Oil leak from clutch?

[Mick77]

Parked the bandit in the drive yesterday, came out about an hour later and found one drop of oil.  Got to looking around and found that the leak is coming from somewhere behind the clutch cover (?) beside the thermostat housing, and below the front sprocket.  It's not bad, just wet, and I think the only reason that I even saw it was because it was like 105 on the way home from work yesterday.  My question: What is behind that plate where the clutch cable goes in, the one that covers the front sprocket?  What will happen if I take that cover off to inspect?  Will it gush oil everywhere or shoot some crazy spring out at me?  I didn't have a chance to consult my manual, and had some spare time here at work so I thought I'd ask the experts. 

[Chris H]

Hi Mick,
You can take it off without any fear of oil. Behind you will find the sproket, clutch pushrod and the gear change shaft that all have an oilseal that maybe leaking oil. You can only change the gear shaft oilseal as the others are clamped by the engine casing halves, but just above and behind the sprocket there is a 10mm nut with a copper washer that covers an oil feed to the gearbox that could become loose and leak oil(worth a look). The cover has no gasket so is an easy off/on, 5 hex pins and the gear linkage to be removed.

[PitterB4]

Chain and thermostat side - that's the stator cover, right?  Are you sure it's oil?  I've had a fuel leak at various places (carbs, petcock...) and when using the side stand, by the time it ran down over the greasy engine, it looked like oil.  Take a sniff next time to be sure.

[Mick77]

hmmm.. wonder if that's why I always smell like gas and exhaust.  That makes sense, I have noticed a little moisture around the petcock area... and thats easier than pulling off the cover, so I'll check that first.  If that's not it, at least I know where to go next.  Thank you both for your direction!

[Mick77]

ok...  :shrug:so either i'm out of oil, or my leak has taken the week off.  I'm thinking it was a combination of crud leaking from the airbox and a sweating petcock  since it hasn't repeated.