Topic: Valve Cover Or Head Leak?

[Habbyshaw]

Hi all,
My bike has developed a leak near the top and bottom of the head. It has become a bit of a nuisance while rided. The hot oil hits my leg! Has anyone seen a leak that looks like this. I can seem to find where the source is. The top fin of the head has oil on it so I would like to believe it is the valve cover however there is a bunch of oil on the lower fins aswell. Any help would be appreciated.

[Gordon]

If a leak is bad enough or goes on long enough it can be difficult to figure out the source because there's oil on everything.  Cleaning it up will make it a lot easier to see where it's coming from.  It's possible you have multiple leaks, but it's also possible you have one leak somewhere up top that's coating everything below it.  A couple of possible culprits on the valve cover, besides the valve cover gasket itself, are the tach drive oil seal and the tappet cover seals. 

[gregimotis]

Here's a trick a learned here years ago -

First get everything as clean and dry as you reasonably can, then get a can of spray-on athlete's foot powder and coat the whole area of the leak with it.  Finally, run the engine and look for black against the brilliant white powder.
The powder also washes right off with water.