oil leak

adambear · 09-02-2008, 11:17 AM

i have just bought a cbr 400 nc29, i have been loving it up to know when i realise i have a bad oil leak. i have located it on the ritght hand side of the engine ( the side where the clutch cable goes in and you can see the clutch arm ) the leak seams to be coming from a hole in the side of the cylinder head. The hole looks like it is meant to be there and there is an identical one on the other side. the hole is no more than 5mm wide so shall i just fill it with liquid metal or what??

thanks for reading this
adam

LoopyLee · 09-02-2008, 2:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by adambear

i have just bought a cbr 400 nc29, i have been loving it up to know when i realise i have a bad oil leak. i have located it on the ritght hand side of the engine ( the side where the clutch cable goes in and you can see the clutch arm ) the leak seams to be coming from a hole in the side of the cylinder head. The hole looks like it is meant to be there and there is an identical one on the other side. the hole is no more than 5mm wide so shall i just fill it with liquid metal or what??

thanks for reading this
adam

is there any chance of you posting a photo of the hole?

Surffrog · 09-02-2008, 11:23 PM

Adam, don't fill that hole. That isn't going to help. It's likely to be leaking oil from the cam cover gasket and then on to that area or from the head gasket itself.

Take the petrol tank and air-filter off, then take off the coils. Under a thin-ish rubber mat is the top of the engine. Have a look under that mat and run your hand over it. Is your hand now wet with oil? (And I don't just mean dirty. This area always picks up a lot dirt from the road)

It might be just the cam cover bolts having loosened off over time, in which case you may be able to get away with careful retightening (please check the manual for the tightening order). But if this area isn't wet then it may well be the head gasket leaking.

Bjorn · 09-03-2008, 1:00 AM

sounds like maybe one of the plug hole seals is leaking down into the spark plug hole then out the drain in the side, luckily for your sake its unlikely to be the actual head gasket. you would be amazed at the number of people that forget to check those seals when reassembling twin cam tappet covers!

adambear · 09-03-2008, 4:07 AM

so how would i stop the leak, i filled the hole with a bit of silicone and it seamed to stop it. but are you saying its now accumilating around one of the spark plugs. and im not sure where its leaking from then, the plugs its self, i mean do they just need to be re-tightened?
and its not definatley not coming from the reocker cover gasket for sure, and definatly out of that hole i know this as i have cleaned the hole area with brake cleaner and took it out a few times to see where its coming from.

Twincam · 09-03-2008, 4:13 AM

Would love a picture just to confirm please

adambear · 09-03-2008, 4:15 AM

just realised what you mean but spark plug seals, and know that the holes in the side are just a drain. what a wally. thanks for the help guys will go change the rocker cover today and let you know.....

Twincam · 09-03-2008, 4:18 AM

Filling the hole with silicone will just block it up, but there still is a leak some where. Let us know how it goes

adambear · 09-03-2008, 3:17 PM

i changed the rocker cover gasket today and it has sorted it. filling the hole just made a load of oil fill up the spark plugs so was a bit of a pain, but is all sorted now thanks to your help from you guys.
thanks again
adam

Bjorn · 09-03-2008, 4:02 PM

no problemo, glad we could help.

Surffrog · 09-04-2008, 4:35 AM

Any time