Ahh yes... the oil gremlins

So.... I get out of work today looking forward to a nice long ride home (when I ride bike to work it takes me at least an extra 30 minutes to get home, lol).. and I see.... yep - a small puddle of oil...

I check, and I have enough to get straight home.

Get home and put her up on the center stand to take a look-see. Looks like she is leaking around the oil cooler piece (don't know technical name) that goes between the engine and the oil filter cover.. So I take off the oil filter cover - and drain the oil (hey might as well change it, i'm in there already, lol) and ...... I pull off the oil cooler (which was a pain because of my 4-into-1 exhaust)... and.... the PO (I would assume) felt that it was ok to use 2 smaller o-rings that he cut because they were to small, and a whole mess of gasket goop as the sealing o-ring that should be there. Also there was a big ole chip on the side facing the engine that was 'patched' with similar goop... It seems all of my good ole cleaning, internal and external, worked all this magic loose....

Luckily, my parts bike has an oil cooler too - so I start to dismantle that..clean it out... because I think either something died in it or it was used to kill something and then help bury it.. It was nasty dirty...like I will have nightmares now dirty.....

However, as my luck would have it, that one wasthicker so I had to go in a little deeper and pull out spacers and some other pieces... Luckily the cooler rubber lines still fit, although I had to turn the metal block a little cockeye'd so that the brass nipple wasn't resting on a header........

Get her all back together, fill her up - no leaks!! WooHoo! (this is on a bike where the oil drain bolt was stripped so I used a self tapping oversized plug). I put a few miles on her to get he nice and lubed up (I put in Rotella 15-40 based on recommendations here)... all is well with the world....

Get home, pop her on the center stand and go inside......

Few hours later.... go outside... and there is probably about a teaspoon of oil on my driveway...#&*@$_!#.... go get my flashlight, take a quick look - and it appears as if its leaking around the oil sensor electrical thinger (technical term). Ho..Hum.... Luckily its not leaking crazy - I mean less then a teaspoon in 3 hours... I just want to ride her tomorrow !!! first nice days in weeks!! Will top her off in the morning, bring a spare quart in my bag, and go to work, 'You cannot stop me oil gremlins!'

I really think all of the cleaning and whatnot I did removed enough grime, dirt, gunk, sludge, and various small rodents so that these little issues are popping up.. I am 'ok' with that, as I would rather have it happen in my driveway or close to home, then when on a trip or something....but dammit... (*#@$%&(!)$)

I know there has been other posts about these types of leaks, so I am not really asking for anything here (unless you want to offer suggestions, I am all ears)... I just thought i'd vent a little and announce my membership to the 'stained driveway' club, or the 'where the hell did that come from' club ;-P

 

Yea leaks are not fun but once you get them resolved you should be good for a long time...