Another oil leak

[jonnymtb]

A few months back when I put the bike away for winter I noticed a little oil blowing off onto my header and rear tire.  It wasn't happening all the time so I thought it was residual from a recent oil change.  

Took the bike to work this morning and noticed quite a bit of oil on the crank case and all over the header and tire.  Not good!

I was thinking the leak might be similar to an early posting but somehow the oil ends up originating somewhere in front of the crank case perhaps the oil cooler lines?

Here are some pics any suggestions?

#1 represents a bolt head that recently has been filled with oil.  Don't know if this is where the leak originated or if this is just a gathering spot.



YOu can see the oil blasting all over my header here.  Looks like the oil could be coming from somewhere up front.

[errazor]

I would check pennyrobber's tips " If you find oil seeping from beneath your belt cover, your bookie has a 2-3 that it's the lay shaft seal."

[Howie]

I think errazor is correct.  Pull the belt covers and take a look.

[He Man]

i have the same leak with the same look. I have not fixed it yet.  Environmentally not cool 

I dont have the tools to fix it either. Need to remove the center cam and replace the seal behind the pully atleast mine is comming from the center.

[Gimpy]

If it doesn't turn out to be coming from behind the belt covers, try re-torquing the oil cooler lines.  I had a similar looking leak that would show up after longer more spirited rides.  The lines didn't seem loose, but this fixed it all the same. 

[Monster Dave]

Most likely it is coming from behind the belt cover. That's a common problem - one that I'm ironically having fixed too.

[rule62]

Replacing the lay-shaft seal is not difficult at all.  Hardest part was getting the little locator/indexing pin back in there during re-assembly.

[He Man]

Replacing the lay-shaft seal is not difficult at all.  Hardest part was getting the little locator/indexing pin back in there during re-assembly.

you need a special tool to remove the castle nut dont you? Just pull out the pully, pry off the seal replace and do the belts?

[rule62]

It's easy enough to make a tool for the castle nut.  The whole task seemed a lot more daunting than it actually was.  All in all it was pretty simple.  Note: You will probably have to destroy the old seal in order to get it out.  There's a DIY somewhere around here. 

[Greg]

I've got the same leak on my Duc. Took the local dealer about a month to get that damn little seal in, now I just need to get off my ass and fix it.

[rule62]

http://ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=22048.0

http://www.ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=37777.0

[Greg]

What really pisses me off is that there is absolutely no reason to use a special nut other than to make us buy more tools. Ducati make your bikes more user friendly, you are only alienating your own customer base.

[pennyrobber]

What really pisses me off is that there is absolutely no reason to use a special nut other than to make us buy more tools. Ducati make your bikes more user friendly, you are only alienating your own customer base.

Most riders, regardless of brand ownership, probably don't do any serious maintenance on their bikes. So really, Ducati isn't alienating much of their customer base. Most of the expensive specialty tools required for maintenance on our bikes have alternatives out there. A perfect example is the clutch tool that, if purchased from Ducati, would cost around $150. I picked up an alternative but equally capable tool for $14.

[Greg]

Most riders, regardless of brand ownership, probably don't do any serious maintenance on their bikes. So really, Ducati isn't alienating much of their customer base. Most of the expensive specialty tools required for maintenance on our bikes have alternatives out there. A perfect example is the clutch tool that, if purchased from Ducati, would cost around $150. I picked up an alternative but equally capable tool for $14.

It's still a PITA for any mechanic to have to buy another tool when there is no need to. I get your point about the clutch basket tool, and that cheaper ones are available, but in this case no special tool would be needed at all if they used a regular locking nut.