Topic: Absolutely...STOKED! oil leak found and fueling fixed!

[Bru-tom]

 

so after a months of time spent rebuilding my cb550 and to my obsessive compulsive nature and perfection, my freaking motor leaks, the same place it did when i first road her after i bought it. Nothing has changed! i replaced every single o-ring, gasket and pucks under the tappet cover to no avail.

now, i would like to stop this once and for all. so my fault find and corrective measure starts.

Could it be that my studs have stretched a little over the years and causing issues when i torque the nuts? i went to 15ft/lb as per my manual. i even went as far as to put a dab of gasket sealer on the edge where the oil channel is on the sides of the cylinders and head to try stop the leak. the oil most definitely seems to be coming from the little screw driver gaps in the head where the head meets the cylinders?...

i am upset

any advice fellas? i know its been covered over and over, kinda need to rant too i guess. seeing as this oil problem is a common one

i do need to add though, she goes like a bloody dream! way way waaaaay better than i expected and she is fast! really fast...but im still upset

[Bru-tom]

thanks mate. My rebuild is in my signature, its the most complete of my rebuild process.

it is also running extremely rich, she jerks at low rpm pretty bad, i think its my idle jet side because as soon as i go over say 3-4000rpm she screams and no jerking happens. i have my air mixture screws out 2 turns from bottom. my bike is a 1976 so its the older carbs with the idle mixture screws that adjust air mixture if that makes sense?...i do have a custom airbox though, i am going to try remove some filter material and see how it goes, however, she was still rich when i started her the first time without any filter on the carbs at all.

the leak is kinda vague, as my head and cylinders are black. so i will clean her up nicely and take her for a spin tomorrow and maybe use some baby powder to help diagnose where the leak is coming from exactly. for some odd reason, im now beginning to think its coming from the new pucks i fitted. bleh, no having a great day at all

[iron_worker]

Did you use an OEM head gasket? Did you have the head and cylinders surfaced to ensure flatness?

IW

[dave500]

make sure the backet that holds those end caps on isnt bent or has burrs,replace the aluminium washers with new copper ones top and bottom of the bolt,as you ride wind blows oil around and it can be hard to truly see the leak.

[Bru-tom]

thanks for the input guys! much appreciated!

I used Vesrah, it was in my budget at the time.

@ DAve- i did replace those with copper, i used copper washers on quite a few of the tappet cover bolts too, as per the manual.



I think i may have found the culprit....i made a blank off plate months back for the tach drive on the tappet cover....at the time, i never tightened it properly. everytime i looked past it as it was covered and assumed it was torqued... there is oil that had come out of there. all over cylinder number 3's spark plug etc.

Do you think the oil could have leaked out enough to get to both sides of the head to make me think its coming from the galleries and pucks?

[Bailgang]

Do you think the oil could have leaked out enough to get to both sides of the head to make me think its coming from the galleries and pucks?

If you use your side stand a lot then I would imagine it's plausible because any oil that has leaked from the right side will tend to migrate to the left side when it's on the side stand. I'd still be keeping an eye on it once you get the plug for the tach drive sealed properly.

[Trad]

make sure the backet that holds those end caps on isnt bent or has burrs,replace the aluminium washers with new copper ones top and bottom of the bolt,as you ride wind blows oil around and it can be hard to truly see the leak.

Hey Dave,

I tried to get those washers from honda directly and they were NOS. Do you guys just use m6 generic copper crush washers?

[dave500]

yeah just 6mm copper washers.

[Bru-tom]

Do you think the oil could have leaked out enough to get to both sides of the head to make me think its coming from the galleries and pucks?

If you use your side stand a lot then I would imagine it's plausible because any oil that has leaked from the right side will tend to migrate to the left side when it's on the side stand. I'd still be keeping an eye on it once you get the plug for the tach drive sealed properly.

thanks mate. Yeah, i did at the time. i am using 10w40 aswell, so its a little thinner (less viscous) right? i was at the time at the filling station when i noticed it.


Any ideas on the super rich mix im getting? i doubled checked the main needle setting and its on the second from top, which is stock right? I mean, if anything, my airbox mod will allow more air to enter the carbs if anything, not restrict... I went as far as to turn the air screw a further half turn out and no change (at 2.5 from bottom now). I did not clean or check plugs since i last rode, il pull them out later and clean em, they might be fouled really bad causing the spluttering making my adjustment null and void...

[Trad]

yeah just 6mm copper washers.

Thanks man.

[Bru-tom]

well lads, i seem to have isolated the problem! that damn tach-blank-off i made was the cause of my catastrophic leak! no more oil from the motor! i do however have a leak from the shift lever, but its nothing that cant be mended.

The rich scenario is much better, running with the air screw 2.5 turns out though. but so far so good. a little rough on pull away, but she really purrs when i let her rip! reason why she was spluttering so bad was caused by 2 misfiring cylinders at low rpm.

so yeah, happy days