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Old 23-Aug-2006, 18:08   #1
doogalman doogalman is offline
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It must be obvious if you persist. Strip all the bodywork off. Clean everything up, run the bike up and turn the halogens on a nd hunt it down. It must be there. It is oil? is it ? not another fluid? ie coolant, brake fluid, clutch fluid, Fork oil. Talcum does work quite well. I would not strip components untill i had finally given up.
I would run the bike stationary on a paddock stand. road wind can mislead you.
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Old 24-Aug-2006, 09:16   #2
Douglas Douglas is offline
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My experince with car racing engines is that oil leaks can be the very devil to find because they usually only manifest themselves when the the engine is very hot, and the oil consequently is thin!

If it is a roadgoing bike I would run it hard to get it hot, clean it off and then set about it with talc/crack test developer on the paddock stand. Luckily the oil does retain its heat so you can do that and still have hot oil.

I have a leak on a Vauxhall racing engine at present, which I cannot find in the garage, but sure enough it re appears when used on the track!

Good luck!

Douglas
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Old 24-Aug-2006, 10:11   #3
yeti yeti is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Douglas
My experince with car racing engines is that oil leaks can be the very devil to find because they usually only manifest themselves when the the engine is very hot, and the oil consequently is thin!

If it is a roadgoing bike I would run it hard to get it hot, clean it off and then set about it with talc/crack test developer on the paddock stand. Luckily the oil does retain its heat so you can do that and still have hot oil.

I have a leak on a Vauxhall racing engine at present, which I cannot find in the garage, but sure enough it re appears when used on the track!

Good luck!

Douglas

All of the above. I've looked hard for it, Nelly has looked hard for it, and no matter how hot I get the motor on the stand, it doesn't appear. I do have one problem in that as it's a race engine there is no fan on the rad, so have to resort to a large room fan to try to keep the water temp within limits whilst still trying to get the oil hot. If I take it on track, the airflow spreads the stuff all over the bottom of the engine, so it's hard to determine the source. Unfortunately it's not as obvious as it would appear!

I've only got one more day to do before the motor comes out for rebuild, but it's frustrating the heck of me at the moment.
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Old 24-Aug-2006, 12:44   #4
Ray Ray is offline
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Leaking Breather pipe or breather tank??

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Old 24-Aug-2006, 12:51   #5
twpd twpd is offline
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In my experience the first place to look is the gearbox breather as mentioned by Ray - it's very common to leak from there.
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Old 24-Aug-2006, 13:53   #6
RickyX RickyX is offline
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I agree with MrR's advice - I have just located a mystery oil leak on my bike that had been bugging me for weeks.
It showed as a fine coat of oil mist on the rear brake pedal and around the RH clutch case, leading to drips off the crankcase centre joint.
I finally tracked it down with the talc method (after having taken off/resealed clutch case, oil cooler hoses etc) - there was a flaw in the clutch case just above the oil viewing window - I repaired it with araldite and ally foil and it's perfect now!

RX
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Old 24-Aug-2006, 18:12   #7
DEMON DEMON is offline
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You mention it being a race engine...ive seen these problems when they are up to temp, and under extreme load...cracks appearing in the crankcases...they only appear at high revs/heat/stresses.

Could also be a similar problem on the oil cooler...do you have any photos of the oily areas we could look at ?
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