My 02 Springer always seems to spew a little oil out of the filler cap when I ride it. It is not overfull, the filler cap is about 2 years old (I replaced it hoping that would fix the issue 2 years ago). It's not a bad leak but I always have to wipe the oil tank clean after riding.

Any other reason for this or should I try another tank cap? I have just the regular HD one not the one with the temp gauge.

 

Perhaps a thin O-ring around the top of the cap will help. Sounds as if the filler neck is slightly out of round.

 

I think I have some spare O rings from a bathtub plug. Maybe one will fit and I'll try that. Thanks

 

I've had at times a little oil run down the fill neck,, I mean like a very little paint run and its only 1 or2 that's maybe 1/4 in wide, but doesn't show up on every ride..
All I do is wipe it off when I wipe to bike down as it has not gotten worse in 9yrs.



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It's a common problem with Softails. Too much oil - the spec quantity is too much. Back off a little until it ceases to be a problem, or live with it. Most folks run about 1/2 quart under the spec. The problem with getting a good enough seal on the dip stick plug to stop the leak is that then you are likely to blow the dip stick out of the tank due to the pressure.

 

As was said, too much oil or the filler cap itself are common. But, how fast are you running when it does that? If you're running hard it can weap. Mine does it when I run 75 or better for a while. Otherwise it remains dry. On mine it's a very fine trickle. Almost no oil at all, but enough to make me want to wipe it off..

Edit: one thing that helps is to wipe the oil off of the cap rubber and the inside of the filler neck before you put the filler cap in. Doing that has helped mine a lot..

 

It's definitely not overfull, below the full line always when hot. I'll try wiping the filler cap and seal.

Yeh I probably run it a bit hard.

The bike needs a good wash and clean up, I'll see what happens with a clean filler cap and maybe another plastic O ring on it.

 

Lauren, 'O' ring. I wouldn't run it half quart low, I'd live with the minor oil on the tank first.

 

If I run hard on one of my road trips, I'll sometimes have two or three streaks of oil across the side of the oil tank and that's actuall not unusual, but undesirable. By all means, wipe the rubber good as well as the inside of the neck and see if that doesn't improve things. Also, everytime you pull the cap out, wipe them again. By doing that I rarely have the weeping..

 

A while back I had a similar problem, looked like oil was leaking from the filler cap, but turned out to be my rear head bolt was not completely tight & wind was blowing it back on the tank making it look exactly like it was coming from the filler neck. Tighned the bolt and "viola", no more oil on the tank.