Can't find any leak so anyone have any thoughts

Look at the picture at the bottom and you can see where I have some oil blowing on my right fender on my 06 Wing with a Champion kit. I can’t find the leak anywhere and it seems to come and go. I can go to a 200 mile ride and it won’t leak a bit. I might run up to the corner store and will have marks by the time I get there. It has been going on for over a month. I have pulled both right side panels and they are dry inside. Value Covers are dry. Under the trike is dry. Around the oil filer and oil drain is dry. Not a drop on the ground where it is parked.

Most of time I have on white tennis shoes and have rode with them on the floorboard and on the highway pegs, not a drop on them. Today I rode about 2 miles up to the corner gas station and by the time I got there I had oil marks. Rode about 20 miles to a friend’s house and had more on the fender. I cleaned it off and the trike sit for about 3 hours so it was cold again. Rode about 50 miles coming home and nothing, not one leak, nothing is wet anywhere.

I have rode it slow and sometimes it’s there and sometimes it’s not. I have ran it at higher speed, sometimes it leaves oil marks and other time’s not. I have tried running higher RPM’s, same thing. Sometimes it does it when I first start off and other times it starts after it has been running for a long time. It only happens about 10% of the time but that is 10% too much.

It has stumped all the other Wing riders I ride with. Anyone have any ideas?

I'll give it a shot in the dark..:Shrug:. I don't know much about Wings, Buy could it be blow-bye coming out of the air cleaner... An over filled crank case will cause that on most bikes...

When I check the oil it is showing just a tad low. Don't think that is it.

Duck said:

When I check the oil it is showing just a tad low. Don't think that is it.

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Did you check the air cleaner...:Shrug: Was it wet .Or dry....:Shrug:

have you checked the forks for leaks? I'm thinking it's coming from outside of the engine compartment since you found no oil on inside of panels. So I'm betting it's your right fork leaking and the air blowing it back onto the fender. Just my guess. :Shrug:

rhino 2 said:

Did you check the air cleaner...:Shrug: Was it wet .Or dry....:Shrug:

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Changed the air filter not long ago and it was dry.

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mhgoldwing said:

have you checked the forks for leaks? I'm thinking it's coming from outside of the engine compartment since you found no oil on inside of panels. So I'm betting it's your right fork leaking and the air blowing it back onto the fender. Just my guess. :Shrug:

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No "oil ring" showing on the folk.

Sat and looked at our 2004 with a Champion kit. Don't think it is the forks, as there would be oil on the cover right behind the forks and front wheel. The Air cleaner on a GL 1800 is buried deep in the middle of the frame and covered with Tupperware, and it is reported the inside covers and valve covers are dry. Valve covers were my first guess. Still might be the culprit if it is a small drip near the back that blows away onto the fenders. Might not drip when the trike is not running as there would be no positive air pressure inside the covers then. The only other thing I can think of is the swirling air is blowing around a bit of oil from underneath. Do you have a belly pan? We had a mystery much like this - it ended up being a very slight leak coming from the bottom of the trike and building up on the inside of the belly pan then getting blown by the air currents under the rig.

Ozarkryder said:

Sat and looked at our 2004 with a Champion kit. Don't think it is the forks, as there would be oil on the cover right behind the forks and front wheel. The Air cleaner on a GL 1800 is buried deep in the middle of the frame and covered with Tupperware, and it is reported the inside covers and valve covers are dry. Valve covers were my first guess. Still might be the culprit if it is a small drip near the back that blows away onto the fenders. Might not drip when the trike is not running as there would be no positive air pressure inside the covers then. The only other thing I can think of is the swirling air is blowing around a bit of oil from underneath. Do you have a belly pan? We had a mystery much like this - it ended up being a very slight leak coming from the bottom of the trike and building up on the inside of the belly pan then getting blown by the air currents under the rig.

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I agree with Ozark, check around your valve covers with a tissue and see if you discover any oil on it.

Have you been riding behind any Harleys?

Ozarkryder said:

Sat and looked at our 2004 with a Champion kit. Don't think it is the forks, as there would be oil on the cover right behind the forks and front wheel. The Air cleaner on a GL 1800 is buried deep in the middle of the frame and covered with Tupperware, and it is reported the inside covers and valve covers are dry. Valve covers were my first guess. Still might be the culprit if it is a small drip near the back that blows away onto the fenders. Might not drip when the trike is not running as there would be no positive air pressure inside the covers then. The only other thing I can think of is the swirling air is blowing around a bit of oil from underneath. Do you have a belly pan? We had a mystery much like this - it ended up being a very slight leak coming from the bottom of the trike and building up on the inside of the belly pan then getting blown by the air currents under the rig.

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No belly pan. The first time I saw it, I was thinking Valve covers also but they are always dry. I have put the trike on blocks high enough to look under it and I seen on wet spot anywhere.
It only does it about 10% of the time.

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schiel1 said:

Have you been riding behind any Harleys?

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No they are behind me . When it happen the first time I was thinking I must have been beside someone that was blowing oil real bad, but when it came back I knew it wasn't from that.

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tndragonrider said:

I agree with Ozark, check around your valve covers with a tissue and see if you discover any oil on it.

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I also think that is where it is coming from but with it always dry.... I'm going to take some cheese cloth and see if I can tape it or wire it in around the valve cover and see if it will leak onto the cloth. That is the only idea I can come up with that might help find it.

NAPA Sells a fluorescence dye to detect oil leaks, Or caveman style..Sprinkle talcum power on the suspected area and look for the wet spot... [Theres a joke in there somewhere but i'm not going there]

I found something. I went out to see about covering the valve cover with cloth some how and I once again ran a rag all around the outside of the cover, it was dry. I then removed the cover where the plugs are and there it was, OIL. Not much at all but there is some oil on the ledge near the front of the inside of the cover. The rest of the over is dry as can be, the picture shows all the oil. I then took the cloth and wiped all in the area where the plugs are and it came out with just a tiny bit of oil showing. Zoom in on that white cloth and look how clean it looks. So now that I found A LEAK, is this something that I may be able to fix or does it need to go in a shop?
I should say I took off the cover for the spark plugs not the valve cover.

Could be that the rubber part of your valve cover needs to be replaced...that is the part where your bolt goes thru...only other thing from your pic, would be a cracked valve cover.

Haste Maker said:

Could be that the rubber part of your valve cover needs to be replaced...that is the part where your bolt goes thru...only other thing from your pic, would be a cracked valve cover.

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I don't think there should be any oil in this cover that has oil showing. It is the cover that would be removed to replace the spark plugs. I'm thinking the valve cover gasket it's self is leaking into this area.

You are right...the cover for the spark plugs should be dry...I would replace the valve cover gaskets.