how hard to fix this oil leak?

uknowme2goog

uknowme2goog

XS650,1980, Bobber
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I havnt started my bike in a few weeks due to the cold/snow and today i started it up and noticed a oil leak between the the top and middle section of the motor next to the muffler mounting bolts. looks like a gasket is in between the two sections. Can i fix this leak without removing the motor? bike seems to be running fine...just a little smoke after i stop riding...must be the oil driping onto the hot motor.

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nope havnt taken the head off...what are the bolts you think i should check and what is the torque rating of these bolts? Is there a gasket between these parts...can i lossen the bolts up and lift it up and place some type of gasket material in between?
 
Yes, the head gasket is between the cylinder and the head, and it looks like that's what's leaking. I'd follow angus67's advice, and retorque the head nuts and bolts first. Changing the head gasket is not quite as simple as just lifting the head off and swapping the gasket out. A retorque may well fix your leak. Sorry, I don't have the torque order or specs with me.
 
Thanks Angus..I am at work right now..when i get home i am going to try to tighten them down..but i dont recall 15 bolts on top of the head, but maybe i never counted them all either..
 
9 and 10 are under the spark plugs, 11 is back down between the carbs. Use 30-35 ft/lbs on the 8 large acorn nuts (25 was not enough and a factory screw-up) on top, factory specs for all the other smaller ones. If they've never been touched (and they probably haven't), they may be stuck on their threads and give a false positive reading on the torque wrench. Crack each one loose 1st about 1/8 turn, then torque to spec. It's also not a bad idea to remove each one, one at a time, clean and apply anti-seize to the threads. Here's a better drawing I "doctored" .....

CylinderHeadTorque.jpg
 
ok...this is what i found and did...the bolts #1-#8 are 17mm. I was able to turn each of these bolts about 1/4 turn at 30ftlbs. because of the motor mount the torque wrench won't fit on bolts # 1, 4, 3, 2.. i had to use a open end and guessimate by just turning them a 1/4 turn too. The other bolts # 14, 12, 15, 13 were 12mm and each was torqued to 16 ftlbs, each turned about 1/4 turn. Bolts #9, 10 were torqued to 16ftlbs and turned 1/4 turn. I couldnt find bolt # 11, maybe it was under the motor mount and i couldnt see it or get a wrench on it. Tomorrow, i will start the bike up and see if it worked.
 
bolt 11 is under the crank breather box. it wont take alot of torque, 6#'s i think. just snug it with a wrench. I couldnt get a socket on mine, so I snugged it.
the inner acorns are a pain. broke two (cheap) torque wrenches trying to use a u-joint , but I ended just guestimating too. Wjen my bike comes all back apart for real paint, and finall assembly, I'll get it right then.
 
You have to remove the top motor mount to get at the inner 4 acorn nuts. It may seem like "too much trouble" but compared to pulling the motor and doing a proper top end overhaul, it's not. Hey, these are your guy's bikes - do what you want. Plaster a tube full of silicone around the outside of that leaking gasket, lol. See what I care, lol. Will it fix it? Probably not. You've asked what to do. You've been told the proper and right way. As I said, it's your bike, do what you want. Personally, if it was mine, I'd wash it 1st, lol. How can you tell where the leaks are if it's that grubby around the head gasket all the time? It must have been REALLY bad to show, oh, that's right, it was, it started smoking because it was burning the leaked oil.
 
John
Have you changed the oil in that bike yet. Make sure when you break the bolts that just the nut comes off. The guy you bought that from used lock tight on everything and the first motor that he blew up and i replace had lock tight on everything. So if the nut doesn't come off clean and easy leave it alone because you may back out the stud. Bike looks nice but if it keeps leaking may need a gasket and that was a low miles motor.
This is what it looked like when it left here as a kit bike
Later Rich
 

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Head gasket leaks the bane of many an old engine. Try the bolt torquing as mentioned pulling the top engine mounts makes sense and replacing the rubber washers with brass seems to be a good idea also. But really once it has started leaking the battle has been lost and you will have to pull the engine, remove the head and replace the gasket. At that point might as well put in valve seals and a front cam chain guide maybe the cam chain. Depending on miles a valve job, hone and rings may be in order too. That's just part of owning an old machine, shmidt happens.
 

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