oil leak

[cowboy5]

hello
i just rode into work and discouvered a large oil leak on my bike. I do not know a lot about engines so I am going to try and describe. It is on an xj1100 1982. The leak is coming out of the piece right infront of the left side couve. it looks like it is coming out of the front of it. can anyone help or advise. do i need gaskets. i need to know what this part is. will stop leak products work. please let me know as i need to get my baby home....thanks

[randy]

Steve, can you be more specific with the part description?

Is the part plastic or metal?

Does the part get hot or not?

Directly in front of the side cover could be the air cleaner housing. if it's leaking oil, you may have too much oil in the engine.

[cowboy5]

re the part

it is the plastic part directly in front of the sideplate. is black with little ridges. it has a hose coming out of the bottom. goes right accross to both sides hasrubber tubes going into it. i look in the oil window and dont see any oil. i just filled it two days ago so may have overfilled. if this is the problem do i just have to drain the oil? thanks for the help. also i dont think this part gets hot.

[randy]

Yep, sounds like the air filter housing. Check the oil level with the bike on the CENTERSTAND, not the sidestand. if it looks overfilled, drain it.

[cowboy5]

thanks

thanks. i will do that. i have always check with side stand. i am a moron. do i need to take the air filter apart to clean it.

[cowboy5]

starting problems

sorry forgot to ask if this could also be the reason i am having problems starting the back the last couple of days. could it be the air filter being clogged? the battery is full charged and full as i checked it but this morning had to fight with her to get her going. finanlly got a boast but it sounded like it was going to go prior to this. sorry i am just a bit worried i screwwed my bike up as i am not overly machanicial

[prometheus578]

i am a moron

Who am I to dispute that?
Ah, Cowboy, don't worry about it.
I've seen it plenty of times at the shop... and you're not the first, nor will you be the last member here to do that.
As you can imagine, leaning on it's left side, all the oil runs to the left, so.. using the little window as a guide, one overfills the crank case.
No biggie.
Get a drain pan, loosen the drain bolt, and watching the little window, take out the drain plug and then try to put it back in once the desired level is reached.(Bike on the center stand, naturally.)
Yeah, remove the air filter for cleaning. will also have to swab the oil out of the fiter airbox, etc.
One of those hoses going to the airbox is the crank case vent tube. This is to allow the engine to vent pressure. Yeah, there's an oil seperator on top of the engine to take the oil particles out of the air before it gets to the airbox.
Over filling... over extended it's abilities.
No harm done.. just the mess.

[psycoreefer]

No big deal, we've all done stupid things. Whats important is that your here trying to learn about your bike to keep it running well.

If you check the oil level with the bike on the centerstand and the oil level looks good then there is no reason to change it. If its to High still you may need to drain it and refill to the proper level.

You will probably need to take the air cleaner apart and clean the oil out. I've never had mine suck up oil before but I imagine it will be a mess. Might be a good time to replace the air filter if you haven't ever replaced it. Otherwise a good cleaning will probably be enough.

Oh and make sure when you put it on the center stand your on a nice level piece of ground, otherwise your oil level will still be "wrong" when you view through the window.

edit: Ah, to slow. I guess I'll have to work on my typing speed.

[randy]

You will eventually have to take the air cleaner apart and, depending on the element inside, clean it or replace it. draining the oil should be enough to get you home without further wrok, since it was running already.

Oh, after you drain, you'll have to re-fill with about 4 quarts of oil or you'll destroy the engine. I didn't really have to tell you that , did I?

[cowboy5]

thanks

thanks........is it hard to get the air filter out. anything special i need to know. do i need to buy a new filter ? sorry for all the questions but love my bike more then my wife lol

[AlanB]

Hi Cowboy,

Sounds like you need to start by buying a shop manual, looking at the pictures, and doing some reading!

These bikes are a lot less intimidating to work on if you know what is in there.

AlanB

[cowboy5]

manual

yeah i know i need the manual but need to also clean this today as it is my only transportation. any idea how to remove the air filter? i propmise i will still get the shop manual

[AlanB]

Hi cowboy,

If you look under the box, you should see four wingnut fasteners in there. They are actually long bolts, and are "pinned" into the bottom half of the box, so that as you undo them, they don't drop out, but stay with the box.

Undo those evenly, and the whole bottom half of the box, complete with the box will drop down and can be slid out.

It should all get fairly obvious from there.

AlanB

[cowboy5]

ok found the drain

thanks found the drain. got the service manual onluine

[cowboy5]

one last question

when the engine is running the oil window looks almost empty. this is normal right as the oil is movong through the engine