oil leak from somewhere above the starter?

[devices]

I'm on a little 3 day trip on my '12 adv, and when parking up yesterday after about 500 miles I noticed it'd left a good few drops of oil under the bike.

Bottom end of the engine is covered in oil, and it appears to be coming from above the starter somewhere. Cam chain tensioner?

BMW dealer 10 miles away is closed on Mondays, and I've got 500 miles to do tomorrow.

Sorry it's a terribly vague post, but any ideas as to the source of the leak would be appreciated. I've got a small tool kit with me and will tackle anything that I can do, unfortunately the bike is in a secure underground carpark until the morning with very low light, so visibility is poor.

I can't clearly see an oil level in the sight glass, so unsure how much oil I've lost yet - I've got a litre in the pannier as backup, hoping not to have lost a significant amount.

So any ideas of whats leaking?

I'm guessing there is an 'oh fuck' oil light/warning on the bike should I lose too much?


Thanks

Jamie

 

[Deleted account 211025001]

The oil pressure sensor/switch is located below and to the front of the left pot. It's not uncommon for these to spring a leak (mine went at 40,00 miles).

Going by mine the quantity of oil being lost was no big deal it was just very messy.

If the oil is 'only' under the engine then I'd suspect a leaking gearbox oil seal. Again, not usually a show stopper but will obviously need sorting soon.

Andres

 

[Woland]

Clutch slave cylinder if you're lucky.

 

[Alan R]

I'm on a little 3 day trip on my '12 adv, and when parking up yesterday after about 500 miles I noticed it'd left a good few drops of oil under the bike.

Bottom end of the engine is covered in oil, and it appears to be coming from above the starter somewhere. Cam chain tensioner


Jamie

had a similar leak on an RT, turned out to be O ring 18 on the picture.
Didn't loose too much oil but made a mess which looked worse than it actually was.
Alan R

 

[Roymondo]

Small oil leaks always look much worse than they really are (in terms of amount of oil lost) due to the way the oil clings and spreads.

 

[autogs]

i had the same turned out the cam chain tensioner was slightly loose,took the throttle body off to get properly on the hex and it did up quarter of a turn,never had a problem since.

 

[sethmopp]

Had similar a little while back, a new O ring as mentioned sorted it but they also found the breather pipe had softened and collapsed. Possible cause of this was it being overfilled at service time. No real problem, it looked messy but should be OK for a 500 mile journey but keep an eye on level and back tyre (for oil contam).

 

[devices]

Cheers chaps. Is there any way to get even a flexi-head spanner in there to nip it up, or is it a 100% throttle body off job?

 

[Steptoe]

Cheers chaps. Is there any way to get even a flexi-head spanner in there to nip it up, or is it a 100% throttle body off job?

First of all check that's where the leak is from.... Run the engine and have a look, you'll be able to see any leaks from the tensioner straight away.

 

[stonehenge]

Could be Crank main seal or Balancer Shaft seal. Look if it is inward of the starter.

 

[autogs]

Cheers chaps. Is there any way to get even a flexi-head spanner in there to nip it up, or is it a 100% throttle body off job?

i couldent get on there 100% so whipped the throttle body off,if you slip you risk catching the throttle potentiometer

 

[Bendy toy]

A friend's GSA was dripping oil from around the gear lever area. It turned out to be the engine crank position sensor seal. Oil was running back along the top of the engine. At first we thought it was a spare oil bottle the previous owner had strapped under the petrol tank (lid was cracked). Removing that helped but the little oily drip never quite went away

The leak got worse after the front engine cover was powder coated. New O ring on crank position sensor and no more leak leak.

 

[devices]

Really not sure what to make of this - did 500 miles on the bike on Tuesday and it dropped nothing.

I need to book it in with Steptoe for a decent service and checkover, it's history is a little patchy.