I was bombing along the motorway when the engine kind of half stalled very briefly (twice in quicksuccession). I slowed and pulled over as it was working fine but troubled me a tad.
Couldn't see anything wrong, so cautiously continued. A mile or two later - Loss of power so started to pull over when the oil warning light came on. I noticed a fair bit of oil around the swinging arm. AA truck!!!

Any ideas what sort of damage I'm looking at? Could it be just a gasket on the rear cyl?

Bummer,
Newts

Can you see an obvious source of the oil? How far up the engine does it start? If it was a lot of oil, from some sort of catastrophic failure and combined with a loss of power, I'm thinking head or base gasket. Rocker gaskets tend to weep rather than flow copiously and I don't think you'd notice a power loss.

On the other hand, it could be that a more significant failure caused the power loss and the oil is a symptom rather than a cause.

However, at the end of the day, I'm just a self-confessed and you need to

_________________
Good in straight lines
2001 X1 "The Tart's Handbag"
2001 FZS1000 "The Fridge"

Quick search of some of your past posts suggests it's an '03 XB9R. Other than the starting issues, have you had any other recent problems?

_________________
Good in straight lines
2001 X1 "The Tart's Handbag"
2001 FZS1000 "The Fridge"

Sorry Norm; yes it's an 03 Firebolt 9. I'll have a look at the source of the leak when I get in from work - doing extra hours to pay for a new bike ;o)

A few niggles lately but nothing to moan about: -
starter relay (fixed itself, will carry a spare )
front brake doesn't make the brake light work reliably
side stand and clutch lever sensors faulty (shorted to fix)

It's been very reliable and a joy to ride. I just hope I can fix it myself, as I don't think I can trust anyone local and I'm a bit skint.

If anyone knows of a top Buell mechanic near Beds, Herts area please let me know. Otherwise, it's future is in my lobster hands, and advice from t'internet

I'll try and get hold of or send him a PM.

Cheers,
Newts

Sounds more like a oil line to me! Hope I'm wrong!

N.

did you check oil level was there any left

_________________
WE AINT ALL THERE COZ WERE HERE

FASTER THAN THE SPEED OF DARK

Check your oil lines / connections first.

_________________
I started out with nothing and still got most of it left.

The oil is coming from a bolt where the throttle body/intake attaches to the rear cyl. Could be the flange seal??? Maybe the bolt has worked loose? Anyone heard of this?

Will investigate further when I get in from work. Update to follow tomorrow.

Thanks for the advice so far - much appreciated. I've tried to attach a photo but bugger knows if it works. Everything I touch turns to crap lately

Cheers,
Newts

WOAH - it worked (the pic attachment, not the bike)

the most likely place for a leak in that area is going to be the rocker box!...

Its definately leaking from that bolt location in the photo ^ . The more I think about it tho', the more I worry. Why would oil be coming from there?
Surely it should only leak air/fuel, if it was just the flange seal at fault? So am I looking at a bigger problem with oil getting into the combustion chamber too?

Tried phoning but no joy, will try a PM.

Still gutted
Newts

if there was oil in the combustion chamber it couldn't find its way back up past the inlet valve, degrease the motor and leave it ticking over for a while, you should be able to get a better idea where it's leaking from!..

Seems odd it coming from there, Are we sure it's not coming from above there?
I not heard of cracking heads
Na, it'll be something daft.

N.

99% sure it's coming from there but I need to rule out the 1% so...
The plan is to just start stripping it and have a good nose about. I can't fathom why the engine isn't sounding fecked if there really is oil coming from the inlet fanimold. Or, why it isn't throwing black smoke from the exhaust.
I really know very little about engines, so I'm easily confused. I'm going to stop guessing and pull bits off it to really see whats up.

Test riding a touno and a mille next week. Shame the 1125CRs are still too new to be in my price-range, I really don't want to deal with chains and sprockets anymore.

Cheers,
Newts

Oooh you can get allsorts dribbling from a fanimold but lets get back to the bike!
Wonder if a breather has got bloked and it is spueing out the rocker covers.
Did you get in touch with Mazzer?

N