maddingly inconsequential oil leak

[vfxmark]

While poised to park, a very nice but unobservant woman in a very fancy car reversed into where I was about to park. Wedged me over and bike dropped gently onto left rocker cover and ratcheted around in circles until I could turn it off.

20k miles earlier, I had slid down a clay road on that rocker cover, hit a rock and caused a small crack, which I "temporarily" fixed with JB weld and a bit of chromic acid conversion stuff... not a dribble of oil since.

On getting home, found I was dribbling a small amount of oil into the spark plug tunnel which was wicking out past the plug cover and oozing out under the plastic plug wire thingie.

Ahh, says, I... the impact must have compressed the inside doughnut gasket...
so a few hundred miles later, I do my 30k service, and replace that gasket with a new one.

Run the bike a bit, and sure enough, it's weeping a bit through that same place.

Maddening in that it drops a few drops of oil if I leave the bike on the sidestand, and if I put it on the centerstand, it only adds a bit of oily sheen to the rockercover with a bit of dirt on the starter cover etc.

So... anybody have any thoughts on this? Would the impact of the bike tipping over have compressed the rocker cover gasket enough that I am now overtightening the center doughnut? Should I replace the doughnut again and also replace the main rocker cover gasket? I can't imagine this slow impact moved anything else enough to cause a prob...

Even as the US credit rating has been downgraded, I still have enough money to replace the rocker cover, but I dont mind the little jb weld discoloration (which is absolutely NOT leaking) and I know that the minute I replace the rocker cover some idiot (probably me) will knock the bike over and scratch up the new one...

If I do nothing but pull the plug/coil cap once in a while to drain the oil, it will probably not be a problem for the next 30K miles... the issue is really cosmetic and conceptual more than operational...if my triumph had sealed this well at its best I would still have it

 

[DrFarkoff]

Yeah but the constant oil presence will screw the rubbers on the stick coil and it will only get worse not better!

Go for a second hand one check e bay or beemer boneyard or other second hand sources in US

 

[TeaPig]

Replace the doughnut, if that fixes it you're sorted, if not then move up the scale of increasingly expensive options as it's a v. quick job to take the cover on and off. It may be the cover has been distorted by all that abuse. When it's off check the flatness of the joint face - put it on a sheet of glass and see if there's any room anywhere for a feeler gauge to slip between the face and the glass. If it's really bad anywhere, say 1mm, it may be too much to rescue and you'll have to hope for a bail-out from the IMF.

 

[solidstate100]

I reckon you will end up needing a replacement rocker cover. When sorted, fit crash bars or head guards or whatever and never have this problem again.......

 

[Steptoe]

The leak you describe is usually due a hairline crack on the rocker cover spark plug section, the tube part.

Very common if a bike goes over on the same side a few times - seen it lots on the BMW ex-offroad school bikes

 

[vfxmark]

The leak you describe is usually due a hairline crack on the rocker cover spark plug section, the tube part.

Very common if a bike goes over on the same side a few times - seen it lots on the BMW ex-offroad school bikes

Once again, experience trumps analysis Thanks all for your input -another fancy magnesium ashtray in the house - must remember to take up smoking again. It wazzent the doughnut - replaced that when I pulled the rocker cover to check the valve clearances and change the oil

Regarding cylinder protection bars... as they are expensive and must be purchased in pairs (and risk transferring shock to the frame members) and as rocker covers are relatively cheap and replaceable singly, I've opted to stay off the crash bar diet. I've always considered rocker covers sacrificial, and have sacrificed the finish of many of them on taxi doors and fenders and ice-covered roads... this is only the second one I've damaged to the point of replacement... the first one I killed was attached to an R11S I high-sided and totaled - the bike slammed down hard enough on the rocker cover to spider-web it and have pieces fall off before it rolled onto the handlebars and down on the other side...

ah, well... I had the chance to take some money from the motorist, but this being Hollywood(ish) she turned out to be a minor Producer and when I gave her my card she expressed interest in possibly needing my services on a TV show she is developing.... so I took the cowardly way out against the single digit probability of a day of work from her later...

such is the optimism/desperation of the freelance

 

[Steptoe]

Once again, experience trumps analysis Thanks all for your input -

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