...Blown head gasket, or oil line leak?
Club Member
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 66,106
Likes: 51,387
From: Niles Canyon Ca.
Start with the cross over & oil feed line to the heads, the rubber grommets goes in those particularly if they came out of gasket kit like James, cut your own out of 1/8" vacuum line. Next is pushrod tube corks or o'rings depending on your year. The red silicon ones are the best. May as well do the rocker arm end plug o-rings while you are there.
Do these, do a spray wash clean and see where it needs more love if any.
Do these, do a spray wash clean and see where it needs more love if any.
Tourer
Joined: Nov 2021
Posts: 478
Likes: 317
From: FL winter, northern MI summer
For cleaning up oil on the engine, I like the carb cleaner from Walmart, $3 a can. All it is is acetone spray, spray it on, and wipe quickly, because it evaproates pretty quick.
You might change out the rocker cover to rocker cover oil line first, just to see if that is the problem. It is something that comes up in my ride every few years. You should be able to see if its leaking though. I had that problem last summer, the line would work its way out, no matter how tight I had it. I replaced it twice again, then went with a braided line, and all is well (for now). I had braided lines in the past leak at the crimp, and was hesitant to go back to one.
I also blew a James blue teflon gasket last summer, it blew at the oil passage, I had a mess. I put in a Cometic this time, and will use them from now on.
You might change out the rocker cover to rocker cover oil line first, just to see if that is the problem. It is something that comes up in my ride every few years. You should be able to see if its leaking though. I had that problem last summer, the line would work its way out, no matter how tight I had it. I replaced it twice again, then went with a braided line, and all is well (for now). I had braided lines in the past leak at the crimp, and was hesitant to go back to one.
I also blew a James blue teflon gasket last summer, it blew at the oil passage, I had a mess. I put in a Cometic this time, and will use them from now on.
Road Master
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 1,191
Likes: 574
Disagree on the braided lines. Had one fail on a ‘68. Replaced with solids. Also had carb support hole stripped. Repaired with time cert. Clean it up good, put it up on the lift and run it watching with a bright light. Should find it.
Novice
Joined: Feb 2023
Posts: 21
Likes: 12
From: MO
push rod tube seals, your pics show reused or seepage at the middle seal, they always been a problem. If you are like me can not stand oil leaks, ha! However, something that i have come to grips with, shovelheads leak or seep it is just there issue, it's a pain but a reality
Thread Starter
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Advanced
Joined: Oct 2020
Posts: 67
Likes: 26
From: Virginia
Okay, I've got new oil line rubber grommets coming in the mail. Ordered those before the 1/8" vacuum line suggestion was made above, although I like that idea better. Next will order some silicon pushrod tube seals.
In the meantime, wondering if anyone can tell me-- does the bolt on the underside of the rocker box which holds the carb support bracket seal off oil from anywhere? Because this bolt had a drip of oil on it, but I'm not sure if it's just spray from elsewhere or if this is another potential source of a leak.
Although it seems the head gaskets may be fine for the time being, this thread has certainly made me less confident in the bluey james ones in there currently.
In the meantime, wondering if anyone can tell me-- does the bolt on the underside of the rocker box which holds the carb support bracket seal off oil from anywhere? Because this bolt had a drip of oil on it, but I'm not sure if it's just spray from elsewhere or if this is another potential source of a leak.
Although it seems the head gaskets may be fine for the time being, this thread has certainly made me less confident in the bluey james ones in there currently.
Stellar HDF Member
Joined: Aug 2020
Posts: 3,167
Likes: 2,206
From: College Station, TX
As said above, the hole is blind. But there have been post on this forum where someone has used too long a bolt and broken through to the area where the oil is, causing a slow leak.
So you might remove the bolt and see if there is more oil there. Clean the hole and run it for a short time to see if the oil returns. If it does, you can try using a thread sealer and see if that stops the leak.
Paul
So you might remove the bolt and see if there is more oil there. Clean the hole and run it for a short time to see if the oil returns. If it does, you can try using a thread sealer and see if that stops the leak.
Paul
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Road Master
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 1,191
Likes: 574
As previously stated, the carb support hole is blind. However, the PO of my ‘68 had drilled through to install heli coil that eventually failed. I replaced with time cert and sealed. So, it’s not supposed to leak from there but it can if the bike has been through the hands of a numb nuts.
