I thought my oil leak was from an old repair I did patching a previous leak on the sump (damage from impacting a sliding security gate track). Turns out it’s coming from a sump bolt about six inches straight back from the oil tank drain plug (2005, old sump layout).
There’s no way it was damaged from an impact, as it’s up between the fins with no damage anywhere around. There's also no damage at all around the hole once I removed the bolt.
I got the oil drained today and pulled the bolt, and saw the following:
What I’m assuming is the small groove in the head was enough of a gap to channel oil between it and the washer and drip very, very slowly.
Does this seem right? The bolt was torqued higher than spec. I didn’t get a click when testing it, where most of the outer sump bolts were a bit loose. Could it be related to it being over-torqued, or do you think it was just a defective screw?
My plan for now is to degrease it thoroughly, use a tiny blob of epoxy putty to fill the gap, smooth it out, clean/deoxidize the copper washer, and reinstall. I just received a parts order and don’t really want to spend another $15 and wait a week if this repair can work at least for now, if not for good. The money’s not a big deal, but I have such a long list of projects to get the bike back in shape, I’m pinching pennies wherever possible, and I really don’t want to give up another week waiting to get it running.
The one thing I assumed is if I replace the hardware, it’s best to order the correct parts, and not head down to the hardware store and improvise. I try to do things right. (Ok ok, you may be smirking at me now saying that after I just talked about epoxy putty…)
Thoughts?