Author Topic: Never had this happen before....  (Read 718 times)

Offline SumpMagnet

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Never had this happen before....
« on: March 21, 2019, 08:22:24 PM »
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.
CB750F2 - in pieces
CB900F Hornet - the daily transport

Offline K2-K6

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Re: Never had this happen before....
« Reply #1 on: March 21, 2019, 09:40:26 PM »
I'd go with your winter and salty road theory,  doubt if it came from internal effects.

Some of the canister filters now currently use very thin metal (you can squash some of them with just your hands) especially after being bashed out of a flat plate to form them.  Guess that ordinarily they don't have to have extensive durability to function between oil changes.

Offline SumpMagnet

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Re: Never had this happen before....
« Reply #2 on: March 23, 2019, 10:41:56 AM »
well...the new filter is oil tight, and no sign oif leakage elsewhere...so all good.

CB750F2 - in pieces
CB900F Hornet - the daily transport

Offline mike the bike

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Re: Never had this happen before....
« Reply #3 on: March 28, 2019, 05:59:59 PM »
Try to persuade the oil to leak over your chain. 😁
Where's that 10mm socket got to?

 

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