Oil leak/Seapage

MikeM said:

Do you really mean head gasket or cam cover gasket? Everything that I've owned that had a leaking head gasket blew white smoke (coolant) out the exhaust.

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Head gasket. Everything on the right side and rear of the motor is dry above that plane.
No smoke...no odd noises...beast runs great.
The head gasket does protrude out ever so slightly. It's possible that oil is coming from left side behind oil tank somewhere and traveling along edge of head gasket to the right/rear of the motor before finally running downwards. Never been a lot of oil. Just enough to make the rear of the engine appear moist. Have cleaned it off a couple of times and it has reappeared. Will take another look in the morning.
Thanks !

Called my dealer this morning...great group of people. He seemed to think from the description I gave him that it is cosmoline that is heating up during operation and running back to the rear of the engine and eventually running down the back of the block and over to the right side. Apparently they've seen this issue before on R3's. The dealer is 80 miles away. He asked me to thoroughly clean the residue off and ride the bike to the shop so he could take a look. After I clean it, if there is a problem I think it will show back up on the 80 mile ride to the dealer. Hopefully this problem is not really a problem at all.
Only thing is, it's not supposed to stop raining here until Thursday. Will try to make it down there Thursday or Friday.
Will post the results when I find out something.
Thanks again to all who offered advice.

If it's a head gasket (and it sounds like it to me, but hopefully not), it's not a big deal so long as the dealership is competent. Besides, you'll get a valve shim adjustment at no charge if they have to pull the head.

If you guys want to remove the breather hose from the crankcase to the airbox and replace it with a K&N, I have them available on my website for around 22 bucks.

Thanks for the info Flip.
Has anyone seen a head gasket seep oil to the outside of the motor on an
R3 ? Do I need to be concerned with operating the bike like this ? I've changed head gakets on cars a couple of times in the past....is there a danger of getting the coolant & oil mixing together if it is a head gasket issue ?
Just wondering. Don't want to chance doing any unnecassary damage on the 80 mile ride to my dealer.
My oil and coolant both appear to be clean & uncontaminated. And both are at their proper levels.

Mine did but then I believe I lifted the head during detonation in #2 & #3 cylinders naaaasty


there are two oils ports between the heda and block both are on the right side one is at 1 O clock in front of the rear right head bolt (as your sitting on her) the other is in the same position but on the front right head bolt. these both have hollow positional dowels that the oil flows thru. other then that there is coolant around all the cylinders if your lossing compresion you should see it in a bubbling radiator or water in the oil. Also if you pull the two allen set screw type plugs on the sump it will puke some coolant out first as mine gave up a teaspoon out of each. these are not the ones you pull to drain your oil unless your lik me and want it all out everytime you change your oil.
see the picture below and you can see the oil port in front of the rear head bolt hole.
number 3 liner is not installed yet.



Now if you follow the manual and I do not mean to be a grim reaper it states page 3.15 cylinder liners must be resealed if the head is removed. Now I do not totaly agree with this but then I screw two of the cylinders up and had to pull them also. I see know reason to pull the liners but would used a couple hold down clamps to make sure they did not lift when you were rotating the crankas the sealant on the liner does not cure to a rock hard condition. I think if it aint cosmoline ( which I had all over my 06 and it took a while to get her off) I would if I thought it was the head gasket check the torque on the rear head bolts before I ripped her apart.the one on the right first.

Think cosmoline realy hard buddy

Oh and Flipp no comment about the improper use of step blocks please I know it aint right!

Note these pistons are used ones with just under 12k on them. the had resin all over them and looked ruff what you see here is after Wayne from Power Trip Performance cleans preps and ceramic coated them with a dry film libricant impregnated into the piston skirts. these will hold me thru the season whilst I work with IMFASTTO to ge tthe firs set of actual supercharger pistons made along with some of his other Rocket head work and cams for my winter project or sooner if I blow her again (or screw up putting her back together which ever comes first)

Wow.
Thanks for the info.
I'm still hoping it's cosmoline. Cleaned the whole motor today. Still raining here. I plan to ride the 80 miles to the dealer Thursday to get it checked out. Hopefully it's not the head gasket. I was kinda wondering about the head bolt torque. If it is the gasket, I'll definitely suggest that they check the head-bolt torque before pulling the head.

Doesn't sound like the problem I had...when the oil leaked/misted out it was on the left side. Hopefully you'll get good news when the dealer looks at it.

Dennis

70 dtg Dubai
71 dtg Home

Just had this problem

I have an '09 R3 Touring that I purchased August 2009. It sat outside in a shed all winter, went to ride it in mid March and noticed the smell of burning oil. On closer inspection I noticed oil covering the back of the engine and some had dripped onto an exhaust pipe. I removed the small triangular plastic cover and found the entire rear of the engine below the head covered with oil.

Brought it back to the dealer (Libby's in New Haven, CT) - they told me it was a leaking head gasket and replaced it under warranty. Took about 5 days as they had to order the gasket. Got a coolant and oil change out of it too.

The only thing I had previously noticed is that on some very cold mornings (28F) back in November that the engine would seem to sputter a bit till it warmed up.

The picture is of the rear of the engine behind the triangular cover. Its a bit difficult to see the oil, but its there.

Your issue seems very similar to mine. It does sound like yours was leaking quite a bit more than mine is. Taking mine to the dealer Thursday. Will know more then.
I assume yours is OK now that it has been repaired ?

BTW, welcome to the forum !

Took the bike to the dealer and dropped it off. They called a couple days later and told me that they cleaned some cosmoline off of the motor and could find no leak. I was very skeptical but I've put over 100 miles on the bike and it ain't leaking. I'm surprised but happy.