For the past few months a progressively worsening oil leak has developed on "Miss Swail", the older of my two Connies and the main rider of my bikes. Oil was getting everywhere on the lower left side of the bike and occasionally dripping on the exhaust tubes (which smells great!). With oil and oily residue/grit all over the lower end, the culprit for the leak could have been anything. The bike ran as strong as ever, and the slight coolant leak from my change highlighted in this YouTube video has seemed to stop with some re-tightening of hose clamps. So off I went to the Concours forum and got out my Clymer manual and a bunch of rags.
Working out to in, and botttom to top, I cleaned lots of road grime off the pegs, the shifter level, the driveshaft and the kickstand, which had served as a "gutter" when the leak was particularly bad and the bike sat a bit too long. As I wiped areas down, I checked for grit and grime and brown fresher oil. While not fool-proof troubleshooting, it normally helps to isolate the leak to an area instead of "somewhere in here" while waving hand at the lower left side of the bike! Fortunately the area around the bevel gear housing was only gritty, saving me a major tear-down that requires removing the rear wheel, the driveshaft and the swing-arm. More wiping and using rags on small but long screwdrivers showed the leak coming from behind or around the water pump. I cleaned the whole area particularly well and then let the bike sit overnight. It hadn't run in nearly three days, so it was cool and no wind driven oil would show up.
The next afternoon a small puddle of oil was back on the drip tray, right under the exhaust just below the water pump and shifter shaft. Since the shifter shaft has to come off to work on the water pump, this is where I'll focus on the first attempt to fix the leak. It only seems to be leaking about a oil bottle capful of oil a day, and that when the bike has sat. I went for a 15 mile or so ride this morning and will see how it leaks as it cools.
I'll also post some pictures and video of the seal repairs when I complete them, but that is likely not for a few weeks due to work travel.
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2 updates-I fixed the video link. It went to a Steve in South Florida (SiSF) video I had watched after checking my video instead of the applicable one of my videos. SiSF is a carb genius and I recommend his videos highly.
Also, this leak isn't responsive to heat/expansion as its likely the sealing o-rings on the waterpump shaft itself. Gonna do the ride this weekend and return home a week later just keeping an eye on temp and oil level, then tear it down to replace o-rings.
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