Oil consumption / common oil leaks?

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Wally · #16 Post by **Wally** » Tue Feb 24, 2015 4:26 pm

My Falco "Used" half a litre in just over 80 miles, I didn't notice the smoke behind ( I was to busy hanging on and concentrating

) although it wasn't that bad except after decelerating and then accelerating again. I had visions of an engine being in bits for weeks.

I eventually found it was only the rear cylinder that had contaminated plugs but it initially confused me as both exhausts were oily (Didn't know that the twin pipes were joined behind the bellypan). Anyway, some of you are probably in front of me by now, and know what it was.

It was the clutch diaphragm that was letting oil up the vac pipe and into the rear throttle body/manifold. Blanked this off temporarily and it hasn't used oil in the 300 miles I have done since.

Wally

squadron Nero · #17 Post by **squadron Nero** » Tue Feb 24, 2015 5:20 pm

Firestarter wrote:If you've got a confirmed level (albeit low), I'd put 200-300ml in, warm it up and see what happens to the level. Careful on the Abba stand, it raises the back end and might skew the level, I would leave it warming for 15-20 minutes on the side stand, stand it upright and turn off the engine - IIRC this is the correct level check process.

Put a block under the front wheel to level up the bike.

Aladinsaneuk · #18 Post by **Aladinsaneuk** » Tue Feb 24, 2015 5:38 pm

it does need to be level

thats bloody hard on all the steep hills here in norfolk

spiderwheels · #19 Post by **spiderwheels** » Wed Feb 25, 2015 8:29 am

I've got the front attachment to the abba stand so the bike was suspended nice and level.

Wally wrote: It was the clutch diaphragm that was letting oil up the vac pipe and into the rear throttle body/manifold. Blanked this off temporarily and it hasn't used oil in the 300 miles I have done since.

Wally

Thanks for the pointer. Looks like a common issue. I never usually have anyone following me so no one is going to notice any smoke on the throttle.

Found this http://www.apriliaforum.com/forums/show ... -Diaphragm which may help me sort it out.

spiderwheels · #20 Post by **spiderwheels** » Wed Feb 25, 2015 6:51 pm

I don't have a clippy undo-ee thing so I can't take the vacuum pipe off and test it for oil with a screwdriver so I settled for taking the diaphragm out.

Opened the clutch and the inside of the clutch cover had some evidence of something black going towards the vacuum tube - could be oil as I guess it's supposed to stay on the other side of the diaphragm - however I've been holding it up to the light and can't see any holes through it as was noted in the link posted above.

The right hand side of the rear cylinder head and the tubes that go past it are quite oily. Does that suggest anything? Probably not as the amount of oil that seems to go missing would surely drip down onto the floor, correct? If so there's nothing under the bike when parked.

Viking · #21 Post by **Viking** » Wed Feb 25, 2015 10:42 pm

spiderwheels wrote:The right hand side of the rear cylinder head and the tubes that go past it are quite oily. Does that suggest anything? Probably not as the amount of oil that seems to go missing would surely drip down onto the floor, correct? If so there's nothing under the bike when parked.

The problem with oil is that one drop can smear a huge amount, so a little weep from somewhere can end up appearing to coat half the bike.

In your case, I'd look at the rocker covers and their gaskets. If one of them got pinched during a service, it could cause a small leak.

And as for not having oil dripping on the ground, to me that implies the oil is being burnt. Which means big problems such as piston rings or valve-stem seals.