ermm......do yours smell?

[Freddie]

Just had the GSA serviced. Since then I get burning oil smells (from the engine - before i get any of the usual quips)when stopped at the lights (or wherever). Can't find any leak, nor any obvious drips, so all I can assume is that they've not used new rocker cover gaskets and a little bit of seeping is going on. So the question.....do they all do that or are all your Boxers oil tight? Or is there some clever fume regurgitating pipe that's become disconnected in the bowels of the beast?

 

[autogs]

i think the one fault the 12 doesnt have is oil leaks from the engine,i recon when r/covers were removed oil on downpipe was wiped off and your just getting a residual smell.

 

[Schtum]

It can be a sign of rear crankshaft oil-seal failure. Check the joint between crankcase and gearbox in the offside of the bike. If there's any sign on seepage there, that pretty much confirms that it's either that or a gearbox oil-seal that's failed.

 

[rodsharp]

Dont worry, mine did just the same. It was very obvious and I kept looking underneath for an oil leak . It lasted for a week or two and when I mentioned it to my dealer he laughed a bit and said I wasnt the first to mention it. I can only assume they did a remap and it affected the burn in some way.Anyway that was a few thousand miles ago and the bike has, and continues to run perfectly with no smell whatsoever. Just another quirk of the GS

 

[Drofsereb]

I got a leak that was coming from underneath the black plastic strip on the cylinder head, again just after service. I had noticed the smell, and then one day the entire left hand side of the bike was covered in oil (when i was taking it to trade in...) It was apparently some small gasket or grommet that had not been fitted properly, and the receiving dealer was not too bothered about it. Since I was trading it anyway, I didn't go into too much detail, sorry! Gave me a bit of a fright at the motorway services though......

 

[Roymondo]

I had the hot oil smell for a week or two after the 600 mile service, then again after the 6k mile service. I assumed it was simply a bit of residue after the cam covers had been removed for valve clearance checking. It doesn't do it now (about 9k miles on the clock).

 

[Paul C]

Erm... does your smell??

Went through a farmyard covered in some kind of fish based slurry a few months ago. It was pouring with rain at the time so it got washed and sprayed into every nook and cranny. I even washed it afterwards... still get the occasional fishy smell!

 

[Freddie]

Thanks all - of the two options, I'd rather put up with the oil smell than the fish.........

Took a sneaky peek under the rocker covers (hiding behind the engine guards), and could see a nice smear of oil along the rubber gaskety thing.

Could just have been squeezed out when torquing down after the service. So scrubbed it off (with a toothbrush to get at it!). If it comes back, it'll be back to dealer for a check - I'll let you know!