simple question on small oil seepage

[ddragon63]

So "old man" seems to seep a very small amount of oil... it collects ontop of the case behind the head... checking the torque on the head nuts is on my list of stuff to do (as lord only knows when they were last checked). I'm hoping this will make it go away. Any Thoughts?

Can insert picture of area if needed

Thanks guys

[XS1100_OEM4ME]

Motor case/

Are you talking the motor case behind the head, or Cyl case If on the motor case, is your PCV hose hooked up and clear to the air box?

[ddragon63]

Talking right here buddy. Where the head and case come together under the carbs. its not a big leak but after a long hot ride you can find some oil out on the top of the side cases

[ddragon63]

Maybe oil pipe Seepage? only thing in that area is the lower cyl gasket and oil pipe

[ddragon63]

heres a better pic from the other side... I cleaned the crap off it but you can see what i'm talking about. its not much. 100 mile ride it might seep a teaspoon. just enough to piss a guy off

[bikerphil]

It could be blowing thru from the front of the engine from the CCT or leaking from the valve cover gasket.

[Lonerider62]

It looks to me as if it's coming from the clinder base gasket, right where the cam chanin galley is, if I'm reading your pictue correctly. If it were me, I wouldn't bother with it till it's time for some more upper end work where it would pay to lift the head and the cylinder, maybe the next time you plan on doing a valve clearance job, especially if you plan on removing the cam. That way, you would be replacing a lot of gaskets and no matter were it's coming from you should be able to eliminate it.

[DGXSER]

This is pretty common issue, and as Phil stated, it tends to end up being either the valve cover gasket or blow through from the Cam Chain Tensioner leaking. Since it sounds liek your going through all the maintenance that the machine needs, one of those items should be checking and re-shimming the valves. That will require removing the valve cover, and maybe even pulling the cam chain tensioner. This will give you a great opportunity to address both of those items.

The other thing that is right there of course is your oil pressure sensor. It could be lekaing a little, but that is not very common.

[crazy steve]

It could be blowing thru from the front of the engine from the CCT or leaking from the valve cover gasket.

+1 on what Phil said. That looks exactly like what I cleaned off my '79 motor, and it was from the CCT in the front. There's passages F-to-R in the cylinders right there and if the CCT leaks, that's where the oil ends up...

[79XS11F]

The fins look clean and dry above the oil stain so it is likely the base gasket or perhaps the oil pressure switch. Clean it off real good and run the engine. If it's the oil pressure switch you may see oil flow out from that area. Or pull the rubber boot off the pressure switch and check for oil in the boot. If it's at the base gasket you can torque the head until the cows come home and not stop the leak.
Rob

[natemoen]

It could be blowing thru from the front of the engine from the CCT or leaking from the valve cover gasket.

+1 nearly always the problem.

[ddragon63]

It could be blowing thru from the front of the engine from the CCT or leaking from the valve cover gasket.

come to think of it Phil, My CCT leaks a little... so thats probably it. only seems to show up on back of engine after a ride. so thats probably my problem. its too dry top of cylinder to valve cover gasket. regardless I'll be checking the valves here in a week or 2 so if there is any weep coming from there it will be fixed.

How much of a pain in the ass is it to remove the CCT and seal it back up. I'm gonna assume theres no gasket produced for it so I'll have to make my own.

[BA80]

A valve cover gasket can be leaking and it'll drain down from the drain holes in the head and still look dry on top. Just sayin'.

CCT is fairly easy to seal. Just some 3Bond will do it. Be sure and line up the "C" on your timing wheel under the left engine cover when you do it though so you don't screw the cam timing.

[ddragon63]

A valve cover gasket can be leaking and it'll drain down from the drain holes in the head and still look dry on top. Just sayin'.

CCT is fairly easy to seal. Just some 3Bond will do it. Be sure and line up the "C" on your timing wheel under the left engine cover when you do it though so you don't screw the cam timing.

Thanks BA... I was assuming if I followed the procedures of adjusting the CCT i can then back the adjustment screw out to remove the tension and then remove the unit. Just read up on it sounds like its a very common problem.

[ddragon63]

Just pulled out the good old service manual....

pulling and restabbing the tensioner is pretty straight forward.

Removal:

rotate engine untill timing pointer lines up with the "c" on the timing plate. Remove the 2 allen bolts that hold the tensioner in place... carefully remove the tensioner.

Installation:

loosen the CCT holding bolt, compress the tensioner and tighten the bolt to lock tensioner in the retracted position.

push in on chain with finger thru tensioner hole to insure chain is poroperly seated. install CCT with a new gasket tighten the 2 mounting bolts to 7.5 ft-lbs (10Nm)

Loosen the holding bolt on the CCT, there should be an audible click as the tensioner is released and comes in contact with the chain. Make sure it does move into the chain; if not, remove it and correct the timing. tighten the holding bolt to 4.3 ft-lbs (6 Nm) and the locknut to 6.5 ft-lbs (9 Nm)

Now with that said I would STRONGLY RECOMMEND that you do this with the valve cover off so you can verify that the chain is on track and tensioner has put pressure on it.