Topic: New/old oil leak visible after foot powdering

[felicious]

I took these two pictures on my way home after I cleaned the engine. It seems like I had two oil leaks (cam cover and this one).
Bike is '78 CB550. It got dark quickly but I couldn't see any leaks on the left side of the engine.

What could this leak be?




Thanks,
Felix

[Don R]

My experience is it almost always runs down from above. If it had a huge overbore I'd suspect a sleeve peeking through. That's not the case here.

[Deltarider]

But... it is common, very common with a 500 or 550... if it's not excessive no need to worry. An oil with special additive like Castrol High Mileage might help a bit.

[felicious]

I drove to work this morning and it's more obvious now.
The head/cam cover area is fine. All dry as I just replaced the gasket and the rubber pucks.

So it looks like the oil is coming from the read area. Unfortunately I didn't clean/powdered the area very well due to the exhaust but I'm 90% sure that's where it's from. Is there some kind of gasket that could be causing this? How much work would it be to fix this?

There is already lots of oil, so ignoring it isn't a possibility and I don't want tampons on my bike permanently.



Felix

[felicious]

I can't see any oil between the jugs and the case, meaning there is still the foot powder.
Any tip on how to clean this in a quick way? I was brushing away for an hour over the weekend.

Would there be other symptoms if the head is cracked? Compressions was in the 100s last time I checked (with the exception of #2 which had 60).

[eigenvector]

Coming from the #3 exhaust valve cap maybe?  They can leak if not snug.

[eigenvector]

Incidentally, if you use all-purpose flour instead of talc, it smells like you're baking a cake!

[eigenvector]

Compression of 60?  Check for a bent valve - that's way too low, you're basically running on 3 cylinders.

[felicious]

Use a spray cleaner designed for aluminum wheels from an Auto a Parts store. Rinse with water on a cool engine.

Hmmmm. Compression at 60 for #2? That is an interesting correlation. When you took your compression readings, did you also happen to drip some oil in to see what effect it had on the compression readings? This is a trick for raising the compression and to determine if it's the rings or from the valve train.

You may need to drop the exhaust out of the way so you can get a really good look at the front of the engine and identify the source.

I'll give the spray cleaner a try.
Yes I did the oil trick and it shot up to 110.

[felicious]

Compression of 60?  Check for a bent valve - that's way too low, you're basically running on 3 cylinders.

I was able to do the ton easily this weekend without problems so I assume it might not be as bad as the compression readout suggests?

[eigenvector]

That would be the first thing I'd concern myself with, not an oil leak.

[felicious]

That would be the first thing I'd concern myself with, not an oil leak.

May I ask why? I don't seem to be having any other issues (with the exception of the oil leak) which made me feel lesser bad about the compression. I thought that there are symptoms that come with low compression that are the problem?

[eigenvector]

That would be the first thing I'd concern myself with, not an oil leak.

May I ask why? I don't seem to be having any other issues (with the exception of the oil leak) which made me feel lesser bad about the compression. I thought that there are symptoms that come with low compression that are the problem?

Because it's  just so darn low.  One cylinder running that low would indicate a big problem with that cylinder.  Since you don't seem to think there's a big problem, to me it sounds like a fluke in the reading.  The first time I saw that I'd immediately re-test to confirm just because it's so out there.  I don't even think your bike would idle.  If none of this seems familiar, then my guess is that it's a fluke - no big deal, put the gauge back on that cylinder and retest.  For all you know that's where the oil is coming from - although that doesn't seem likely either.  More than likely it's a fluke and the oil is leaking out of a valve adjuster cap.

[felicious]

Are you confident the 60psi is accurate? Did you repeat the test multiple times and get the same result?

If it's that low, you're probably burning oil and leaking it. Any smoke from the exhaust? A engine with a single, low compression cylinder is far worse than all 4 low. It's indicative of oil starvation, piston/ring issues etc...
How does the motor sound and feel? Smooth, quiet and hearty? Or tinny, knocking at low RPMs, and rattling?

I kicked the bike 4-5x but it was a hot day. Maybe I was too tired already.
No smoke ever. There is a rattling noise that seems to be coming from the timing chain.

Here is an old video where you can hear the rattling:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzutlfCUtuE

Just saw how much oil used to be on my fins. haha

[felicious]

That would be the first thing I'd concern myself with, not an oil leak.

May I ask why? I don't seem to be having any other issues (with the exception of the oil leak) which made me feel lesser bad about the compression. I thought that there are symptoms that come with low compression that are the problem?

Because it's  just so darn low.  One cylinder running that low would indicate a big problem with that cylinder.  Since you don't seem to think there's a big problem, to me it sounds like a fluke in the reading.  The first time I saw that I'd immediately re-test to confirm just because it's so out there.  I don't even think your bike would idle.  If none of this seems familiar, then my guess is that it's a fluke - no big deal, put the gauge back on that cylinder and retest.  For all you know that's where the oil is coming from - although that doesn't seem likely either.  More than likely it's a fluke and the oil is leaking out of a valve adjuster cap.

I would think there's a fluke too. I will re-test though some time today or tomorrow to be on the safe side.
The bike idles just fine, actually better than ever since I bought it. It is definitely not coming from the adjuster cap.






Looks like christmas.

[eigenvector]

Can't imagine where it'd be then.  Valve cover or head gasket are the only two other likely spots.

[felicious]

I don't disagree with you. I guess it could actually be a crack. This weekend I will take the exhaust off and do some through cleaning and powdering again. It's definitely below the head. I could see it squirting out there before I did the gasket+rubber pucks. That's not happening anymore.

Here is a before picture: