2 oil leaks found...
 

The bike has been losing a little more and more oil lately after a hard ride, I finally got off my ass and dug into it this evening.

1st was the front valve cover gasket leaking on the right hand side, where the electric fan is. The plastic fan cage was just barely making contact with half-circle part of the gasket where the head is notched. I think the fan vibration caused this part of the gasket to leak. I removed the fan, trimmed the plastic a bit to give clearance, and put in a new gasket with tack spray a dab of "The Right Stuff" on all 8 angles. That in itself was a bitch, had to practically take the whole bike apart, including loosening the carbs.

2nd was the front crank breather hose came off of the air box. This caused an oil mist on that entire area.

I left the PAIR in, as I've seen a few people have issues after removing it (probably from leaving something unhooked). Plus I kinda like the pop and gurgle on decel and I couldn't find any claimed performance benefits of removing it.

Now I'll keep my fingers crossed that I can get a new filter and spark plugs before the weekend. San Diego is supposed to be the sportbike capital of the world, but not when it comes to having parts in stock.

I had a problem with the front cylinder head cover gasket leaking that was caused by me failing to put sealer in semi-circular cut-outs. Glad you got it fixed. Removing the front cylinder head cover is a major PITA.
Getting the front breather hose connected to the underside of the air box is almost as much fun as fishing for the air box cover screws that drop from my fumbling fingers and disappear into the darkness near the carbs.
Like you, I left the PAIR on the bike. It doesn't affect performance significantly, if at all. The downside for me is that it complicates removal of the air box.

Here is some instructions for the next guy who needs to change a valve cover gasket. It was a lot more work than I expected. Also a good time to change spark plugs and air filter. Taking off the front fairing might not be necessary, but it makes the rest of it easier.

Take entire bike apart.

Fish valve cover out and spend an hour cleaning all gasket surfaces.

Use gasket tack spray to hold gasket to cover.

Put "the right stuff" rtv on all the corners of the gasket.

Pray that gasket stays in place while trying to fish valve cover into place.

Reassemble bike.



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