Oily boots

Luddite · 02-08-2022, 09:32 AM

There's a particular sinking feeling that will be familiar to anybody who's come back from a ride with a boot covered in streaks of oil.

Several questions spring to mind:

Where's it coming from?
How difficult will it be to fix?
How much will it cost?

I had that very experience the other day when I removed an oily boot and went out to the bike to find a film of lube over the front cylinder.

It was not immediately obvious what the problem was as, on the Evo, the oil cooler and much of the plumbing is hidden behind a cowling.

Was it a punctured cooler? (Unlikely as it has a protector.) A split oil line perhaps? Or maybe a cracked oil cooler like Ron1000 suffered recently?

Once the cowling was removed it was easy to see the cause of the leak - the connector between the upper oil line and the cooler had loosened itself off just enough to allow a trickle of oil past when under pressure. A quick nip up and it was good to go again.

I do check the tightness of various fasteners as a matter of routine but never the oil cooler connections (the other three were fine).

So, no harm done and no cost either.

02-08-2022, 09:32 AM	#1
Luddite Registered User Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Southampton Bike: M1100evo Posts: 2,465	Oily boots There's a particular sinking feeling that will be familiar to anybody who's come back from a ride with a boot covered in streaks of oil. Several questions spring to mind: Where's it coming from? How difficult will it be to fix? How much will it cost? I had that very experience the other day when I removed an oily boot and went out to the bike to find a film of lube over the front cylinder. It was not immediately obvious what the problem was as, on the Evo, the oil cooler and much of the plumbing is hidden behind a cowling. Was it a punctured cooler? (Unlikely as it has a protector.) A split oil line perhaps? Or maybe a cracked oil cooler like Ron1000 suffered recently? Once the cowling was removed it was easy to see the cause of the leak - the connector between the upper oil line and the cooler had loosened itself off just enough to allow a trickle of oil past when under pressure. A quick nip up and it was good to go again. I do check the tightness of various fasteners as a matter of routine but never the oil cooler connections (the other three were fine). So, no harm done and no cost either.