The bike is leaking...
 

I had a neat little slide on the way home from work today. When I pulled into my driveway, I noticed my rear tire was COVERED in an oily substance. SO I crossed my fingers, cleaned the tire off, and hoped that I rode through a gas spill or something.

NO! My bike is leaking something. I checked all the fluid levels, and everything is cool except the oil, which is a tiny bit low (and due for a change anyway). It's too dark outside to figure out what it is for sure, but any ideas what it might be?

The last thing anyone ever accused me of was being a bike mechanic, so if you guys have any tips on where/what to look at, I'd sure appreciate it!!!


I'm getting pretty irritated here. Bike is due for tires, oil change, tabs, air filter, spark plugs, brake fluid bleed, and now THIS. Grr! Plus I'm BrOkE as shit. Oh well...

Oil filter and drain plug. I'd check those first.

I over-tightened my filter once and the sucker was leaking constantly. I had to replace it.

The drain plug has a crush washer that can lose it's...ummm....crushability...over time. The Service Manual recommends replacing it EVERY oil change, but I haven't done that so far and haven't experienced any negative affects.

I had a similar situation with my FJ and I don't know if the SH is made the same way but the seal where the clutch actuating rod passes through popped off the engine case. The damn thing hemorrhaged oil all over the back end of the bike as I was flying down the HOV lane. Didn't know until the pressure light came on. Couldn't figure out where the oil was coming from. Thought it was the filter. Nope. Thought it was the plug. Nope. On a whim I took the clutch actuator off along with the front sprocket cover and there it was. After an $60 tow home and little bit of detective work it turned out to be a $2 part.


Karl

Well, it's looking like the oil filter. It might have a pinhole in it or something. I'm going to replace it and change the oil... we'll see what happens.

Yeah, it's working fine after a new oil filter.