Oil on the outside of the engine?

staniel wrote:

...chirping noise...found oil on the left side of the engine....

Might be simply a loose nut on an exhaust clamp.

Good Luck!

These engines are very simple, and i'm saying that because if you can work on a bicycle you can work on a motorcycle. Not to mention you dont need all the specialty tools you do on a bicycle. I urge you you post some pictures up here of the oil leak.

At the very least you will know what the problem is if you do decide to bring it to a shop to have them tighten the bolts.

it sounds overwhelming i know, but these are simple machines, just like bicycles. post some pictures, whats the harm?
-patrick-

The info just never ends here. You guys are the best.

An update to the story: I went to the shop. They confirmed that it's the head gasket. It's damp all the way around, so apparently it's been happening for a while.

The mechanic asked "does it ride well?"
I said "yeah, it's great."
The guy, Reid, said "then I recommend you ride it until it starts spraying oil all over your legs and you can't take it anymore. Check the oil level once a month at the least. If you are in love with this bike, we could replace the head gasket, but while we're in there, you'd probably want us to replace all the gaskets, rebore, new rings, etc., lest you ride with a new gasket for a month and something else goes wrong that requires we pop it open again. You'd rack it up to spending $2000 on this bike before you knew it. We'd do it, because we like making money, but we'd be asses to tell you it's a good investment. You could use the money to buy a bike in better shape. It's just not worth it unless you're totally in love."

Then they rolled it out of the shop and sent me on my way. I love these guys.

Last night I met a fellow whose dad apparently works on motorcycles and has a garage and tools (usually the limiting factor in such things) somewhere in the Seattle area. He said we could have the job done in two weekends when the summer comes around. I don't know if he's serious, but I'm going to assume he is. If it turns out to be all lies, I'll move to Portland for a couple weeks and try to meet up with Skyman

I'm really looking forward to it. I'll ride it softly until then.


And to answer the various questions: yes, I'm a total motorcycle maintenance noob. I'm good with mechanical things, but this seems like the kind of work where you don't wanna mess around without help.

"then I recommend you ride it until it starts spraying oil all over your legs and you can't take it anymore. "... :ohmy: :blink:

I for one would have to disagree with that... If it's leaking bad enough now thus dirty engine, possibly compression leak, possible loss of proper head component lubrication... wait until it get's worse... :blink: or blow a serious oil leak and seize the engine...

No way I'd go this route... But that's just me... :blush:

The head gasket is $50, valve cover gasket is $10 from Z1... If your not comfortable accomplishing yourself then this mechanic should be able to replace it for under $200...

As for total rebuild, hell if it's running well, not smoking, leaking oil elsewhere and you have compression to specifications then a head & valve cover gasket is all that is most likely required.

You may want him to check/re-shim for valve clearances but from what you have posted, doesn;t seem more than that at this time...

Good luck....

OMR

Yeah, I'd really rather not kill this thing. I'm falling in love with it. I've even named it Bucephalus.

I'm going to ride it easy. I need it to work for a few more weeks until I can ride my bicycle again (medical reasons!), then I can start unscrewing things.

If I can replace all the gaskets and determine whether the engine is in decent shape, I'll then do the whole valve timing thing.

I am sure if it's just seeping out of the gasket you will be fine for a couple weeks as long as you watch your oil level. My bike was greasy and leaky all last summer, I went through so much oil, but it was no prob, just more mess to clean up later!

I know it's daunting, but like I said I did it for the first time a couple months ago, and man, if all I had to do was a valve adjustment and change the head gasket it would have been a nice and easy time!

They were telling me that in pulling the head off (I just realized, I still don't know what a head is...) to replace the head gasket, they'd probably have to replace the base gasket as well. Something about "as soon as tension is released".

Any confirmation that this is an actual thing?

If you had an '83 and the head gasket started leaking, what other things would you look into replacing/fixing while you were in there? Not just in terms of addiction, but in terms of being sensible?

I doubt the head gasket is leaking. There are rubber orings that leak that seal the head to the cylinder, however when these are replaced the head gasket should be replaced as well. No need to change any other gasket. Valve cover is reusable unless a goofball sealed it with gasket sealer, base gasket doesn't care of what you do up top unless you're wild and crazy. Be careful to pull the head only, and not disturb the cylinder itself. The worst part of the job is removing the exhaust and carbs. The job varies by what you have in this respect. Stock airbox is a pain and stock exhaust too. If you happen to have a header it can be removed in less than 10 minutes. If you have pod air filters the carbs can be removed in 10 minutes. Stock is another story, probably a couple hours removing and installing carbs and exhaust and either way 2 or 3 hours to change the gasket and orings from there. If you have a KZ550-650-750 this is an ongoing problem. I only bother to fix the nicer bikes, my 650 I ride to work leaks and not worth the effort, so think about it.

I do have pod air filters on there, and a friend of mine has confirmed that he's willing to help me with this project when the weather is nice again. I'll ride it out until that time, then do an overhaul. Pretty exciting.

Anyone have any good links to share about what's involved in a bore job? Piston rings? That kind of stuff? What is that whole process called?

Another update on this: there hasn't been any more oil leaking across the heat sinks on the side of the engine. The oil level has even remained relatively constant. I replaced the oil while on the phone with a mechanic. I told him I had put in synthetic car oil the last time (it was Mobil 1 and I checked to see if it would be bad for a wet clutch and the internet said no). Anyway, I've got new motorcycle oil in it and things seem to be going fine. I'm still planning the overhaul this summer.