Not sure if this is common....or an oddity...
But, got home from work today on the Hornet only to notice oil dripping off the front of the engine onto the exhaust. Not good to have at any point...but the motor was running sweetly all the way home, and oil levels were still good...so I wrap a rag around a stick and clean up the dribbles to see where it;s coming from. Too close to a steaming hot exhaust to get my hands in there.....
It looks to be coming from the oil filter on the front of the engine....but not from the seal....as there was oil all over the bottom of the filter.
It was time for an oil change anyway ( I swap it every 3500-4000 miles ) and I had a filter handy.....so I dropped the drain plug and emptied the sump. Unscrewed the filter and gave it a look. Now...I wondered if oil was dripping from the seal and running up the filter...but this was against the wind...and not downhill.
What I did find were some large rust blisters under the paint on the filter. The paint did not appear to be broken on the filter...but it had rusted and I think had got to the point where oil was leaking either from a hole too small for me to see...or through porous rust as this area of blistering seemed to be where the oil was coming from.
Now...here's the rub.
The bike has not been 'sat' and is in daily use. The thing is always warmed up before riding, and I change the oil about every 6 months. I got no milky residue anywhere, and no indication of condensation or coolant leaking into the oil...so why does my filter look like it has rusted from the inside? Or was it just shitty paint on the filter, and as this was the 'winter' one...just fallen victim to road salt?
Either way....I will be giving the filters a very close check every time I wash the bike.....just to see if it happens again.