marking one's territory

L

lawrence

Hero member
Location
Idaho, USA
My Mirage has developed an oil leak at the "drain hole" pictured here.  Any idea what has caused this?


The oil is dripping from a small hole in the engine case just below the starter. 
 

Attachments

  • weephole (3).jpg
    weephole (3).jpg
    191 KB · Views: 223
Have any covers/components been removed or the oil topped up recently?
That hole drains excess oil from the top of the crankcase, is there any sign of oil there?
 
Possibly coming from the gasket on the starter motor, if you remove the starter motor it will be easy to see if oil is getting past the gasket.
 
The area around the oil filler hole is no more oily than usual.  That is the first place I looked for trouble.  I've not done any maintenance to speak of, aside from adding an aux. fuse block.  That didn't entail moving any covers around and I cannot see the relationship of that work to this oil weep.  It could well be the gasket on the starter.  I hadn't thought of that.  Before I pull it off and have a look I'll clean up the oil now there and ride a bit more.  It's possible the oil is from long ago.  It's been ages since I rode the Mirage and got her up to temperatures that would make any oil hiding in low spots thin and runny.  It could all be down that lack of recent use of the bike. 
Well, it doesn't hurt to be optimistic.  ::) Thanks for the ideas.
 
Source of the problem was located.  I'm embarrassed to say it was something so simple I never gave it a thought.  The "oil" drip was actually gasoline that had washed a bit of oil off the engine case as it sought earth.  The petcock was leaking ever so slightly, the fuel ran down the fuel line until it dripped off near the starter. From there it drained/wept out the hole in the cover.  So, no oil seal failed; it was simply pilot error.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top