This is new. (for me anyway)

[GJS]

So I'm preparing to pour a cement floor in my shop and I'm making lots of dust.

My BPL (Black Phat Lady) is about 20 feet away.
While sipping a beer and staring at her I spot an oil leak.

So I took pictures and decided to look no further; as I had been drinking and I drop thing sometimes.

These are those pictures. I'm really interested in the speculations of our well seasoned Valkaholics, before I sober up and check it out.


The Oil is not really that red.
I picked up up the drip from below the timing belt cover.









I guess I'll start by taking off the Timing belt cover.

Otherwise she is running well.

Best regards,

GJS

[Former BMW Guy]

Gasket.

[YoungPUP]

From your second picture I'd look at the oil pressure switch.  Wind moving past a leak can put a fluid in some weird places, but that switch looks awful wet as does the harness leading too it.

[Jess from VA]

First time I found a light spray of oil on the timing cover and pods, I wondered where it came from.  I could find no leak anywhere and cleaned it up.  The second time I spent more time and discovered it was a fork leak.... blowing back (all over) while riding.  As it was on the engine, I thought it was from the engine.  Wrong, and boy was I happy it was just the fork.

My fork oil is a little pink too.  

[Michvalk]

Check the fork seals. The red made me think that, and the fact that it is on the front of the crash bar and belt covers

[Chrisj CMA]

if you recently messed with the timing belts...it could be one of the tensioner bolts.  On mine there is one bolt on the throttle side tensioner that has to be sealed.  I use Yamabond4 gasket sealer and it stays sealed.

[3W-lonerider]

i agree the oil on your finger is to red to be engine oil..i'd be looking at the right fork.

[fordmano]

Ok riddle me this?

If it's from the fork then why does it look like there is no oil contamination on the Horn cover from what my old goofy eyes can see? ???

I would check your coolant level. What color is your coolant? If you have a very slight coolant leak it can evaporate to a point and concentrate to what would or could look like an oil instead of a water type fluid.

One drip no worries, 2 or more maybe a future issue.

[jimmytee]

+1  On that is an unusual color if it's not fork oil. Looks just like fork oil.

[Grandpot]

Are you sure you didn't just cut your finger?

[Jess from VA]

One taste will tell if it's coolant/antifreeze (sweet).  It's poison so make it a small taste, not a lick. 

[GJS]

This is why I love this forum! 

I'll have a chance to really investigate further in the next couple of days.

For sure it is not coolant. Mine is florissant green.

The fork oil is something I had not considered and should be easy to check. It does seem too red for engine oil, but I think my iPhone ma have added that bit of colour. 

The Oil pressure switch might be part of the mix, but it is also on the front of the timing cover, I wouldn't think it would blow around quite like that but you never know.

The drip I picked up came from the bottom of the timing cover, above and just right of the horn.
I'll check again this morning to see if the drip reformed over night.

I did the timing belts two years ago when I had the front end apart and was rebuilding after an accident. Both fork seals were replaced then (the right seal had just started to leak two days before the accident, I learned later one of the reasons the wrote the bike off was because they saw fork fluid and assumed the forks were bent).  In addition to the fork seals I changed the timing belts for new and installed the 6degree rake kit from F6.

It does look like the drip comes out of the timing cover.


I'll post my findings here.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Best regards,

GJS

[ValkFlyer]

Gasket.

  Valve cover gasket.

[indybobm]

Clean everything, makes it easier to see where the leak is coming from. Do you have a engine oil temperature or pressure gauge that was added at some point?

[R J]

If it is not the right fork seal, then you better look you AUTOMATIC transmission over.

Auto tranny and fork seals all use RED oil.

[Tropic traveler]

Wind could be blowing the oil quite a ways away from the source of the leak. The shift shaft seal on the wife's 750 Shadow is on the left rear of the case behind the front sprocket. The oil from the leaky seal was dripping from the center/right of the engine case after a ride. Weird. Only leaked while it was running but somehow the drips found their way forward on the engine. 

[john]

           " Clean everything,"                                
        and check it again             

[jimmytee]

One other thought. If you're reasonably sure it's not fork oil ,you might wanna check inside your timing belt cover and look at your belts to be sure they are not getting oil on them. Honda says no good for those belts to get oil on them.

[GJS]

Well I got down to it and put the bike up on the jack.

I removed the right side Valve cover to take a look.
It may be hard to see in the pictures, but I'm pretty sure this is where the oil was seeping out from.
The gasket appears dirty and crud has built up on the surface of the metal as well.







I'm ordering two new gaskets this morning. I'll replace both sides, they are 14 yrs old.
The one I removed still feels ok, but clearly was not doing the job. The Valve covers were torqued to the specs in the manual and the bolts felt snug when I removed them. So it appears the gasket is just tired and sagging. (happens to the best of us  )


Thanks again for the suggestions and help.
 


Best regards,

GJS

[jimmytee]

Just a note, along with the gasket, you are required to use some rtv sealant on two places when the valve covers are removed and reassembled. In case you weren't aware of this. If it didn't get done the last time the covers were removed,,,well a leak will occur. jfyi

[GJS]

Thanks JimmyTee,

I suspect that is it then. I don't remember adding any guk of any kind when I put those back on after checking the valve clearances a couple of years ago.

RTV sealant is a special sealant?
Do you think high heat silicone would work? I think I have some of that.

Thanks again,

GJS

[jimmytee]

On page 113 and 114 the Clymer manual just says to put a light coat of sealant to the mating surface at each end of the cylinder head as shown in figure 17,18 and 19. It is right at the base of the round part at the end of the cams. A picture is worth a thousand words. If needed , later I could possibly get the appropriate pics.I used a black RTV  gasket sealant. If your gasket looks bad replace it. If it is simply not staying in the groove, use a thin coat of gasket (1521) or Gasgacinch in the cylinder head groove to help hold the gasket in place. Just a thin coat. You don't want to glue your covers on. If you don't have the manual, there's a downloadable manual somewhere on here.

[Jess from VA]

So your forks are perfect?

[GJS]

After the note about needing some extra sealant in there, I took another look at the gaskets, now that both are off, and they look a little tired/flattened. So I have two new ones coming in next week.
For the money and the time it seemed like the prudent thing to do given they are 14+ yrs old.

Jess,

I did take a good look at the forks, they were a little dirty, but no fluid leaks.
They seals are new as of 2 years ago. She has only seen about 10k since then, and mostly highway miles at that.

I know the oil looks red in the pictures, but that is my iPhone camera at work, the actual oil is not that red.




Cheers,


GJS

[Jess from VA]

OK, no fork problem is good.

BTW, you got a huge set of cans.   

[GJS]

Thanks,

The Exhaust is by HorseApple (MarkT on the board) out of Franktown Co. Mark does very high quality work.

I love the sound of these pipes. They sound a little louder than stock and much deeper.
When travelling any real distance I use earplugs because I like the quiet, but at least cages now know I am there when I ride along side in traffic.

As well, I can pop out the organ pipes and they get quite a louder!  

GJS