Oil on front of the motor

Noticed oil on the front of the jug. It appears to be lower part of jug near base gasket. Is there any other source of oil near three. I've pretty much ruled out the valve cover gasket. It looks dry near there. 83kz1100. Thanks

A small amount of oil got past my APE tensioner bolt/nut/o-ring, and migrated atop the second cooling fin to the front. To clean it up I squirted about a half-cup of gas on the fins around the tensioner, using an old turkey baster with a piece of 1/4" vinyl hose stuck on the end (when the engine was completely cool), in a breezy-shady area outside where it could easily evaporate. I'm not sure why, but the leak hasn't come back since...

I don't know if your bike has a mechanical tach or not, but many times they will start leaking & oil will run down the front of the motor,
you can try to narrow down where the leak is coming from by cleaning the oil off the front of your motor & let it dry or dry it off, then get some talcum powder or baby powder & shake it on the front of your motor then start it up & see where the powder turns oily & where the leak is, the powder will turn brownish where the leak is coming from, & the powder can then just be hosed off
Pete

pete greek1 wrote: I don't know if your bike has a mechanical tach or not, but many times they will start leaking & oil will run down the front of the motor

+1 ... this happened on mine. There is an o-ring on the fitting that mates into the head (maybe 2, can't remember)...I found a perfect replacement in the assorted o-ring kit sold by Harbor Freight. For 8 bucks or so, that kit has been a life saver!

Thought about the tach cable after I posted. It's electric tach.. I'm guessing there has to be a sensor somewhere though. I did use some engine cleaner on front of motor and hosed off. I'll check my stock cam chain tensioner on my days off. Are base gaskets an issue on the 1100's ? Thanjs

76KZ900 wrote: Thought about the tach cable after I posted. It's electric tach.. I'm guessing there has to be a sensor somewhere though. I did use some engine cleaner on front of motor and hosed off. I'll check my stock cam chain tensioner on my days off. Are base gaskets an issue on the 1100's ? Thanjs

I haven't had a leaking head or base gasket since HD APE Cylinder Studs were installed. Before that though...twice both. :pinch:

76KZ900 wrote: Noticed oil on the front of the jug. It appears to be lower part of jug near base gasket. Is there any other source of oil near three. I've pretty much ruled out the valve cover gasket. It looks dry near there. 83kz1100. Thanks

If not already done you can also try re torqueing your cylinder bolts to the proper torque setting in the proper tightening sequence according to your manual
Pete

I did in fact re torque head. A few needed to be tightened. I cleaned motor and it appears oil is coming from somewhere in the middle of jug. Base gasket looks dry. So im going to look at cam chain tensioner on my next days off. I had pulled oil pressure sensor base off before thinking it was leaking, and it looks like it still is even after new o rings were installed. So now I'm thinking it was cam chain tensioner all along.