I'm doing some work on my brother-in-law's '84 FXRS that has been neglected for a few years. It has several oil leaks, the most obvious is the leaking rocker box covers. The one that I don't know about is the most severe. This is an early '84 with a dry clutch and chain drive. After riding and parking the bike it leaks a good size puddle under the left side of the bike. I understand that the primary chain is oiled by oil through a metering tube in the primary and I'm wondering if the excess is not being returned to the system and is leaking out somehow. Is this a known problem with a known fix.

Thanks for any help.

Jim

 

The good ol' days when your bike leaked oil & no one gave it a second look cause that was normal! Gotta start from scratch. If your runnin' synthetic, that oil will find a place to escape faster than dino oil will!
Pressure wash your bike or scrub & wash it with a garden hose. once all the oil is off, Fire it up & run it for 10 minutes. Dont ride it!!!
Now start looking for fresh oil coming out.
When your bike drops oil on the left, it could be from the oiler but it could also be from the center or right side but your bike leans to the left when it's on the kick stand. The oil will run to the left because of this too!
Hatch.

 

Thanks Hatch. It has dino oil in it and it leaks the same way when level on a jack. I'll try to wash all the oil off and check it then.

How does the oil from the oiler get back into the crankcase (or whever it goes) after it oils the chain?

 

My money is on the trans oil seal, behind the front sprocket. It is almost invisible without taking stuff off the bike. Another possibility is that my shovel had an oil bleed to the secondary chain, so if your bike also has one that is in the same area. If you put red trans oil in that will help diagnose where the drips are coming from.

Remember that Harleys don't leak, they simply mark where they've been.....

 

The oil that hits your chain is supposed to go on the back of your girl friends shirt because you took of the rear fender! or at least thats how we used to mark our ladies. It does not go back into your bike once it leaves! But the oil loss is minimal, just enough to keep the chain damp. A typical puddle after a ride might be 2 or 3 inches around. anything larger means you need a new seal, most likely where a shaft comes out of a case on the bike!

 

The primary oiler returns thru a vacuum back to the tank. Mine has been removed and I run 6-8 ounces of ATF fluid. Any gasket on the backside of the primary can leak. The lip around cranksase to primary seal is famous for cracking so that could be a spot to look at, James Gaskets makes a repair gasket. Good Luck.

 

Thinkin' bout the wrong oiler, gona step back from the whiskey glass for a bit!

 

Looks like I have a lot to check, going to dig into it tomorrow.Thanks for the hints.
It sounds like I need to pull the primary cover and replace the gasket for sure. It looks like a lot of the oil is coming from there.

Jim

 

Pull the primary cover and clean it out real good and let it set awhile. If it comes from behind the stator it is the sprocket seal, behind the clutch it's the transmission seal, no leak it is the inner primary to engine/transmission gaskets. Cometic sells an entire set for around 50 bucks. You probably can't see the crack in the lip unless you pull the inner cover. Other than the wait for gaskets/seals it shouldn't keep you off the road but a day.

 

Another thing is your shifter seal. It's hard to see behind the primary. A flashlight and a mirror will help.