ST1300 Oil Leak..

(Sorry for the confusion with the post moves... I thought this was a different thing.)

...oil still seeping from square hole and now the oil line on sight glass is at the top. Way past full! ... I did add oil once and drained the extra but now the 1300 seems to be making oil!

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You're not making oil; at some point too much was added. Any chance you filled it while the bike was on the sidestand or didn't drain all of the oil during a change?

Having too much oil in the engine risks damaging the seals, which could be the cause of your leak. The alternator's shaft is lubricated, so there's pressure and a seal up there. On some engines, an overfull sump will allow the crankshaft to strike the surface of the oil and whip it up into a froth. Enough of that and the oil pump will start sucking more air than oil and not lubricate the engine. (This is probably not something that will happen on the ST, because the crankshaft is pretty high in the engine.)

Anyway, until you identify the source of the leak, don't run the engine.

--Mark

Blrfl said:

You're not making oil; at some point too much was added.--Mark

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Was there not a story in A Thousand And One Arabian Nights about a pitcher of milk that refilled itself...? Maybe this is the 1002nd story.

Theory and sequence of events, had small oil leak, saw on ground after valve check and ride. In fixing small leak created bigger leak by not putting right valve cover on correctly and filling V with oil. Added oil to correct amount with leaked oil in the V. Went for the ride to check and pumped the oil out of the V back into engine, therefore too much oil. Drained excess oil and now the leak out of the square hole is less and is less all the time.. Question how long does it take for the oil in the V to drain? In my case seems to be a very slow drain!!

tcs1100f said:

Theory and sequence of events, had small oil leak, saw on ground after valve check and ride. In fixing small leak created bigger leak by not putting right valve cover on correctly and filling V with oil. Added oil to correct amount with leaked oil in the V. Went for the ride to check and pumped the oil out of the V back into engine, therefore too much oil. Drained excess oil and now the leak out of the square hole is less and is less all the time.. Question how long does it take for the oil in the V to drain? In my case seems to be a very slow drain!!

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As long as it's less and less... that's good enough IMO.. not sure what angle you could park it on to help it drain faster... but again, as long as it's now flowing and it's slowing then it will eventually run out.

I always park my bikes on their center stand if they have one.. That is how the ST is parked.

Mellow said:

not sure what angle you could park it on to help it drain faster

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You would need it to lean opposite of the side stand. The passage way in the "V" is on the right side that allows fluids to drain out the square hole.

Kevin_56 said:

You would need it to lean opposite of the side stand. The passage way in the "V" is on the right side that allows fluids to drain out the square hole.

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Makes sense.. I think I would just leave it along and let it slowly clear up on it's own.. I suppose you could pull the airbox to get to the throttle body area and try to clean it up.

Not sure leaning to the right would help since it is a V!
Anyway the leak/drip has stopped. No leak after ride yesterday and running this AM. Putting tupperware back on.

tcs1100f said:

Not sure leaning to the right would help since it is a V!

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No, it is flat in the middle. In the picture to the left of the oil pressure unit is where every fluid that is between the heads flows to. Trust me, there is a channel that funnels the fluids to the Square Hole. I was very cozy under the throttle bodies when chasing my leak.



Look to the right of the oil pressure switch and you can see a "hole" that the fluids flow to the Square hole. Hope this helps in seeing the path fluids take to come out of the hole.



I was amazed how much grit was there. So much that it hid any oil tracks when I used a bore scope to "see" what was going on.