CX500 GL500 650 Global

Hi chaps, any ideas what would cause oil to leak quite badly from what appears to be a drain hole in the side of the left cylinder head? It did this a couple of weeks ago, I was trickling round the village at low revs and it was running down the side of the head. Took the rocker cover off, couldn't see anything wrong so replaced it. Hey presto.. no leak!
Yesterday, I was coming home from a mate's funeral on the trike and sitting about 70 on the dual carriageway. changed down to negotiate a roundabout and my foot slipped off the gearchange. Looked down and my boot and leg were covered in oil. When I opened the throttle, oil was spewing out of the drain hole. Being a clever lad, I figured this could be bad for the engine, so stopped. Took the rocker cover off, nothing looked amiss, put it back on, topped up the oil and started the engine... no leak! Has this happened to anyone else? Is it a common CX problem? How can I cure it? Any suggestions welcome (apart from selling the trike to you)

It's usually caused by the small Spark plug round synthetic rubber seal under the Cylinder head cover failing or malformed.If still in serviceable condition you can clean and degrease the area ans use some Silicone gasket sealer to cure it but wipe off excess before replacing the cover.If not you will have to but a new one.They are cheap but may be hard to find but try Ebay and some of the links.

http://globalcxglvtwins.hostingdelivered.com/viewforum.php?f=17

They are also contained in a,"Top=End" gasket set so if you are planning to do a manual de-coke some time which is a good idea if the engine is high mileage or it's not been done whilst in your possession it's worth buying one anyway as part of good maintenance.

HTH

Thanks Shep, that was what I was hoping it was. I managed to get some new ones ordered off an Ebay link. Funny enough, I bought a full gasket set when I got the CX, one head was off the engine, and bought a top end set recently when I had that water pump problem. Changed out both head gaskets, but there weren't any of these plug hole seals in either gasket set.

Weevee47 wrote:Thanks Shep, that was what I was hoping it was. I managed to get some new ones ordered off an Ebay link. Funny enough, I bought a full gasket set when I got the CX, one head was off the engine, and bought a top end set recently when I had that water pump problem. Changed out both head gaskets, but there weren't any of these plug hole seals in either gasket set.

Luck of the draw I suppose.I've had some with,some without.It's not one of those priority things one things of when buying a head gasket set.I must have a few lying about