I looked at my bike the other day and noticed oil coming leaking out the side of the engine right underneath the rocker box. Any ideas on what caused it or how to fix it?
2007-08-31 05:53:39 · 9 answers · asked by Brian 2 in Cars & Transportation ➔ Motorcycles
first clean off the oil and run the motor until it comes back so you KNOW exactly where the oil is coming from.
99 sporties have paper rocker box gaskets that do fail on occasion. any dealership will have the upgraded metal rockerbox gasket that will cure the problem.
if it is leaking now there is a good chance that it will fail and start spraying oil sometime in the near future. it takes pressure to get the oil up into the head, which is a little more serious than say a primary leak which could leak forever and not be dangerous.
the good news it that it is an easy fix for a novice. no real special tools needed. but you would be doing yourself a favor by cutting down a hex wrench to make removing the intake manifold easy. when you get in there you'll know exactly what I am talking about.
by a shop manual and a torque wrench and you'll be done in no time.
some would have you believe that even modern Harley's all leak and that is not the case, gasket design has com a long way. this is especially true for the sporties because, the motor and transmission share the same casting.
2007-08-31 06:26:49 · answer #1 · answered by patrickh 3 · 3⤊ 0⤋
It may not have had the bolts re-torqued as needed when it was time. Using your motor at an agressive pace before it is completely warmed up also leads to leaking gaskets. Mostly though Harley uses cheezy gaskets and it is common for the most well maintained bikes to leak. Taking it to a Harley dealership will result in replacing the cheezy gaskets with new cheezy gaskets that will leak very soon. In my experiance it is best to find a good independant "harley" shop and have the gaskest from the cylinder base up replaced with quality aftermarket gaskets. An independant shop can be a Harley owners best friend.
2007-08-31 14:42:30 · answer #2 · answered by Sheriff of Yahoo! 7 · 1⤊ 2⤋
regardless of the old school way of thinking, the new harleys should not leak oil. You have some paper type gaskets that Harley used that year. Just pull the rocker cover, clean off the old gasket well, install a new gasket install the covers, torque to spec and be done with it.
2007-08-31 16:00:12 · answer #3 · answered by randy 7 · 5⤊ 0⤋
Its not leaking, its oozing charactor. But seriously, unless its a serious amount of oil I woulndn't bother fixing it. I rode a Road King at work for a few years and I made our department mechanic fix it every time it would leak oil. It would just start leaking somewhere else in a few weeks.
2007-08-31 13:19:19 · answer #4 · answered by christopher H 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋
that's what Harley's do. as they age they leak. if its only a real small amount then do worry about just keep an eye out for the oil level the reason being like an old car if you start poken around you may cause more leaks
2007-08-31 15:28:46 · answer #5 · answered by NOTHING BETTER TO DO 2 · 0⤊ 4⤋
Take to harley shop. Needs gasket R & R.
2007-08-31 14:14:48 · answer #6 · answered by Date Dr. 6 · 0⤊ 2⤋
A new gasket would probably do the trick. And if you're gonna do one you might as well do the other.
2007-08-31 13:06:41 · answer #7 · answered by jrrysimmons 5 · 4⤊ 0⤋
all true rat bikes should leak a little.
2007-08-31 13:34:28 · answer #8 · answered by byteme 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
it' a harley...get used to it. Put some kitty litter under the leak.
2007-08-31 13:00:59 · answer #9 · answered by freed1one 4 · 2⤊ 8⤋