Saturday, October 23, 2010

Problems

After five years of faithful service, The Norton failed to make it through the season. Back in July, I was prepping it for a weekend camping trip when I smelled hot oil. I noticed oil all over the left header and the chaincase, and more oil dripping off the cylinder head fins. I couldn't tell where it was coming from, but my assumption was a blown head gasket. So I parked the bike.

A couple of months went by before I had time to do anything with it. Finally I got the bike on the lift, had a look, but didn't really see any obvious failure points. So I retorqued the head, cleaned it up, and put it back together.

I fired it up today for the first time since July. It started first kick! I took it for a long test ride and all seems to be well for now. It's running good and it's not blowing oil anymore. So the source of the oil leak is an unsolved mystery at this time. I'll just have to keep riding it and keep an eye on things. A leak from anywhere on the head will run down and collect at the front, so it can be difficult to pinpoint the origin.

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