Oay, I mentioned this in my other post... but I just want a bit of a second opinion before I go into surgery on the bike.

Basically, my clutch side (right hand) crank-case cover seems to get completely doused in oil... bad enough for it to drip into the exhaust pipes and burn off (white smoke, yay!). Thing is, I cant isolate the leak easily because the entire engine is glossy black *before* it gets oily. My only clue is that, aside from the drippage onto the frame (and thence to the exhaust pipes... down where the double-bolts for the front frame rails attatch to the main frame), *only* the clutch cover has oil on it. The crankcase itself remains unfouled, as near as I can tell.

Personally, I think its part number 2 in this fiche. http://www.ronayers.com/fiche/300_0027/crankcase_cover/crankcase_cover.jpg

My clutch cover gasket. Ive purchased a new one and will be replacing it soon. Thing is, as near as I can tell, there are only two gaskets in that area that could be leaking... the clutch cover gasket and the cylinder gasket (Between crankcase and cylinder block). I would imagine that if the cylinder gasket was fubar'd, the oil wouldnt be completely distributed over the clutch case... but still, it feels wierd. I dont know why the clutch gasket would just decide to go for no reason. My contact cover is pretty dinged up (the bike has been down on that side before at some point)... could that have led to early gasket failure?

Anyway, I guess I'll just replace it and report back... -_-


UPDATE: well, it looks like it is my clutch cover gasket... a robon of oil out of the seam between crankcase and clutchcover about 2/3 of the way back. The bad news is that I think I might have a minor leak up on the front-right corner of my cylinder/crankshaft gasket area. I dont think I'll be able to fix that one. At that point I a may as well rebuild the whole bloody engine. Could I just patch that area with some epoxy or JB weld, if it is indeed leaking?

And... the mechanical whack-a-mole game continues... looks like my battery needs to be replaced now. I drained it (STUPID!) about a week ago.... killed it flat, and now it wont hold a charge.

The good news: I repainted my exhaust, and replaced my exhaust gaskets, solving an apparent exhaust leak, and now the bike runs smooth as butter, and pulls with a bit more linear power. w00t.

I'd put money on the clutch side gasket like you said.

be sure not to overtighten those bolts

I'l check to see its not the oil galley plug under the round ignition cover ... cos its a pressure fitting, and if not I'll proceed immediately to ignoring it... till its time for an oil change or it runs low, at which point I'll buy the cheapest oil (already do so I got that step covered)  and continue to ignore it... and keep it filled to the F mark.
Cool.
Srinath.

Oil galley plug... under the contact cover? Is that like, under as in "lower on the bike", or under as in "remove the cover and see if its leaking"?

See, I ahve to do an oil change anyway. I installed 20w50 in the bike last change (probably its first oil change in 6 or 7k miles.... the oil was BLACK.. previous owner didnt seem too keen on things like that), and ive been having hard shifting and clutch drag ever since.. so I'm going back to 10w40.

I figure if I'm draining the oil anyway, no problem in taking the clutch cover off and replacing the gasket. Sure, its lots of bolts, but while I'm in there I can check my clutch and primary drive and whatnot. Plus, I'm losing enough oil every 100 miles or so to drop me from "F" to "L"... about 2/3 of a quart. Its fairly serious, and I cant carry a quart of oil with me everywhere I go.... no room under the seat. :-p

Hint for locating the leak: Clean the engine, wipe it off with an oily rag, then dust it with talcum, should show new runners of oil nicely.

Dude, great idea... I hadnt even thought of that.

She's been sitting for 3 days (went out of town with the girlfriend to viit her family for the holiday), and I did a thurough cleaning before I left. I'm hoping that when I go check out the bike I"ll see a nice clear trail of oil..... I noticed a drop last night coming in the door (I left a white rag under the bike when we left)... so with luck there will be a nice clear trail.

Updated info up at the top of the post...

Epoxy prolly won't work.  Clutch cover gasket seems like a pretty minor operation.  The other leak seems like it can be fixed with a new gasket (and o-rings) for the cylinder head and/or cylinder block.  More work than the clutch cover but still a lot less work than a full rebuild (you are thinking bottom end split-the-case rebuild right?).  I think if the engine is running fine, no good reason for rebuild.

Just $0.02 from a guy who accidentally rebuilt his engine*.

Cheers,
e.

* I felt like a Real Man (TM) after that, but it was lots of work and frustration and I would rather have been riding instead.

IT seems to me that if you pulled the cylinder block off the crank case... well, the pistons would be totally exposed..  seems like a good a time as any to inspect the piston rings and whatnot. My thinking is, if you're going to expose something replacable, and its a lot of work.. replace it now, rather than later.

OK, then it's just the top end.  In that case, yeah, it will be a good opportunity to replace the rings and hone the cylinder walls.  I thought you were going to split the case. :mrgreen:

Cheers,
e.

Front right corner of the head gasket or valve cover gasket... valve cover is easy fix, head is harder...
Either way the clutch cover leak... yeah hurry up and ignore it... no biggie.
Cool.
Srinath.

srinath.. I'm losing a quart of oil every weekend.... and its a 12 dollar part to fix. I'm fixing it.

I guess what I have to worry about is the head gasket, but the thing is... the gasket is between the crankcase and the finned cylinder block.. nowhere near the valves. I figured there had to be a third area with the combustion chambers and valvetrain (typically considered a cylinder head, at least on cars)...

I'm talking about part number 5, here. http://www.ronayers.com/fiche/300_0027/cylinder/cylinder.cfm

At the very bottom, right on top of the crankcase.

Either way, I dont think I'm leaking from there.. or if I am, its not as big a leak as from the clutch cover.