[Guest]

I have done a search on the board and I see that this has benn covered, however I didn't see any solutions.

I have a 96 900. I changed the oil a few weeks ago and now I have started to see oil leaking around my oil filter. I noticed it this morning when warming up the bike there were a few drops on the ground and as the bike warmed up a few more drops fell. Needless to say I took the car to work.

The seal seems tight but I am wondering if I did not put enough oil on the rubber gasket on the filter. Would this cause the oil to drip.

This is the first time I have seen it drip and I changed the oil about 300 miles ago so it seems that the seal was holding, but the temp in the Bay area is changing and I am woundering if this would play into the problem.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Rob

 

[Mark1305]

How tight did you tighten the filter? Sometimes over tightening can cause a leak. I've never experienced a leak from a spin-on myself, but a friend just changed the filter on his Kaw and somehow managed to damage the rubber seal. It dumped all the oil in about a block down the street.

 

[Andrew_Cornett]

Sounds like you are on the right track. If you don't coat the seal properly when the engine heats up it will become brittle quickly and be useless. Change the filter while the bike is cold and you wont loose that much oil. Put new filter in and top off oil level.

 

[Ken_the_Carp]

Sometimes the O ring from the old filter sticks to the engine and when the new filter is installed every thing gets messed up and it will leak, I always verifi that the old O ring is either still attached to the old filter or its in the drain pan. Spin on oil filters need to be only tightened 1 turn after contact.

 

[Guest]

Thanks all.

I have just picked up a new filter and will replace tonight and hope this fixes the issue.

I am thinking that it is that I did not put enough oil on the seal as it did not start leaking until today. Plus I only hand tightened the filter.

 

[MagnusVer]

you were able to get an entire revolution by hand after the gasket first made contact? i remember having to use my socket to do that (k&n filter)...

 

[Guest]

I am not sure if I got a full turn but the filter is definately snug. I would think that you would not it over tight as this would affect the seal and could possibly cause it to leak.

I think my issue is the rubber seal dried out. The filter its self is still tight and although it was hand tightened when place on I think I will need the filter tool to get it off.

This has always been the cases in the past. Somehow the filter tighten its self up.

 

[Duc_N_Har]

Mine just oozes, never enough to drip. They say full syn will ooz? Soon time for an oil change and service, we'll check everything then, unless it starts to drip, then it will be checked pronto.

 

[Guest]

i use fully synthetic and i dont leak. i do however use my oil filter wrench to tighten the filter. im usually real careful not to overtighten it though when using the filter wrench.

 

[wheelinman900]

I have never had problems with full syn leaking. Also I wanted to make you aware that alot of Ducs with aftermarket filters have been leaking, no matter what you do to them. These are the ones available through parts stores who get them through parts unltd. etc.. Use factory filters and you should be ok too.

 

[jack]

The oil you smear on the rubber gasket (some feel particularly strong about using the old oil for that) squeezes completely out once you've tightened the filter appropriately. If it didn't, that would inhibit solid contact between rubber and engine case and you'd be leaking oil once the oil pressure come's up.

As for the rubber drying out and cracking: Bollocks! ;D
Unless of course you don't change the oil at recommended periods and the filter's going on 2 years old or so...

Of course, with all my self proclaimed expertise on this subject, I too have had that annoying "occasional" drop of oil hanging off the bottom of my filter over the last two changes ...nothing too drastic; it never leaves anything on the floor, but it is pretty annoying. I'll be inspecting the engine casing better next time I change O/F.

 

[test-reg]

coating the o ring with oil allows you to remove the filter easily at the next oil change.

 

[jack]

coating the o ring with oil allows you to remove the filter easily at the next oil change.

He he, correct too. Those were the same words my high school auto shop teacher used to preach.