Leaking Oil from the Pick-up Coil Assembly

Hey everyone,

I'm in the process of tuning up a 1981 KZ750H that I found on Facebook for $800. I bought the original service manual off of Ebay so I can reference the correct way to do maintenance on the bike. The first things I did when I got the bike was make sure that everything about it was road-worthy, and then I rebuilt the carburetors, changed the oil, put in new fuel lines/fuel filter, and replaced the air filter.

I've rode the bike around 200 miles, and I noticed that I am now starting to have oil drip from the pick up coil assembly cover (right side). The bottom of the cover has a very small hole in it, which is where the oil is coming from. I attached pictures of the cover with annotations to help point it out.

Why is this hole here? Is this an overflow for too much oil? Did the previous owner drill this hole? What should I check inside this cover? According to the service manual, this is where the oil pressure switch is. Could it just be loose? Do I need to worry about internal damage if I haven't rode (to my knowledge) very far with the drip? Oil level seems to be okay at the moment.

Thanks for all your help in advance

The hole is to vent/drain air, moisture and under some reasons oil!
It could be the oil pressure switch or the crank shaft seal. You have to look behind the ignition cover and igniton rotor first to locate the oil leak!
My fortune teller crystal ball is on maintance in Hogwarts at the moment.......

Take the ignition cover off,  take the ignition plate off,  if it's not obvious where the oil is coming from give it a good wipe around so it's clean. Dust inside the housing with talcum powder,  reassemble and run the engine for a while at least until its up to temp and the oil is hot and thin. 
Remove the cover and plate and it will be very evident where the oil is coming from as the talc will no longer be white.

Oil pressure sender has a fibre gasket and is easily replaced. 
Crankshaft oil seal is not quite so easy to replace.  I've heard of people putting self tapers into them and pulling them out and just pushing a new one back in but never tried it myself. 

Fingers crossed its the oil pressure sender gasket. 

wrote:

Take the ignition cover off,  take the ignition plate off,  if it's not obvious where the oil is coming from give it a good wipe around so it's clean. Dust inside the housing with talcum powder,  reassemble and run the engine for a while at least until its up to temp and the oil is hot and thin. 
Remove the cover and plate and it will be very evident where the oil is coming from as the talc will no longer be white.

Oil pressure sender has a fibre gasket and is easily replaced. 
Crankshaft oil seal is not quite so easy to replace.  I've heard of people putting self tapers into them and pulling them out and just pushing a new one back in but never tried it myself. 

Fingers crossed its the oil pressure sender gasket. 

 

If you replace the seal it's worth putting a piece of thin card approx 15mm wide between the crank and the seal, once the seal is in slide the card around the crank and remove. This helps ensure the lip on the inner edge of the seal is sitting correctly