883 Sportster Valve Tappet Guide Oil Leak
la...@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com
I have an '88 883 Sportster (basically stock motor except for air
cleaner and pipes) with about 5000 miles on it. I noticed that it's
blowing oil on the cam cover. When I run the motor, I can see it
coming out from between the valve tappet guides and where they seat
into the inner cam cover (sand cast piece). This is happening with
both tappet guides only on the front cyclinder. I torqued the bolts
that hold the guides in another quarter turn, but it didn't seem to
help.
My shop manual shows an O-ring where the parts are leaking, but I can't
imagine both of them going at once (maybe if Morton-Thiokol made them),
unless something else is wrong.
I'm wondering if anybody out there in net.land has seen this on their
bike, and if there are any ideas as to the cause of this.
Thanks,
Mike Ladue
la...@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com
None
In article <4575.2...@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com>,
la...@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com writes:
>
> I have an '88 883 Sportster (basically stock motor except for air
> cleaner and pipes) with about 5000 miles on it. I noticed that it's
> blowing oil on the cam cover. When I run the motor, I can see it
> coming out from between the valve tappet guides and where they seat
> into the inner cam cover (sand cast piece). This is happening with
> both tappet guides only on the front cyclinder. I torqued the bolts
> that hold the guides in another quarter turn, but it didn't seem to
From my experience with all of the Harleys I've owned, they all leak in one
way or another. The leak you described is a common place for Sportsters to
start leaking. I once had an 85 1000 XLH that leaked after 2000 miles. The
solution some of my friends have used was to install an o-ring that was
slightly larger in thickness that can be purchased from auto parts, etc...
From knowing that Harleys leak, I ignored the leak on mine instead of
driving myself crazy trying to fix every one. I don't know exactly how you
883 is set up because of no experience on a evo sporty, but I assume its a
solid lifter set up similar to the older sporty.
Martin Gosejacob
Yep, happend to my `86 Sporty. Turned out to be the o-rings. My local HD
ghuru told me that this is sort of a typical problem with evo-sporties.
When the engine gets hot (no problem to get it real hot on the German Autobahn)
the rubber of the o-rings get a tweak stiffer. Now what seems to help
the leakage
is that the hole the o-ring sits in is not always machined perfectly well.
I had my o-rings replaced on both valve tappets twice within a month but never
had any problems since (for the last 3 years). So find yourself an HD mechanic
who knows what he's doing and forget about the problem once it's fixed.
martin
gos...@osf.org
Sporty 1200, Honda GB500, Sanglas 500-Squire Sidecar
doesn't know a thing about DoD
Mark Bergman
I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm going!
And I don't even _own_ a 'Wing. If anyone else from the net
is going, and would like to join me on the ride up (from
NYC) or back, or would like to meet there, PLEASE REPLY BY
E-MAIL.
Mark Bergman
P.S.
I don't log in too often. Don't expect a
reply in less than a week.
ber...@rockvax.rockefeller.edu
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