Topic: Well, doc, what seems to be the diagnosis?

[Hope]

I went riding today, even though upon my initial inspection of Cassandra, I saw this:



hmmm....  what is that stuff near my spark plug?  I've never notice oil or gas around my spark plug before.

I went riding anyway, and came back home... let the bike cool down, pulled the spark plug:



Where to start? What do I need to do? 

[Gordon]

Give the engine a good cleaning and ride as usual.  This will help you to see exactly where it's coming from.  From that picture, though, my first choice would be the rocker shaft seals.  If you pull the rocker shaft end covers (the part in the picture with the large phillips screw) you'll see what I'm talking about.  Each cover has two metal plugs with o-rings on them that seal the holes at the ends of the rocker shafts, and if the o-rings aren't doing their jobs properly, oil can leak past them and out through the bottom of the cover. 

[OldSchool_IsCool]

When Cassie's engine is clean and dry, you could also spray some foot powder on the area of interest.  When you run her next, the white powder will turn black right at the source of the leak.

[bryanj]

Has it been apart recently? If so the soft washer under the bracket that holds the end cap may not be there, or damaged

[RSV12K]

My diagnosis is that you gave your bike a dopey name.

[knack]

My diagnosis is that you gave your bike a dopey name.

Ouch!

[TwoTired]

My diagnosis is that you gave your bike a dopey name.

Perhaps you'd like to explain why you thought it necessary to post derogatory remarks?

[medic09]

My diagnosis is that you gave your bike a dopey name.

Perhaps you'd like to explain why you thought it necessary to post derogatory remarks?

+1 with TT.

I, for one, have to say a) it doesn't matter and ignore him (RSV is an illness after all), and b) it is kind of a classy (or is that cassie) name.   

Me, I don't have names for bikes; excepting when things break, then it'll be things I can't say or write in public forums. 

[Gordon]

Hey Hope!  Any luck finding the source? 

And Cassandra's a perfectly fine name for a bike (not that it matters what other people think, anyway)

[333]

He probably never felt the soul of his bike.  Talok about dopey.

[edbikerii]

I felt the soul of my bike a few times.  In fact, my bike's name came to me in a ragedream late one night in the garage.  My bike's name is "F'in piece of Sh1t"!

I think Cassandra is infinitely more classy, however.

[Hope]

The source of the yuck has yet to be determined.  I cleaned the motor off, and went for a ride.  The yuck hasn't reared its ugly head again (not yet anyway). 

I will probably either ride it to work during the week or I will definitely ride this coming weekend and try to see where it is coming from.

[Gordon]

The source of the yuck has yet to be determined.  I cleaned the motor off, and went for a ride.  The yuck hasn't reared its ugly head again (not yet anyway). 

I will probably either ride it to work during the week or I will definitely ride this coming weekend and try to see where it is coming from.

You can find out really quick by just pulling off that little cover.  If there's oil inside it, then there's your leak.  It's literally a 30 second job. 

[dusterdude]

My diagnosis is that you gave your bike a dopey name.

Perhaps you'd like to explain why you thought it necessary to post derogatory remarks?

yea,stone him.

[peten]

not related to the leak, but the gasket on the spark plug in your pic was not crushed.  plugs should be tightened to about 14-18 ft-lbs, enough to semi-squash the gasket.  just thought u should know.

[Hope]

okay... finally Saturday... Cassandra and I had some alone time...  Here's what I found when I took the screw off the cover:
















Time for me to get some of those rubber rings?

[mark]

Time for me to get some of those rubber rings?

Yes ma'am. And maybe a couple of the soft aluminum washers that go under the tabs that the covers screw on to.

She might also be pleased if you polished up the covers a bit while they are off.




Happy trails.

[Hope]

Yeah, I planned to polish the covers... off to the Honda dealership.  Hopefully this fixes my yuck problem

[Hope]

Once again, thanks to all the folks who helped.  Honda had 2 of the O-rings I needed.  I ordered the other 2.  (I plan to do both sides.)  I put the screws in wood bleach because they didn't have the screws either.  Those are on order to.  Polished both of the covers up.  They now match all my other polished aluminum.  Gotta love a happy ending:

[TwoTired]

Hope,
Friendly advice offered:
Those rocker shaft plugs/cover reveal the rocker shafts themselves.  If you peer straight into the shaft holes you can see the shaft ends themselves.  They should appear perfectly centered in the holes.  If they do, count yourself lucky.  Pre 77 CB550 cam covers did not have a feature to hold the shafts from turning with the the rocker movement.  This wore the cam cover aluminum and altered the rocker geometry, which can lead to abnormal cam & rocker wear.

If your rocker shafts are still centered in the bores, you have little to be concerned about.  However, a preventive measure to keep the shafts from turning, is to add an extra oring into each bore before installing the end cap plugs.  This adds extra pressure/ turning resistance, to keep the shafts in place and not turn with the rocker movement.  This tip courtesy of Mike Nixon.

Cheers,