oil leak

Patton wrote: There are several different sources for oil leaks, most of which are are readily repairable.

Would thoroughly clean the engine, allow it to completely dry, spray foot powder onto suspected leak areas (all over edges of the cam cover and head gaskets, around the tach drive and exhaust clamps, etc.).
Should then look like a clean white blanket of freshly fallen snow.

Start the engine, and watch for appearance of darkening area where the oil is coming through the powder.

The source of leak is usually very evident.

Without the white spray powder coating, it's often more difficult to positively identify source of the leak.

Good Fortune!

I will do this tonite or tomro for sure thanks

Probably your best bet would be to buy a top end gasket set and do the base, head, and valve cover gaskets. The o-rings for the tach drive are readily available too.

Also, Clymer manuals are ok but Kawasaki shop manuals are far and away the better choice. I would invest in a Kawi manual if you're planning on getting your hands dirty.

I ordered the clymer manual and hope that anything it doesnt cover i can find here.....couple questions......
1 do you have to pull motor out of frame to do head gasket
2 pull motor to do base/head gaskets
3 install new rings when doing base gasket?
Thanks again

I haven't worked on your exact model but I suspect it is similar to my 1000. You shouldn't have to pull the motor to do head or base gaskets, you will probably have to take the coils off though as they will probably be in the way if it is anything like the ST. Once you wriggle the valve cover off, there should be enough room to pull the head/barrels.

As to whether to do rings when doing the base gasket, that's up to you. You could take compression readings or do a leak-down test before taking the motor apart to try and gauge what kind of shape they are in but you might get false readings due to a head-gasket leak and/or tight or loose valves. Once in the motor you can always measure the rings and the bore, etc, but putting money into the engine is a slippery slope. One minute you're just going to put new rings in, then you decide you might as well overbore, then you realize you might as well get the head rebuilt, then you start looking at your carbs sideways, etc etc. Not trying to dissuade you or anything, I've just had it happen too many times myself :laugh: .

If you're just going to do gaskets and rings, it's a quick and (relatively) easy job. If you get into more than that, spring can sneak up quick on you!

The engine may be in excellent condition, aside from the oil leak, which oil leaks are typically readily repairable, easily, quickly, and relatively inexpensively. Items such as valve cover gasket, cam end plugs, tach drive seals, exhaust gaskets, loose exhaust clamp, faulty oil cooler hose, etc.
Oil seepage from any of these areas usually spreads over the fins.

As already noted, would suggest not tearing into the engine before first performing some simple testing to identify any specific problem areas.

Do a dry compression test and a wet compression test on each cylinder. This will distinguish between compression being lost through a valve as opposed to being lost via blow-by past the piston rings into the crankcase.

Check the valve clearances, and if not within specs, perform the necessary shim replacements to bring the clearances within specs. This will eliminate a too tight valve as possible reason for low compression.

Perform a leak-down test, which will help identify exactly where compression is being lost from the combustion chamber. Besides valve issues or piston ring issues, this might reveal a leaking head gasket. Try re-torquing the head before replacing the head gasket.

These are a few considerations to be addressed before electing more extensive engine work such as tear-down.

If tear-down is necessary, the top end work may be accomplished without removing the engine from the frame.

The best advice is to obtain and study a genuine factory service manual that covers the specific make and model of the motorcycle at hand.

It's painful to hear of someone mis-diagnosing a leaking tach seal as a blown head gasket, and proceeding to tear down the engine.

Good Fortune!

You guys, some of the best advice ive ever received on a forum....really do appreciate it....will do the flour test first and go from there....i am working on a very tight budget so i just want to get it where its a reliable ride that i can play with on the track every once in awhile.....no big bore kit at this time.....

Would anyone happen to have a kaw manual in pdf?

No such thing as a tight budget with a used motor-cycle. If money is tight, you shouldn't have bought it. Good luck, and expect to get dirty if you have no money. Bob

Gettin dirty isnt a problem.....neither is paying for parts and doing it, paying for labor at 60-80 bux andn hour is out of the budget

natetru wrote: Would anyone happen to have a kaw manual in pdf?

I have one for the A2A with add ins up to the 1980 D-3 posted on another forum .
Too big for KZR :huh:

PM me if you want the link.

JD

if it was me and i had to pull the engine apart to do the base gasket i sure would replace the rings and valve guide seals and anything else that could be replaced when its torn down that far.

Start with a valve cover gasket from z1enterprises,they got it listed for $17.41.

You can also clean up cam end plugs at same time and glue them back in with some 3bond on the bottem side before installing valve cover gasket.