found oil seep. bad?? (pic included)

After cleaning up this evening, i found where there's been a seep for awhile (apparently) due to a buildup of oil and road grime.

I cleaned it off and will monitor it, but wanted to know if this is a big deal.
See graphic below:

http://www.datchew.com/r100/r100-engine.jpg


well, though hosted, i cannot seem to post a graphic.
tried the "www.website.com[img] and tried the little button on the menu by teh smiley faces, but neither worked. you'll just have to click on the link


[img]http://www.datchew.com/r100/r100-engine.jpg

seems like a pushrod seal. Not a big deal. Sometimes, if I'm sending the bike in for a valve adjust, I'll ask them to either change it, or pound it in a little harder. It just makes my engines dirty, but it only offends my aestetics.

I wouldn't worry about it, but all my bikes stay dirty as hell.

James.

Ed Korn will sell you a tool to help pound these seals back in, which
will work unless the rubber is too old & hard.

According to the best of BMW mechanincs there are "seeps" , "weeps" and "leaks".
You have pushrod tube leak of some type ....they are very common and easy to replace if you know your way around a torque wrench and a Clymer manual. You'll need to remove the cylinder, change the pushrod tube seals and cyclinder o-rings. The you'll have to recompress the piston rings and re-seal the cylinder to the block followed by a valve train reassemble and adjustment and head retorque.....You can open up a can of worms or you can wipe your motor down every so often ....
It's a great job for a tech day.
Cheers,
Jorge

Pushrod tube seals are simple to replace, and can be done without completely removing the cylinder from the bike. Go to www.airheads.org and check out the tech resources and links.

Ah yes...the lazy way....I've done this twice and regretted not doing it right with both.
To each their own.
Cheers,
Jorge

On the later model airheads, I don't think you can tighten the pushrod seals by banging on the pushrod tube rings as the rings are brazed to the tubes. On the earlier airheads this was an option though.

If you recently switched to synthetic oil, switch back to dino-juice and see if the weep goes away after a couple of oil changes. The PO of my ST switched to Mobil 1 and the seals started leaking. I went back to standard stuff and everything was okay.

No need to repeat where the leak is coming from, but I suggest you get some kind of manual - this is an extremely common seep. I had a '71 /5 that used to spit oil on my left boot, but it was worse over 60 mph and when the oil level was topped up. I would suggest that if you dont notice any oil dripping underneath the bike when parked or on your boot (or flip flops) when riding, leave it alone. Its not unusual for things to get worse when you try to fix them. From what I understand, the "bang it in a little more" trick works pretty well, too.

Yep. The later models have a brazed collar on the push rod tubes that presses against the seal. I've never found that tapping this version stops leaks. The synthetic tip is key. Go for plain old 20/50 dyno-oil and you'll likely not have as many seeping problems on these motors.

You can't tap in the later model pushrod seals. And it was a temp fix on the ones you could, the seals get hard and just don't seal well. To replace them is about a hour to and hour and a half each side. You will need new cylinder and stud o rings and head gaskets besides the seals themselves, they are the cheap part. Check out snowbums website for a complete description of the work. Many folks decarbon their heads and piston tops every couple of years so its a good time to do that also. I don't know how many miles are on the bike but new piston rings are also a idea if it's got more that 60-70 thou. JT

Sorry to offend your delicate sensibilities, Jorge. I've been doing it this way on Airheads for 20 years. If one has the time, then by all means remove the cylinder and do a thorough cleanup at the same time. De-carboning the piston, perhaps new rings and a hone, disassembly of the head, etc., are all easy jobs. The question that was asked concerned a weeping seal, which can easily and quickly be replaced, leaving more opportunity to ride.

Nothing delicate and no need to apologize....sincerely or not...
I was given the same advice from two long-time experts years ago, twenty in fact almost to the month and it simply didn't work then or a few years later on another airhead. I've helped several friends with the same issue had the same results on their airheads. It has work once for me on an older airhead without the brazed collars and then it was for about a month until the weather cooled off and the rubber hardened.
Just my $.02
Cheers,
Jorge

You can remove the cylinder without removing the piston. Just keep it inside far enough to allow removal of the piston pin, but no far enough for the rings to show.

Well, i didn't ever expect to get so much feedback.
Most of my other questions took quite a while to get anything.
However, thanks much. I now know lots and lots on this pushrod seal.
Will get it taken care of one way or another.

2 questions:
What is tech day?
What is snowbums? Did a google, but didnt' get anything about motorcycles.

It's a day where local AdvRiders gather at a preagrred upon mtg location and swap lies and work on their bikes.
Look in the Regional Forums and set one up in your neck of the woods if you don't see any.
Cheers,
Jorge

Tech day = a group of airheads getting together to work on bikes, tell lies and drink beer.
Snowbum = a slightly arrogant individual who never the less knows a TON about airheads and has a website. The useful stuff is here:
http://www.cdegroot.com/cgi-bin/mirror/pweb.jps.net/~snowbum/techindex.htm

go to airheads.org and join

great newsletter with tons of information (and some annoying pro-war propoganda, but not too much). Access to "Oak," the, repeat, THE Airhead Guru. He will reply quickly to any tech question.

cool.
will do.
thx all.

tech day sounds like a lot of fun.
My other airhead is a 66 beetle which i've owned for 13 years so i'm excited to learn more about my smaller newer airhead.

There are o-rings around the top cylinder studs that are either the same age as or older than the pushrod tube seals and they ought to be replaced during this job, too. The model in question and all since ~1978 also have a large o-ring to seal the cylinder to the block--same advice.

No way to do either without completely removing cylinder.

No way to replace pushrod seals without disturbing or stressing those o-rings, either.