So I just picked up a new ride, 97 buell thunderbolt. Looked pretty clean when I checked it out, doesnt smoke or anything, runs great but Ive been finding new oil leaks seemingly every ride. Therefore the engine and underneath it is coated in layers of black grime making it almost difficult to tell where the oil is leaking. One seems to be the front cylinder base gasket and the other may be on one or all of the connections to the oil bag. Also the mileage is unknown, it has a vapor speedo which reads around 9K meaning who knows how many miles were on it before that was put on. It is fast though and apparently has a bunch of xb engine work heads pistons etc. It also has cyclone plastic. Im gonna tighten the bolts around that front cylinder base gasket and clean up the grime, if it continues to leak- how serious is this? Do I need to get new gaskets in there stat or just keep an eye on the oil level and hopefully it doesnt get worse...? Any help be great, thanks
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97 Thunderbolt oil leaks
- Thread starter vagrant
- Start date
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First thing I would do is use a spray on engine cleaner and pressure wash the entire engine. A leak may then pop up making the location easier to identify. A few things to check are oil line connections, bad hose lines and also watch a leak from behind the drive sprocket. There is a seal there that may be leaking, running down the the transmission case and dripping off the bottom of the engine. One other thing to check is the rubber grommet where the stator wires come out of the engine. Is located between the rear cylinder and the starter. Good luck.
Sounds like leaking from the heads. There are breather pipes at the top of the heads. Hoses lead from there to the air cleaner.
Either you have;
1) Too much engine blow-by from a worn engine. Fix is an engine rebuild.
2) The umbrella valves are old and causing oil at the top of the heads to overflow into the air cleaner. The umbrella valves are under the head/valve covers in the motor. The fix is to replace the umbrella valves and enlarge the small hole just next to the umbrella valves. this small hole is to allow excess oil to return to the engine and not out the umbrella valves through the head breathers to the air cleaner.
Either you have;
1) Too much engine blow-by from a worn engine. Fix is an engine rebuild.
2) The umbrella valves are old and causing oil at the top of the heads to overflow into the air cleaner. The umbrella valves are under the head/valve covers in the motor. The fix is to replace the umbrella valves and enlarge the small hole just next to the umbrella valves. this small hole is to allow excess oil to return to the engine and not out the umbrella valves through the head breathers to the air cleaner.
