piranha-bro2
Hero member
- Location
- Melbourne
The SFQ has done over 9000km. Other than a major issue of oil from the LH barrel due to breakthrough for the OS sleeves (mostly sorted but still a minor issue, even on a second set of barrels) it's had the odd oil leak (eg, primary chain tensioner area ... new gasket) but has generally been leak-free. After the Laverda 2-day Curdievale run I serviced the bike, prepping it for the big 5-day High Country club ride.
Not far into day one I noticed oil weeping from the right cam end cover, sufficient to drip off the fins and leave a lovely smear all over the (battery-airbox) side cover ... ugly - one place I'd never had a drop escape from, so was somewhat baffled (and pissed off). It continued to leak and irritate me for the remaining 2500km, necessitating wiping it away at every fuel stop. Why the hell did this suddenly appear???!!! Hooksey will remember my words.
There was also a leak from somewhere down near the final drive behind the selector cover (a new gasket and added sealant hadn't solved that one, but I could live with it until I found the time to probe further for the source.
Last week I changed the oil and went in to investigate. Selector cover issue appears almost certainly to be from oil passing between the output shaft and the bearing/spacer (the seal runs on the spacer). A dose of engine silicone will hopefully have solved that. As for the cam end cover, I fitted a new gasket and used sealant. First ride out and sure enough I'm still getting oil on the fins ... ugly Mk2. I'm convinced it's not the top cover gasket as it's dry under there. a clean rag under the right inlet tappet cover shows clean oil on the underside. Never seen one of them leak. Correct size new o-rings went in during the build, but in desperation I remove it and when i check it on a flat surface I can fit a 0.6mm feeler gauge under one side - the other side seems no more than 0.1mm. The four tappet covers on the Q came from bits I've amassed over the years (I think a couple came from a job lot I bought from a Canadian about 12 years ago).
So ... what;'s clear is that some DPO has fitted o-rings larger than spec, tightened down the dome nuts and bingo ... managed to distort the cover. Why did the leak only manifest itself after the service? Simple - I fitted it 180 degrees diff from where it had been previously! When the big gap was at the bottom, oil could happily drip away and irritate the shit out of me! Fitted one of my original SF1 tappet covers and the problem has miraculously disappeared.
So shit simple I feel like a total goose for not finding it earlier - in my defence, oil leaks can be notoriously hard to source. Piet has mentioned the common problem of old covers having been overtightened, overcompressing areas of gasket and warping the cover. Never thought a tappet cover could cause so much grief, being a simple o-ring seal, but this is a classic example of what he was talking about.
Apologies for the long tome ... it has felt like a saga to me!
Q
Not far into day one I noticed oil weeping from the right cam end cover, sufficient to drip off the fins and leave a lovely smear all over the (battery-airbox) side cover ... ugly - one place I'd never had a drop escape from, so was somewhat baffled (and pissed off). It continued to leak and irritate me for the remaining 2500km, necessitating wiping it away at every fuel stop. Why the hell did this suddenly appear???!!! Hooksey will remember my words.
There was also a leak from somewhere down near the final drive behind the selector cover (a new gasket and added sealant hadn't solved that one, but I could live with it until I found the time to probe further for the source.
Last week I changed the oil and went in to investigate. Selector cover issue appears almost certainly to be from oil passing between the output shaft and the bearing/spacer (the seal runs on the spacer). A dose of engine silicone will hopefully have solved that. As for the cam end cover, I fitted a new gasket and used sealant. First ride out and sure enough I'm still getting oil on the fins ... ugly Mk2. I'm convinced it's not the top cover gasket as it's dry under there. a clean rag under the right inlet tappet cover shows clean oil on the underside. Never seen one of them leak. Correct size new o-rings went in during the build, but in desperation I remove it and when i check it on a flat surface I can fit a 0.6mm feeler gauge under one side - the other side seems no more than 0.1mm. The four tappet covers on the Q came from bits I've amassed over the years (I think a couple came from a job lot I bought from a Canadian about 12 years ago).
So ... what;'s clear is that some DPO has fitted o-rings larger than spec, tightened down the dome nuts and bingo ... managed to distort the cover. Why did the leak only manifest itself after the service? Simple - I fitted it 180 degrees diff from where it had been previously! When the big gap was at the bottom, oil could happily drip away and irritate the shit out of me! Fitted one of my original SF1 tappet covers and the problem has miraculously disappeared.
So shit simple I feel like a total goose for not finding it earlier - in my defence, oil leaks can be notoriously hard to source. Piet has mentioned the common problem of old covers having been overtightened, overcompressing areas of gasket and warping the cover. Never thought a tappet cover could cause so much grief, being a simple o-ring seal, but this is a classic example of what he was talking about.
Apologies for the long tome ... it has felt like a saga to me!
Q
