Oil leak cylinder question

[Radiation]

It appears that I have a slight oil leak at the base of my jugs.(cylinders) I was planning on pulling the top and cylinders this winter and replacing the base gasket. My question is, can I remove the cylinder head and base without taking the whole engine off of the bike frame? I know I can get the head off but can I slide the jugs up the bolts far enough to remove them? Please help before I do something stupid!! AGAIN! It's becoming a habit.

[trbig]

Yup!

lol.

Someone made a pretty cool tool recently and I can't for the life of me remember who it was... but the cylinders can become very stuck to the base of the motor. They made a tool with a hook to pull up from the center and keep from breaking the cooling fins trying to pry it off from the outside.

On a side note, I would look for a leak somewhere else first. There's no pressure on that base gasket, so it might be leaking down from above onto it. Suspect the cam chain adjuster and valve cover first.

Tod

[boyat68]

Radiation:

As trbig said, first look. To help you pinpoint where, clean the engine and dust with talc or baby powder. Run the engine a while and then look for tell tale signs of oil seepage with the talc pointing the way.

[Radiation]

Not the tensioner

I know it isn't the cam chain adjuster because I just replaced it. In case your wondering, you can still order the tensioner housing from the dealer. A little over $37 for just the aluminum housing. It seems to be coming from the base below the tensioner. It looks like it is coming from the base of the fins. The tensioner and above the seam are dry.
When I bought the bike the PO said that it had a very slight leak from the base but he didn't want to mess with it. He thought it was in the back but I don't see any moisture below the intake boots.

[Ken Talbot]

Follow trbig's advice on really looking closely to track down the source. Very often, the valve cover gasket will begin to weep way down deep inside the "H" spape. From there, oil can seep out of one of the drainage ports, down the engine a ways, then get blown back through to the back side of the cylinder block. There are a number of very circuitous routes that will end up with oil pooling at the base of the jugs, on the front side of the motor or on the back side. It is possible that it may actually be leaking from the base gasket, but it is very unlikely.
YMMV

[dbeardslee]

Radiation - I had what I thought was a base gasket leak some months back. Wound-up being a leaky oil pipe fitting - bad crush washers on the banjo bolt. Cleaning it and using Talc's a good idea. My $.02.

[skids]

I had a leak on the right-rear side of the jugs where the bolt passed through. I was able to stop the leak with RTV without pulling anything apart. I think there is a gravity passage for oil and the plastic bushing must have broken. All I can say is that the RTV stopped the leak! In fact, it hasn't leaked again in 6 years.

[Radiation]

Thanks Guys

I will do some more investigating. I didn't really want to pull the jugs if I could help it. It just started to leak quite a bit after I tried to clean up the engine a couple of weeks ago. I washed the bike after riding it and letting it sit for about a hour to cool down. I then got a wild hair and started spraying down the case and lower jugs with engine degreaser. It cleaned it up real nice but since then it has been leaking. Looking at the base of the jugs in the back, they are totally dry. So I assumed that it was coming from the front. Maybe I just went and proved that saying about when you "ASSUME."