil (which looks pretty clean) runs down onto the top cooling fins, and pools a bit around the top of the spark plug. I stuck an allen ket in the front left bolt that holds the cover on, but it didn't want to budge, and I don't want to break anything (the rear bolt is not accessible without removing the tank). As always, any ideas would be greatly appreciated...
You might remember an old topic where I complained that it was throwing some oil from around where the tacho cable exits the top of the engine. I cleaned that up with a rag and it hasn't leaked since - now it's just the head cover gasket! The two 'leaks' don't seem to be related.
I just replaced the cylinder head cover gasket.... wasn't hard. What year is the bike? I changed the breather gasket at the same time because you have to remove it to get the cover out without taking the whole engine out.. it was leaking too. :oops: I had the slow leak for about 2 years. :lol: Figured it was finally time to do something about it.
Oh the gasket was about 20 bucks... I found it online for about 16 or 18 but they were killing me with the shipping.. so I got it from my local dealer. Oh also there are 4 o-rings for the bolts. Get those too while you are at it.
It sounds like you need to remove the cover, make sure the gasket is in good shape or replace it, and be sure to use the liquid sealer around the rubber end plugs as per the manual instructions. While you're in there, check the valve clearances. Write down the clearances for future reference.
Thanks for your replies so far. The bike is a 2002, and the gasket looks pretty healthy (at least from the outside), so I'm hoping it doesn't need to be replaced - that could get expensive, plus it's a pain in the ass.
Anyway, I cleaned up all the oil from around the gasket and the top couple of fins, and it doesn't seem to be coming back in a hurry...
Could this sort of leak get worse in different weather? (it's starting to get cold here)
Could flogging the bike when too hot or too cold cause it to squeeze out more oil than usual?