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mystery oil leak

  • Thread starter Thread starter ShirleySerious
  • Start date Start date
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ShirleySerious

Guest
After last month's oil leaking problem, I changed the cam cover gasket, and after a couple setbacks, that problem has been taken care of. The other day I noticed oil leaking out of the front of the engine, below the cam cover, and between exhaust pipes 2 and 3. I don't think it's the newly installed gasket because it looks clean and no oil is coming out of it that I can see. What could be the problem?

BTW, I have a '78 GS550E.
 
Most likely the tach cable seal. I just finished putting a new one on mine. Order the seal and the seal band. Easy job.
 
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Sorry.... unscrew the tach cable and you should be able to tell if that's where it's leaking.
 
renobruce said:
Sorry.... unscrew the tach cable and you should be able to tell if that's where it's leaking.
Click to expand...

That's half of the problem; I can't remove the tach cable. I don't think that's the problem, since it seems to be coming out of somewhere a lot lower than that. But for good measure, I covered the potential leak-prone areas with Seal-All.
 
Mr. (Ms.?) ShirleySerious,

How low on the motor? Do you have a leaky O-ring under the oil filter cover?

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff
 
BassCliff said:
Mr. (Ms.?) ShirleySerious,

How low on the motor? Do you have a leaky O-ring under the oil filter cover?

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff
Click to expand...

Ha. It's Mr. and the name's Josh.

The leak is more toward the level of the exhaust manifold. About halfway between the top of the oil filter cover and the cam cover.
 
Basic process for finding oil leaks involves degreasing the leak area first and then carefully watching the area with the engine running. Spray on engine cleaner like Gunk works well - rince with water. Let everything dry a little before starting the engine then watch closely.

Choices for your leak source include: cam cover, tach seal, and head gasket. No other seals in the area that I can think of.

Good luck.
 
BassCliff is a dufus

BassCliff is a dufus

ShirleySerious said:
Ha. It's Mr. and the name's Josh.

The leak is more toward the level of the exhaust manifold. About halfway between the top of the oil filter cover and the cam cover.
Click to expand...

"Surely you're not serious"

"I'm very serious, and don't call me Shirley!" :-D

Please forgive my confusion Mr. ShirleySerious, ...er, Josh. :-D

Mr. dpep explained a neat trick for finding leaks in this thread.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff
 
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If I can get my camera working, I'll take pictures. I've degreased the front area a couple times, and that stuff doesn't really wanna come off, it's really on there. But I think I can safely say that it's not the tach seal or the cam cover.
 
After looking it over, it may actually be the tach seal. It's hard to tell because it leaks so slowly, but oil seems to be flowing downward and collecting in the spot that I previously mentioned. I put some seal all on the alleged leak spot so we'll see if that does anything.
 
ShirleySerious said:
After looking it over, it may actually be the tach seal. It's hard to tell because it leaks so slowly, but oil seems to be flowing downward and collecting in the spot that I previously mentioned. I put some seal all on the alleged leak spot so we'll see if that does anything.
Click to expand...

There is an inner and outer seal on your tach drive. Both can go bad. Also the shaft itself that connects to your cable can wear at the spot where it makes contact with the seal causing a leak as well.
 
I took some pictures. The first 2 are before I degreased it and the last 2 are after I degreased.

bike002-1.jpg


bike003-1.jpg

bike004-1.jpg

bike005-1.jpg
 
As an aside, when I went to the hardware store to pick up some Seal-All, I saw some oil leak stopper that said it can be used with all oils. Can I use this with the wet clutch?
 
Don't use those additives in your oil. Just replace the tach seal if that what it is.
 
Taking off the tach cable is easy: take some pliers and grab onto the serated section of the tach cable and turn - counter clockwise to loosen.
 
No hill for a climber!

No hill for a climber!

Mr. Shirley Serious,

Yep, I'd say that looks like a tach cable leak. They really are easy to fix. Heck, even I was able to fix mine using Mr. bwringer's "how to" pictures. Job should take you less than half an hour. Just remember which way the seal goes. I didn't pay attention when I took it apart and had to look closely at the pictures a few times to make sure I put it back together properly. And as for cleaning your engine, I like Simple Green. Here's my little engine cleaning thread.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff
 
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