Engine oil leak

Electrical connectors? Do you mean Oil pressure and engine temperature sensor area in the left/ front engine?

Must be them as that is where they are...never crawled down under there! It is difficult to be precise as to where the leak is tho'...plenty of grime to be jetted off..with care that is!

I'd clean it up real good and see where its actually coming from. With all the air blowing around, you might be seeing evidence of a leak far from where its really leaking from.

See you are in the UK, here we have stuff called Brake Kleen. Non flammable, aerosol canned stuff used to clean up around brake repairs. Dissolves oil and grease instantly, supposed to not leave a residue or damage paint. Take those claims with a grain of salt, especially the part about not damaging paint.

Sure it's oil? Not antifreeze, gear oil, brake fluid, or something slung up by the front tire?

Make sure the engine is not over filled with oil. No more than 2/3 up the sight glass on the center stand.

Thanks for those thoughts.

I fear I may have overfilled it a while ago (cloudy sight glass) but had no probs before. It is def engine oil...can smell the combustion products in it. Certainly not anything thrown up...although I have just got back from France so it might be cow droppings! No, am pretty sure they smell different.

Incidentally fresh wet cow stuff is the slippiest stuff known in the universe. A zillion times slippier than diesel. In fact if they used it in F1....hmmm...must have a word with McLaren!

If it were overfilling would it go away after a while or would the gasket be buggered?

I'd drain and refill ASAP to avoid any seal issues. Here's a tip my dealer (the owner and not an employee) gave me for doing your own oil changes: fill the filter with oil and install it then put 3 quarts (here in the US) in and be done with it. :bmw:

On this engine design you would have to do a major overfill to start damaging seals. The crank shaft is several inches above the normal oil level so there is a significantly decreased decreased chance of crack shaft splash creating excessive pressure.

On mine the joint between the head and block under the timing cover has weeped since owner ship.

Could also be the water/oil pump assembly.

Like others have said, need to do a good cleaning and then try to identify the source.

bigbear said:

On this engine design you would have to do a major overfill to start damaging seals. .

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I used to run my oil level at the top of the sight glass. At about 155,000 miles I had minor oil leaks on the front & back of the engine. The clutch finally started slipping. I lowered the level to just below the center of the sight glass. I now have no more leaks & the clutch no longer slips at all. It did take about 2000 miles of easy riding to get the clutch to stop slipping. Last weekend I was back to wide open throttle in the mountains up to red line and had no clutch slippage. I now have over 160,000 miles on the original clutch.

bigbear said:

On this engine design you would have to do a major overfill to start damaging seals. The crank shaft is several inches above the normal oil level so there is a significantly decreased decreased chance of crack shaft splash creating excessive pressure.
.

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LOL! bigbear wrote CRACK SHAFT! Sorry, just finished writing four final exams about 4 hours ago. Feeling just a weeeeeee bit giddy!

Loren

Thanks for all the advice..much appreciated..think I'll simply do an oil change and measure carefully the volume....hope your exams went OK wa1200lt. P.s is the crackshaft where you hide stuff? :histerica

On my way home, I stopped in New Jersey and had an oil change. Next stop in Pensylvania,I noticed my entire rear end was bathed in oil. Laying on the ground I could see oil dripping from under the engine--I was freaked out. All bolts were tight--I called the shop back and they admitted that may have over filled the engine. By the time I reached Ohio, no more dripping. That was years ago and there was no damage what so ever to the bike.

Just checked my records....my mind is obviously addled....local BMW agent did the last oil change/service...nothing to do with me after all...so at least I can blame somebody else for overfilling! By the bye...not at all impressed with the shiny local BM people but that's another story.

saddleman said:

I used to run my oil level at the top of the sight glass. At about 155,000 miles I had minor oil leaks on the front & back of the engine. The clutch finally started slipping. I lowered the level to just below the center of the sight glass. I now have no more leaks & the clutch no longer slips at all. It did take about 2000 miles of easy riding to get the clutch to stop slipping. Last weekend I was back to wide open throttle in the mountains up to red line and had no clutch slippage. I now have over 160,000 miles on the original clutch.

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I believe you Dave but I can't explain it. If you look at the oil level with the engine off it is below any seal in the engine even at the top of the sight glass. When running the oil level is below the sight glass. How does that contribute to a seal leak? Am I missing something?

jzeiler said:

I believe you Dave but I can't explain it. If you look at the oil level with the engine off it is below any seal in the engine even at the top of the sight glass. When running the oil level is below the sight glass. How does that contribute to a seal leak? Am I missing something?

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Could a lower oil level help while running if the rear o-ring is bad.