Oil leak

Hey everyone. I recently replaced all the engine gaskets in my kz550. I noticed the transmission was starting to shift a little rough so i put the bike on its center stand and checked the oil. I ended up being down almost a quart. I don't see any smoke coming from the exhaust which makes me think it is not being burned . I noticed a leak coming from the cyilder block in between the base and head gaskets. I dont see any oil from above where it could be dripping down. Does anyone know what I should be looking for to stop this leak?

When you put the engine back together, did you re-torque the head bolts after the first time you ran the engine?

If you are losing that much oil, would think that you would see puddles of oil underneath bike. Would also recommend re-torqueing the head nuts/bolts and go from there. Hopefully there is not a broken piston ring. Might verify that the breather/vent is not ubstructed.

A quart down in how many miles? Although I've seen these with old dirty oil, well under the bottom level don't make a habit of that, it can take the crank out.

Either the oil is burning or leaking out, it needs some more diagnostics on your part.

It has only been about 300 miles since I last changed the oil. I did not retorque the head after I ran it. I'll give that a shot tonight. Is it possible for the oil to be burning without creating any smoke? What is the best way to check for this?

Sometimes you will have a clean exhaust but with a puff of smoke on the over run and gear changes, so you don't reallynotice the smoke. A quart in 300 miles is excessive even in an old bike.

Suprisingly, you can get white smoke in an air cooled from burning oil, as well as the expected blue smoke.

retourquing the head cold after a head gasket is essential on these, also they tend to loosen off a bit just with age over the years and hundreds of cold hot cycles.

The head was leaking a small amount. I retorqued the nuts and it seems to have stopped. I took it for about a 40 mile ride today and my oil level dropped a small amount in the sight glass again so I think it may be burning. I've been trying to check for any smoke while riding and I cant seem to find any. Is there another way to check if its burning?

You should be able to see that much oil burning, .... in the spark plugs.

All 4 plugs look like this one. They have about 4000 miles on them. Theres black around the threads but I cant tell if it is carbon or oil

Before I tear into the engine again I wanted to check all over the bike for possible leaks. I checked the breather cover (round cover on top of the transmission) and it was covered in dirty oil. There was a small amount of oil in the air box and there was gunked up oil running down the back of the engine. It seems like the gasket is fine but the oil is coming out of the tube going into the air box. Does this indicate a problem with the crankcase vent system or should a new tube fix the leak?

nickleo373 wrote: All 4 plugs look like this one. They have about 4000 miles on them. Theres black around the threads but I cant tell if it is carbon or oil

I don't see any evidence of excessive oil burning.

Your plugs look normal/great. How much oil was it using before you took the engine apart to replace the gaskets and did you replace the piston rings? I did not replace the rings on my 550 when replacing the gaskets, but if you replaced yours, they may not be seated yet. Hopefully oil is not getting past the rings on your bike.