oil leak?

[MarineCorpsFlorist]

Hopefully the fix isn't anything major.

Thinking about it, since you know it's the left side, I would add the dye, start the bike and sit there and wait for it with the light. Disconnect the fan. If you don't find before it gets to tempp, shut it down and and continue to sit there with the black light. The gaskets may relax when they get cool and leak after shut down. If the fan comes on it will blow it all around and make it harder.

[khvatov]

Good point. Thanks.

[khvatov]

I've been riding pretty much every day for the past several weeks and the oil is still dripping (I did not have to add any oil as a result of the leak, but I'm leaving oil spots everywhere I park). After about 25 miles ride on city streets I can see the oil on the rear cylinder going up to, but not crossing the rear cylinder head. I see oil on starter bolts. Is it possible for a head cylnder gasket to fail on a relatively new bike (which been sitting in someone's garage for a few years I guess)?
When I took the bike to a local shop I've been told that most likely the issue is with the cylinder head cover gasket. The shop owner told me based on his experience. But it doesn't look like the oil is dripping from the head cover gasket and rather coming from the cylinder head gasket or it's dripping from somewhere else and just gets blown up the engine and so happen not to go to the cylinder head. At this point I'm thinking to just bite the bullet and take the bike to the Honda dealer and let them look at it.
Has anyone had this before?

[MarineCorpsFlorist]

you didn't try the dye did you?

[tcanthonyii]

Happened to me after installing a motor into my 1100. There's an oil breather tube on the top of the cylinders. One of mine fell off and was leaking oil all over.

[cza888]

I have a 2007 ss750, which is to say we got the same engine. The pics below are of my wife's bike, 2009 ss750, same engine.

I would start with a thorough visual inspection. Start from the highest point.

*Remove the seat, then the instrument cluster (on top of the tank) and then remove the fuel tank.

The breathers:

Front cylinder breather



Rear cylinder breather





Inspect both breather hoses entirely, not just where they connect to the reed valve. If they check out okay, now it's time to go further.

Take these covers off. There are two on top of each cylinder, they are easily removed. Remove all four covers to expose the (valve covers). *when re-installing, DO NOT crank these bolts down, they WILL snap - snug them up, nothing more.


Front cylinder right side cover




Rear cylinder right side cover




You'll clearly be able to see if the valve cover gaskets have sprung a leak, take your time and inspect them methodicallly.

The next level down will take you to the cylinder head gasket(s), and that's a whole different ball of wax

Record your findings and post them.

[khvatov]

Alright. I ended up taking the bike to the Honda dealership and having them diagnose and fix the problem. It turned out that it was a rear cylinder head gasket that needed to be replaced. They had to pull the engine out to get it fixed.
Now, that I got my bike back I tried riding it as much as I could (given the good weather and having some time to do that).
After about two days of riding I've noticed that the bottom of the engine feels slippery from oil. So I wiped it with some cloth and kept riding.
A few days ago after riding for about a hour (mostly highway) the bottom of the engine had oil on it. I contacted the dealership stating the problem (they gave me 3 months warranty on their work). But this time it does not look like the oil is coming from the rear cylinder - it's coming somewhere from the front and in very very small amount. I tried wiping the engine again and letting it idle for 20 minutes, but I cold not see any oil leaking.
Do you, guys, have any ideas what could that be? ( Should I just ride up to dealership and have them take care of that since they gave me 3 months warranty?) What's your opinion?