Little Oil Leak from left Cylinder

Yesterday I noticed the smell of burnt oil and low and behold there were a few drops sizzling on the y-collector. The oil does not appear to come from the valve-cover, but the drips are forming on the underside of the cylinder near the middle.

Any idea what the cause could be? 

The GRiSO is still under factory warranty so I am not too concerned.. I am just worried about the dealer mechanics...   

Will try to take picture later.

Thanks for your feedback!

Blow by from the air box?

I don't think it is from blow-by - The last oil change it was refilled with 3.2 Liters and the level is between Min and Max.

Here are some pictures of where the oil is forming:

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Any ideas?

Looks like "porous" castings, unless it is coming from the base gasket - I came across this type of problem years ago when I purchased a new barrel for my BSA Victor GP - always leaked oil through the castings - apparently it was a known quality issue and was unsolvable (poor quality casting) without replacing the barrel - I put up with it as it leaked in 10 other places as well - it was British engineering...

I hope this is not the case for you!

Wouldn't happen to be a little bit of spillage from the last oil change or top up, would it?

Nope, I wished it was spillage from the last oil change.. The wet spot and little drips developed after approx 1500 miles..

Well it turns out it is the base gasket.. WTF.. one year old and 10K miles..

Chriso wrote:

Well it turns out it is the base gasket.. WTF.. one year old and 10K miles..

As far as the possibilities for your GRiSO's situation go, this is as benign as any.  C'est la vie, go get yourself a beer.   

Chris, you sure about that?
Judging by the pictures, it looks like the oil leak is above the base gasket.
Anyway, I had the rear main seal leaking on my 09 at around 8000 miles or so...
It was taken care of by the warranty but it turned out to be that the flange bolts were a tad too long, thus not compressing fully the O-ring. 
Damn Italians!! 

Grisonut wrote:

Chris, you sure about that?
Judging by the pictures, it looks like the oil leak is above the base gasket.
Anyway, I had the rear main seal leaking on my 09 at around 8000 miles or so...
It was taken care of by the warranty but it turned out to be that the flange bolts were a tad too long, thus not compressing fully the O-ring. 
Damn Italians!! 

Same thing was discovered on Don's Stelvio. Mechanic's notes from prior service said something like, "Unable to torque flange bolts to specified levels," and out the door it went...   

Wow, too much Pizza, Pasta, Chianti and Grappa in the factory??? I will have the service guy send me some pictures. Yes, in my pictures it does not appear that it is coming from the base gasket.. It is strange not being able to pinpoint the leak.. Will post pics from the dealer's warranty claim as soon as I get them.. Hope they are not making stuff up just to scam some warranty work..

warranty work does not pay

Really, the dealer doesn't get paid from the manufacturer to perform warranty work  :?

You must be new here...   

Yep, sort of..

Of course dealers get paid for doing warranty work, but not at the rate of $126/hour they charge you and I. More like $2.50 and a packet of chips.
And of course the factory will allow a max of 5 hours for a simple job like, a full engine rebuild.

Think I'd rather have a poke in the eye with a blunt stick.

Poke in the eye coming, Wayne - and yes, the stick is blunt... 

OUCH!

WTF was that for?   

Just for an example there is a 'Technical Update' for the Capponord 1200 that involved adding a one way return valve to the breather system. To do this you have to remove almost all the bodywork, the tank and a whole host of ancillary bits and pieces before you can even get to the breather box. The first one I did took me about ten hours.

For this I get a 1.8 hour credit against my parts account at their rate of $65 PH.

The next one won't take me as long but its still a BIG job. Nowadays I tell anyone buying a Piaggio machine who wants me to service it that that BEFORE they take possession of the bike to run the VIN# past me so I can check it with the importer and see if there are any outstanding recalls or 'Tech Updates' because I refuse now to do stuff on bikes that have obviously been sold knowingly with outstanding work to be performed. I don't make a cent on the sale. Why the fuck should I waste my time and earning potential working for free for some other dealer. S'not going to happen!

Pete

what I mean is what had been said before warranty work is a looser, you only want to do it when crickets are chirping in the shop and tumble weeds are rolling through

Wow, I had not idea that warranty work is such a pain in the rear for the dealer.

So after putting on another 700 miles and monitoring the left jug it is not the base gasket. Turns out it is a porous cylinder.

Things didn't start out too well when I brought it to the dealer the first time when they dismissed the issue as a base gasket problem. Asking "how come it would be the base gasket when it is actually dry" did not convince them to look a little bit closer.

Finally 700 miles later, the second time around, the dealer agreed.. and yes it took a little bitching and convincing.

It did not start out too well with the dealer/warranty experience, however to their credit they preemptively ordered the parts prior to the claim being approved in order to save some time.

Now I am curious to see how long it will take to get a new cylinder..

When I worked at a Honda dealer years and years ago, warranty work was paid for, by their flat rate book. Pretty straight forward. I was the one that submitted the paper work for reimbursement and while the paperwork was a pain, it was not too difficult and we got paid. Concept!

Now this is an old data point and I hear things are a bit tougher now days.

Finally the oil leak is gone. I had to wait only 58 days for a Cylinder and Piston..