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Kezza when I took the pickup from under the spark plug the copper had deformed and I could see that there had been some blowby, hence my comment. Thats why I shifted it. I like big wide flat annealed copper washers on my oil banjo fittings. Or O rings.

Fair call. Mine has never been under the spark plug. Went straight to the oil banjo as above after a quick filing from new about 9 years ago - has been replaced once a couple of years ago after the wire snapped from incorrect routing and turning full lock left (there is just enough lead if routed carefully) no issues - luck of the draw I guess.

The aussie XR600/650 thread has figures that might be of interest in relation to temperatures at different parts of the engine.

Of course, the Honda has to make do with the frame as an oil cooler, unlike the Suzuki.

https://advrider.com/f/threads/xr600-xr650l-aussie-owners.891542/page-123

A few pages earlier you can see the trouble greyrider1 has gone to in measuring oil pressure at different parts of the engine.

Precis, I've done a fair bit of work on my 2013 DR650's electrical system to simplify & (hopefully) improve it. Like many machines nowadays it uses the minimum necessary wiring.
Perhaps I can help, long distance??
Are the 3 orange wires you mention contained in the sub-harness that runs up into the r/h switch block (Switched +ve from Ign. switch to front brake sw. & light circuits) from the black plug behind the headlight? If so, you can do the same connection down in the main harness, but this means opening it up completely by removing all the tape wrapping & doesn't really accomplish much electrically except removing some surplus wiring.
I did do this when replacing the standard (IMHO) poorly designed & under-wired headlight wiring circuit with a decent one that didn't drop 2 volts from battery (14.3v) to headlight (12.3v) as it does ex: factory (& waste 3 metres of wire & two incorrectly placed fuses in the process). I'd bet that most DR's have this voltage drop issue which of course contributes to the common complaint of 'poor headlight'.
Just adding an extra earth wire direct from the battery -ve to the headlight earth terminal gave an instant 0.8v improvement when tried as a temporary jumper wire initially. Bear in mind that the whole electrical system (apart from the starter motor) relies on that tiny quick-disconnect single earth wire adjacent to the left frame rail as the return circuit. I guess you have a wiring diagram?
After modification, mine improved overall to 13.9v at the headlight with heavier gauge +ve & -ve wiring, a single fuse near the battery & a relay installed. According to some data that I found in a Hella manual, the light output in lumens theoretically increased by more than 40%.
I don't ride at night, but anything that makes your presence more blindingly obvious to the tin-tops must be a good thing.
Also, I have doubled-up the + & - wiring from the regulator/rectifier to battery + & - earth, again to reduce voltage drop, plus added a totally separate fused +ve & -ve wiring circuit for accessories at the handlebar.

The Japan - based 'Eastern Beaver' vendor sells custom made wiring kits that accomplish most if not all of the above if you are not an 'electrical' person.
I hope that helps a bit? PM me if you wish.

or bring it up here and I'll sort it, its too hard over the internet.

Don't tempt me - especially as I've just bought some bikes in Qld....

Gr8 - thnx! I know EB's stuff - exxy, but good; I've already stuck LEDs on all three bikes, and 6" bar lights and multi-LED spotties - my next step was to try installing relays to get more Vs, but more earth sounds a good plan too. I will dive back in and may well PM you!

Now, a general Q: my previous ADV bike was a Caponord, which had a reputation for shitty electrics - mostly down to the rec-reg and it's connections failing. The trick was to replace the shunt-type rec-reg with a Mosfet unit from a Honda CBR600, which run cooler, if nothing else. In your opinion, is this a desirable/sensible mod or upgrade to make on the DRs? Or is a stronger stator a better investment? I don't yet have a shortage of volts, but with the Oxfords and extra lights, plus a USB charger in the top-box, I expect I'm getting close to the line.

I now run both a MOSFET RR and a Ricks stator FWIW.

Interesting. Pre-emptively, because you can, or because your usual methodical & scientific approach indicated you should? what were the tangible benefits, if any - or was it solely for peace of mind?

The MOSFET RR is a bit more efficient and handles the extra output from the stator, the stocker is marginal at best without the upgraded stator.

The upgraded stator means I can run everything at night without issue, so peace of mind as much as anything else. I run a volt meter full time to keep an eye on it all. I also have smaller than stock capacity lithium batteries, so need to keep them full.

Can you recall which Mosfet RR you used?
On several bikes - and now including the DRs - I have used Eclipse LED voltmeters - utterly brilliant bit of kit:

cheapest ones on ebay on the day from China

Precis:- All of what BD says is the way to go.
A full time voltmeter on the bike is a 'must have' IMO as then you can see exactly what is going on with the elec. system, especially if you are running high current options such as grip heaters & so on. It might be useful for you to check the difference in the workshop (with a good DMM) between battery volts & that at any added high current options fitted, with the bike running of course.
For your interest, both my Yamaha XT250 & a previous Hinckley Triumph T100 showed approx. 2 volt loss of electrons from battery forward to headlight. Both were fixed in the manner described earlier. The Trumpy had another issue with a 1v drop to & from the R/R which is mounted up at the front forks for cooling; doubling-up the + & - R/R wiring on that one worked wonders on the battery charging voltage too. Rarely above 13v prior; above 14v subsequently.

First fail to proceed on the DR in 11years,pretty good!Sorted now!

Did your dad manage to fix it? What was the problem?

Just needed a bit of Jerry rigging of the fuel supply

Should keep the magpies off it too Dave

fuck woody I nealry choked

So self induced?

Good to see you're still riding and not tied down doing reno's Dave.