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elusive oil leak

I cleaned my engine and got rid off the excess oil. I started the bike and rode for about ten minutes. When I got back I looked for oil and found it around what appears to be a cap or plug next to the spark plug. My first question is, What is this cap? There are two of them. one on each side of the spark plug. My second question is how much of a job is it to fix such a leak?
 
What you are referring to is the bolts that hold the head and cylinder on the engine case. If you have an oil leak there, chances are you have a bad head gasket and the head has to come off to replace it.
 
I was afraid of a bad head gasket. I have a manual but, don't know if I should mess with it. Does anyone know of a realistic cost for repair of a head gasket? I know that The local Harley dealer charges $88.00 an hour for labor. If you have experienced this and could guesstimate a repair cost for me I could start sweet talking the wife.
 
A friend of mine has a 92 Soprtster. He just had the same problem. I don't know if yours has an oil tank but his tank was cracked where the oil line came into it. Later he found a bad line that caused a similar problem. Oil was running down the hose onto the ground.
 
:newsmile04:
smkinnan said:
A friend of mine has a 92 Soprtster. He just had the same problem. I don't know if yours has an oil tank but his tank was cracked where the oil line came into it. Later he found a bad line that caused a similar problem. Oil was running down the hose onto the ground.
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in 1994 The sportster oil tank and battery tray were updated to prevent this sort of problem battery tray went from a 2 point fitting to oil tank to a 3 point fitting and the rubber mount under the battery tray was made larger so post 94 sportsters dont suffer from the oil tank being pulled apart by the weight of the battery

Brian
 
tonynumber1 said:
I cleaned my engine and got rid off the excess oil. I started the bike and rode for about ten minutes. When I got back I looked for oil and found it around what appears to be a cap or plug next to the spark plug. My first question is, What is this cap? There are two of them. one on each side of the spark plug. My second question is how much of a job is it to fix such a leak?
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If you have a service manuall and a little bit of experience using hand tools its not a particularly hard job to do
However you do need to remove the tank exhaust system carb and inlet manifold and head steadys to be able to get the heads off if you do decide to tackle it yourself take note of the new head gaskets as you have to remove the o ring from the oil ways prior to using the latest pattern of gasket

Brian
 
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