lower engine covered in oil

[Guest kuehldirk]

Hi there,

just a quick poll: how many 2002 V11 LeMans have had their bike's lower engine half covered in oil shortly after the first service ?

I'm just coming from my dealer to check the status of ordered parts (timer cover gasket, more gaskets, ...) it looks like a second 2002 LeMans came in with the same problem.

Dirk

[Guest Thundering Subash]

Same thing happened on my '02 Lemans at 2,000 miles. I was on a nice 150 mile round trip ride on a Friday afternoon when I just couldn't seem to get a good footing on my right peg. When I pulled over to check things out, low and behold, I found that oil was spewing back onto the motor, right peg, and rear tire (it was leaking down the left side as well, but not as bad). I limped it home checking the oil every so often and took it into the dealer to find another '02 Lemans with the same problem (his had 1,600 miles on the odometer) in for repair.

 

The worst part of it all is that they don't have the gaskets on hand and it will take at least 5 days for some to be shipped in. I some respects, I can't wait until the warranty is up, so I can do my own repair work (the gaskets can be had in a day or two from MG Cycle for around 5 bucks as I recall).

 

You certainly don't expect problems like this on a new machine. By the way, the loaner bike (a '99 Bandit with 18,000 miles runs like a dream and the engine outside is dry as a bone).

 

Shiny side up

 

-Chris

[Guest Thundering Subash]

It just occurred to me Dirk, you could be the owner of that other Lemans I saw at the dealer. I know it's a long shot, but you don't happen to live in Minnesota (the Twin Cities) do you??? I checked your BIO but it's not filled out.

[Guest russ]

Here is the reason for the problem The black paint causes the securing bolts to vibrate loose because the geniuses at the factory didn't use lock washers or loctite on the threads. Mine let go at 600 miles and was a difficult fix for my dealer as he had to drop the motor to get to all the bolts. Since repaired, not a drop of leakage. That black engine paint has caused a few problems for , eh?

[Guest gooddog]

my timing gasket blew at 1200 miles. chalk it up to poor quality control.

[al_roethlisberger]

my timing gasket blew at 1200 miles. chalk it up to poor quality control.

 

 

...yep, it seems that "everyone's does"

 

Mine did too. It's because of the black paint. One would hope that all dealer would have received some sort of service bulletin, or just noticed all the 2002 bikes coming back with blown timing covers, to check this area very carefully pre-sale

 

al

[Guest kuehldirk]

Thundering Subash,

yes, that's me (from Minnesota, Saint Paul).

This will be the 5th week I'm waiting for parts.

Had vacation plans for the next two weeks ...

Last Saturday I asked Mike ' ... how much for that black 2003 LeMans'.

Dirk

[RichMaund]

Man! When I read threads like this one, I'm glad to have a original V11S vice a Lemans!

[al_roethlisberger]

Man! When I read threads like this one, I'm glad to have a original V11S vice a Lemans! 

 

 

...man o man Rich, when I see threads like this.... and another one of your replies.... if I didn't like you so much I'd think you were an " '00-01 Sport elitist" and rubbing our noses in it

 

Just playing with ya

 

In all seriousness, this timing cover issue is really a minor thing if the dealers just knew to prep/check it accordingly. It's very easy to fix. Other than one or two examples, I've not heard of anyone else having this issue after it's been fixed.

 

 

Now, on a similar note, I do have a weird oil leak that I actually can't find right now. I've got a fine bit of oil spray on my right red side-plate(hambone), just little drops and smears after a ride. It's not even black oil, just "wet" looking where the fine drops landed. I've also had my oil light come on twice under hard acceleration(which we've discussed before) where I've never had this occurr before. So I have lost some oil.

 

But the rest of the engine seems dry/clean, except a tiny bit of seepage around the cylinder base where the black paint seems "darker"(time to retorque those heads ).

 

At first I thought these drops were blowback out of the K&N oil from my earlier intake "coughs", but they're mostly gone now, so I dunno. Based on a tiny bit of wetness around the valve-cover/head, and the fact that this seemed to show up after Mike and I did the valve adjust... I might just need some new valve-cover gaskets, or a reseat of the covers.

 

It's not rocket science, but other than that possibility, I dunno

 

...at least it's minor. I'll find it eventually, but just kind of a bugging thing.

 

al

[RichMaund]

Al

Actually I am an elitist for the first run bikes. They still turn my head faster than any of the new ones can! Yeah... The newer bikes are all just pretenders to the throne! The original is the one that rocks!

One thing to check is overfilling of the tranny. It'll find it's way out the vent as a mist. Have you refilled it lately? Fill it to the top of the sightglass and it'll come out alot more! Bit of a mess to clean out of the nooks.

Another area to check is the breather hose. It tends to rot at the fittings where it's expanded around the fitting. Cracks form and oil vapor escapes. It can follow odd air currents thru the bike as you ride and collect in odd places. The fittings for the SS lines to the spine for the breather sytem can weep vapor like this too. Mine would collect a bit of oil an dirt around them after a thousand miles. I finally took them apart and permatexed the seals last time the tank as off. No more weeps since then.

 

We had our Guzzi Breakfast Meet Sunday and a 170 mile ride afterwards. Great reminder of what a competent bike this is, even two up! (My son came along, as usual.) My old CX Lemans (Built by Rennsport) pales by comparison.

[Guest kuehldirk]

... received a call from the dealer. The parts came in and are installed right now.

I should be Guzzi crusing again by tomorrow.

[Guest Thundering Subash]

Hey Dirk. Good for you, although I find it odd as I was just told this afternoon that the timing cover gasket for my '02 v11 lemans has not come in yet. Do you think they only received the one gasket for your bike (and no extras), or that perhaps I'm not getting the honest truth???

 

I'm also sorry to hear that you waited 5 Weeks for these parts. Were you waiting for just the gaskets that whole time???

 

I'm beginning to wonder if this myth about shortage of parts availability for Italian bikes is factual or just plain incompetance.

 

-Chris

[emry]

Mine leaked after about 600 miles. It started to leak again at about 4600. A little smear of black silicone fixed it much faster than the dealer. I have been wondering if there is some sort of flex occuring in the frame that is putting extra tension on that side at that spot. causing excess bolt tension cycling. Any one else have any thoughts?

[al_roethlisberger]

Hey Dirk. Good for you, although I find it odd as I was just told this afternoon that the timing cover gasket for my '02 v11 lemans has not come in yet. Do you think they only received the one gasket for your bike (and no extras), or that perhaps I'm not getting the honest truth???

 

I'm also sorry to hear that you waited 5 Weeks for these parts. Were you waiting for just the gaskets that whole time???

 

I'm beginning to wonder if this myth about shortage of parts availability for Italian bikes is factual or just plain incompetance.

 

-Chris

 

 

...I'm honestly beginning to wonder as well. While I can't vouch for my results, because they are of the utmost unscientific methodologies(different time, different parts, etc).... I have had dramatically different results with different dealers.

 

I've gotten much faster and quality results out of someone like TLM all the way in the Netherlands, over my dealer 30 miles away in a number of cases

 

But again, different parts, different times... maybe I should perform a batch of "identical" orders/tests to see just what the deal is, and then we can "rank" dealers accordingly on responsiveness

 

al

[zebulon]

it is always the same with , you have 25 % to receive parts in 2 weeks and a little 75 % to wait at least 3 or 4 weeks.

Even in France which is pretty near from Guzzi Factory.

 

The V11 Rosso Corsa of a friend just brake down the gearbox (surely the gearboxspring ) so it is still breaking despite of what guzzi says

and he must wait till september to get it back ...

I know a lot of people who have troubles with this damned 6 gearbox set !!!

 

So just keep the 5 gearbox set of the daytona

 

Hope you 'll not have too much trouble with your big bore engine Paul !

We could be really anxious about how the MGS gearbox <_>

 

Waranty is over & i have the chance to have the French specialist of Guzzi parts 35 km from home.

So i never buy from a dealer and go to this shop were delivery times as so much better and priceless.