Hello,
I have a 2001 drifter 800 and have noticed that I have oil accumulating around the lower 3 air cooling fins on both stacks. I can't tell where it is coming from? Oil level is between the lines on the viewing port. I had stored it all winter in my shed with a battery tender the last month and was starting it up every weekend. Not sure if this may have caused a seal to fail, because of the cold weather starts? Also, I bought this bike used last year with 1100 miles on it. The previous owner hadn't done anything except change the oil and the owner before him did the same. I wanted to change the oil anyway and get it tuned up by the dealer but didn't want to do the oil myself if it turned out that seals needed replacing (and thus another oil change) etc. Any ideas as to where the oil might be coming from? Are there gaskets where this could be coming from?
You need to find out for sure where its coming from... here is a link which may help.
http://www.vulcandrifterriders.com/oilleaks.html (http://www.vulcandrifterriders.com/oilleaks.html)
Thanks Chief,
I ended up taking it to the local Dealer as it needed a tune up and adjustments anyway and I wanted to make sure nothing was wrong with it from a safety aspect. They are pretty sure that the leak is coming from the front jug's base gasket and that it would be an 8-10 hr. job to fix and would run around 800-1000 bucks. I was told that it is rare to see this and that it's not a huge problem right now and to just keep riding it and hopefully more riding will cause the gasket to expand a bit and slow down the leak, which is a slow one to begin with. I was also advised to just maintain the oil leve if needed. Has anyone else run into this problem? Are there any less costlier solutions such as an oil additive etc? Right now, I am taking their advice and just living with the leak.
Thanks.
You know its been sitting around a bunch, so using the bike and maintaining the oil level seems to be a good idea to me. I have only heard of a couple of vulcans with this problem... they had high miles however. I don't know of any additive which would be of use. I'd do as he suggests, ride it and monitor the level/leak.