[jartist]

I've had the bike back from warranty work for a week and a half.  I noticed that they had the oil level up to the top of the sight glass but I wasn't too worried about it because I never had a problem with it blowing oil before.  Drove it for a week, no problems.

Then, a few days ago I turned the bike off and there's oil smoking from the exhaust pipe and dripping below from the back of the engine.  The airbox did have some oil in it so I cleaned it all up, drained a cup of oil out of the engine, and cleaned up the back of the engine case.  Drove it to work today and it's still dripping oil, though not as bad as before, and I notice this oil trail from the kickstart shaft.  Anyone have any issues with leaks there?

It could have dripped off the chain from the airbox getting oil on it again but I hate to go any lower with the oil level.  It's slightly below half way up the glass when piping hot and sitting for a bit for the oil to collect in the bottom of the engine case.

 Ideas anyone?

[GlennF]

My bike is currently near the top of the glass when held upright sitting on it and about half way up the glass when on the center stand (both after a reasonable ride and warm).

So far no oil problems though I intend to drain some back out when I get a chance..

Seems to me the kickstart seal leak is highly unlikely to be related to oil level.

[Alan LaRue]

I think mine is seeping there, or did a little when I first brought it home, but not enough to drip on the ground.

[Arizoni]

jartist
There have been a few cases of the seal at that location leaking oil.

A freshly oiled chain will throw oil into that area too but the photo you posted sure looks like it is the seal that's leaking.

You might want to wipe off all traces of oil and then take it for a ride to see if oil continues to come out of that area.

My chain oil usually is quite black by the time the chain throws oil into that area so if it is nice clean oil I'd say you have a seal problem.

Sounds like another trip back to the Service Center.

[Ducati Scotty]

Sometimes the seal is fine but there's just a bit of grit lodged in there causing the leak.  This happens on forks, especially on dirt bikes.  You may be able to use a piece of 35mm negative to clear it out. 

Take a short piece of negative and carefully wedge the edge with the holes in between the seal and shaft, you may need to remove the kick start.  Then rotate it around in one direction twice and slowly pull it out while still rotation.  The leading edge and the holes can grab the grit and pull it out.  Re-install the kicker and kick it a few times to let the seal reseat.  If that doesn't help you probably need a new seal

Scott

[ScooterBob]

It's probably oil from the airbox dripping RIGHT onto the chain/sprocket.kick shaft. After investigating this due to SEVERAL kick shaft seals being replaced, one after the other, on a few bikes, I determined that the cause of the problem was, indeed overfilling of the crankcase and the condensing oil foam running out of the bottom of the airbox onto this area. Remember that a half-ounce of oil, slung everywhere will make a BIG mess. I'd clean it all up, thoroughly - including the airbox and just watch it ... I'm betting that the issue goes away with the oil mist in the airbox.

[Maturin]

I always had oil traces underneath the kick shaft and it was hard to distinguish between engine oil and chain lube. As oil consumption was very low, 0,1-0,2L/3000kms, so I only monitored that.
After 15´kms within the purpose of maintenace the seal was replaced. In fact the place under the shaft is almost totally dry since then, meaning that the original seal never was really tight. Apparantly the oil only drips when the engine is running, so I never saw any puddles in my garage. The amount, however, is quite small and neglectible and the seal certainly is not prone to break suddenly, shutting down the bike. So tell your dealer to replace it shortly before your warranty is over. Regards

[barenekd]

My bike has the same look, but I've finally decided it's chain oil. It's been this way since I bought it and hasn't gotten any worse. I just clean it off now and then. Did they work on that area while it was in the shop? If not, I'd let it ride awhile and see if it gets any worse. I'm inclined to agree that it came from your airbox. Put a bunch of miles on it as is. The warranty lasts a long time. Tell your shop people about it so he knows it could be a warranty issue if you ever should decide to leave it at the shop. But no point in rushing it down there  and being out of you Enfield riding needlessly.
Bare

[jartist]

I'm inclined to believe that it's the airbox too and if the kickshaft seal is leaking it's a small leak.  I've been having too much oil mess for it to be a small leak.  The problem is I've got the oil level as low as I dare drain it down.  My air filter is covered with oil.  Could the oil on the paper filter be causing it to choke up thereby lowering the pressure in the airbox enough to be sucking oil out of the engine case into the airbox?

[P. Schraub]

Hello Jaretist,
       When I picked up my new 2010 G5 Deluxe from the dealer, it had an oil leak from the kick start seal. The dealer would have fixed it, but I wanted to get it home, as I had bought it out of state. I repaired it myself......it definitely was the kick start seal. I would start there after cleaning all the oil residue off. If that is good, THEN you can look at other areas.

[jartist]

It was just too much oil and a contaminated oil filter. All is good. Thanks everyone!

I am trying out an oiled foam filter with good results so far. I figure if the bike is so prone to being over filled, an oiled foam filter can't get contaminated by oil. Does anyone know what the air flow characteristics are like on foam vs. Paper air filters? I'm using a aftermarket filter designed for the kx100. Seems like a small bike that wouldn't be comparable to the enfield but the filter is round and fills up the airbox pretty well.

[barenekd]

Paper air filter have smaller holes than oiled foam or K&N filters, but the latter tend to filter a little better because the liquid stuff snags the particles rather than letting it through. A paper lets anything through that's small enough. To me, the Oiled-foam or K&Ns are better than the paper because, as you say, if more oil or water even gets dumped in there the filters can be cleaned and reused, whereas the paper is done. HTe K&Ns do have better flowing characteristics than the foam though. We used the Unifilters in the BSA/Triumph  shop where I worked in the 70s. Some of the Triumphs just wouldn't run on them at high speeds. reverting back to the stock paper filters or K&Ns restored their breathing capabilities.
Bare

[Ducati Scotty]

That's the theory but all the real data I've seen says otherwise, K&N lets more particles through.  I've seen oil analysis on several bikes with K&N air filters and the silica content (really, really fine dust) is always higher with a K&N air filter.  K&N makes claims for better flow and good filtration but never for better filtration than stock.  S&B makes similar filters and many of theirs do claim to filter better.  They're going for some certification, forget which.  Sadly, their smaller filters that fit motos are not coming up to this standard.

That said, I've also known plenty of people who have run them on their vehicles for 10's of thousands of mile with no apparent ill effects.  I've even read a few stories of people checking the cylinder bores on K&N filtered engines and finding them in great shape, no wear.  I'd have no problem using one an any vehicle I own.

The K&N got its reputation because it's used off road in dusty environments.  It's not that it filters better, it's that it flows much better (more air = more power) and a cotton gauze element won't collapse and fall apart if it gets wet in a river crossing like paper will.  It's also nice that you can clean and reuse them.

Scott

[jartist]

My foam filter turned out to be a bad idea. The engine tried to inhale it and succeeded in tearing it and sucking the filter into the throttle body. When that happened it bogged down at full throttle and the throttle wouldn't close. I thought it was an engine management issue until I opened the airbox! Back to stock she goes.