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A little oil seepage

lsouth3

GEEZER
My 1994 R1100RSL with 65k on the clock is seeping oil from the bottom of the RH cylinder. I'm not getting oil drops on the floor yet but it's making a mess on the inside of the body panel and on the motor. I gather from previous posts that the standard fix will be removal, thorough cleaning, perhaps a thin coating of Yamaha Bond or other sealer of that type on the bottom of the cylinder and the head gasket replacement.
The question is this - is there a chance of stopping the leak any other way?
The bike runs great, has not had any internal motor work done and the compression is fine. I have replaced a head gasket on my other RSL so I pretty well"know the drill", just trying to avoid it if I can. :)
 
I'm having the same problem with my 97 r850r with 45K. Leaks ever-so-slightly from the right side. Not enough to drip on the floor...just enough to blow back on my shoe and pants. I'm ordering head gaskets tomorrow. I'm guessing that age rather than mileage might weaken the integrity of head gaskets (?).
 
Mine was leaking from the left cylinder. Got progressively worse and stained my riding pants. I replaced the head gasket and problem completely solved. Then I went and bought an RT and the RSL just sits.
 
Lee, before you tear everything down, make sure the oil is really coming from the cylinder base. I've had good results by cleaing and degreasing the engine completely, then dusing the whole thing with talcum powder. I ended up having a leak at the base, but only after I'd torn the engine completely down (sight glass blew out and I lunched a conn rod big end bearing) and rebuilding with the wrong sealant at the cylinder bases. The head gaskets are a more common oil leak source.
 
Thanks Chaz,
I have done cleanup twice and am pretty sure about the seep. A year ago I replaced the end cover o-rings and tweaked the banjo bolt on the left front. It's not bad and if I would take the tupperware off and really clean it up every 3-4 thousand miles it would be no problem. It just shouldn't be leaking at all and that bugs me a bit.
 
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