Oil Pan cracks and other woes

[Guest]

I discovered a large puddle of oil underneath my bike a few days ago.
I assumed the oil was thin or the ambient temps had caused oil to be precipitated out of the venting system

Much to my surprise when I topped of the oil level I was presented with a slow steady drip of oil from about the pan.

I used a plume of talcum to isolate the spot but could seen no apparent craks or damage.

Anyway I pullled the exhaust and other bits to gain access and after cutting a new gasket was rewarded with an even bigger fripn in spite of no crack being apparent.

I assume metal can become fatigued over time and that all cases are subject to "wear" from heat cycling.

Fortunately I had a spare pan and it works as directed.

After taking off the defective pan a piece of the casting popped off into my fingers.

I suspect that re-use of gaskets may be a contributor to this phenomena
Beware the urge to use a gasket that has already sacrificed any give it was engineered with.

I would post pictures but just imagine angst followed by perplexity finished with soothing calm.

[nastyjones]

Bummer, man. Glad u got it sorted out though.

[JEEPRUSTY]

[IMG][/IMG]

[Super]

Wow!! That's just crazy...metal fatigue doesn't quite describe it enough.

[mcycle-nut]

That happened to me once, but it was on a Honda V65 Magna I was using for a hillclimb bike. Guess I must have hit bottom with the motor, it wasn't unknown to happen. Got it welded up filed it down to get a smooth gasket surface, and she was good to go!

[bbjumper]

Over torquing the bolts or/and not having all of the bolts torqued to the same value can also do that over time