Oil Leak - From Filter Area

[jbernard]

Anyone experience this or perhaps know the cause?

I have'nt started my bike in about 3 weeks. Last night I went out and started it and let it run for about 10-15 minutes.

When I went to shut it down and disconnect the battery I noticed that there was a small area of oil under the bike - not that much at all, just about a 2" - 3" circle (not a puddle).

I cleaned it up and took a look to see where it was coming from and it appeared to be somwhere on the oil filter - though I could not see a crack in it.

Now my bike has only 1,600 miles (I had it serviced @ 600 miles) and has never leaked any oil at all.

What could be the cause - is it because the bike sat for so long (3 weeks) and it was just some residuale oil?

I will check the bike when I take it out this weekend, but should I be concerned that it will continue to leak oil? I can check for leakage when I park it but could it spring a leak when driving? I will be checking the oil guage.

Thanks -

[johnchypermotard]

Originally Posted by jbernard

Anyone experience this or perhaps know the cause?

I have'nt started my bike in about 3 weeks. Last night I went out and started it and let it run for about 10-15 minutes.

When I went to shut it down and disconnect the battery I noticed that there was a small area of oil under the bike - not that much at all, just about a 2" - 3" circle (not a puddle).

I cleaned it up and took a look to see where it was coming from and it appeared to be somwhere on the oil filter - though I could not see a crack in it.

Now my bike has only 1,600 miles (I had it serviced @ 600 miles) and has never leaked any oil at all.

What could be the cause - is it because the bike sat for so long (3 weeks) and it was just some residuale oil?

I will check the bike when I take it out this weekend, but should I be concerned that it will continue to leak oil? I can check for leakage when I park it but could it spring a leak when driving? I will be checking the oil guage.

Thanks -

if oil is leaking from the oil filter area, and you just had the bike serviced (where i assume the shop did an oil change, new filter) ... check the tightness of the oil filter, just using hand pressure. you should NOT be able to move the filter just using your hand.

if the oil filter seems tight, and the motor is still leaking oil ... your next option is to drain the oil and remove the suspect oil filter. once you have the filter off, inspect the o-ring on the filter to see if there are any cracks or tears. then look up inside the lower case where the oil filter spins in, to see if the old o-ring is still there ... if it is, remove, clean the area, then re-install the new oil filter (oiling the o-ring first, and filling the oil filter about 3/4 full before installing, and use an oil filter wrench to tighten to snug, then about 1/4 turn more) and re-fill the oil.

test the bike by starting and letting warm up to running temp, and look under the oil filter to see if any leaking is still happening.

anyway ... hope you get it solved before this sunday, and are planning to attend LDD2009 - http://www.norcaldoc.com/ldd2009 and if you don't get it solved by sunday, ride down with your hypertard ... there will be a lot of hypertard owners @ ldd, and we can take a look at the issue on your bike.

ciao.
johnc

[MTScott2]

Might be two oil filter gaskets in there too..

[johnchypermotard]

Originally Posted by Scott2

Might be two oil filter gaskets in there too..

yup ...

[dukepilot]

Originally Posted by jbernard

Anyone experience this or perhaps know the cause?

I have'nt started my bike in about 3 weeks. Last night I went out and started it and let it run for about 10-15 minutes.

When I went to shut it down and disconnect the battery I noticed that there was a small area of oil under the bike - not that much at all, just about a 2" - 3" circle (not a puddle).

I cleaned it up and took a look to see where it was coming from and it appeared to be somwhere on the oil filter - though I could not see a crack in it.

Now my bike has only 1,600 miles (I had it serviced @ 600 miles) and has never leaked any oil at all.

What could be the cause - is it because the bike sat for so long (3 weeks) and it was just some residuale oil?

I will check the bike when I take it out this weekend, but should I be concerned that it will continue to leak oil? I can check for leakage when I park it but could it spring a leak when driving? I will be checking the oil guage.

Thanks -

Most likely either the filter is loose or there are two gaskets. Where did you have it serviced? Take it back there and tell them to fix it. Next time, do it yourself so you'll know it was done right.

[dave2riff]

One of the odd things I noticed with the original equipment Ducati oil filter is
that the gasket seemed to shrink and allow the filter to become loose over
time and usage. In other words, it was torqued when new (with oil on the
rubber gasket), then months later when I checked it, the filter could be
easily tightened by hand. I have never had to re-torque a K&N or other
aftermarket oil filter. Odd behaviour... substandard gasket?

[motopix]

I had to torque the hell out of my filter and drain bolt after the first change. The filter area was leaking the most. I'm changing to K&N filters next time as a search showed they don't have this problem.