Oil Sprayed Down Side of Spyder

[1SpyderGal]

Hi, I was riding to meet some friends and when I pulled up my 2014 Spyder RTSE was smoking and had oil sprayed all down the side of the body pannels. I checked the oil that morning before I rode and it was at the Maximum Mark. I had one of my riding friends drive their bike back home and bring their truck and trailer to tow my Spyder home, It's sitting in my garage. We looked underneath and the oil is comming out from behind the body pannels but we couldn't see exactly where it's starting from. Do any of you have any idea what could be wrong and have any suggestions? I'm terrified that this is going to be a major repair and costly. I only have 8,132 miles on it so I really don't understand why anything major would go wrong so soon. My Spyder has always used up more oil than any two wheel motorcycle I've owned. I've always had to add some oil after a 100+ mile ride. I have never put more oil in than needed in any motorcycle or car I've owned so even though I know it's possible, it just isn't likely. What's my next step and what do you all think?

[Chupaca]

Not knowing what model or year spyder we are talking about it's hard to say...Assuming you measure the level according to the manual we can say it is not overfilled. If it is full cold the level is way off. If overfilled it can blow out the airblox all over the place. This would be the simple one. The other could be a blown head gasket less likely. There were some models early on the 1330 with a case bolt leaking oil but you would have noticed that by now. Without pulling the panels cleaning it up and running it if no leak visable it is hard to say. If no warning lights came on and no change in performance or sound it is safe to say no major damage has occured. Have it checked out....

[SpyderAnn01]

If you have had to add oil to your 14 RT you must have issues. In 123,000 miles on my 14 RT I added a few ounces one time! Are you checking the oil per tge Owners Manual instructions? If you are checking the oil lrvel with a cold engine you have added too much oil.

[SpyderAnn01]

I can’t imagine how much oil you’ve added if you have added oil every 100 miles, I think you probably have added at least 1 quart too many.

[ARtraveler]

Recommend double checking the oil check and add procedures per the manual (if not already doing it that way).

1330's should NOT use any oil. If its overfilled--its going to come out someplace.

If none of the above--time for the dealer to look at it.

Let us know what happens.

[JayBros]

Gene, Ann and akspyderman have covered the waterfront. A more important question, did you fully seat and completely screw the dipstick back into the tube? If yes, and if you're adding oil frequently to a 1330 engine, you've a serious problem.

[1SpyderGal]

After reading many of the oil leaking posts on here I've realized that my checking the oil after running the engine five minutes just isn't getting the engine hot enough to get an accurate reading. Also, I have always filled the oil to the Max line and I've read that I should keep it at the Low or Mid line. Therefor, I have probably over filled my Spyder with oil causing it to overflow out the air box and all over the side of my Spyder. I will let it run an hour in the driveway and check the oil level before I ride it to the shop with my spouse following behind me just in case I break down. I will have them double check everything, clean all the oil from the air box and replace the filter. Hopefully that is all that is wrong. I have never had it leak oil in my garage. She does use a little bit of oil on longer rides and sometimes there's a burning smell when I get home from riding. Apparently all this is probably caused by my using too much oil. Hopefully that's all that's wrong and I haven't done any permanent damage. Neither my spouse nor I are very mechanically inclined so this is a learning experience. I am grateful that this forum exists so I can learn. Thanks for your help.

Recommend double checking the oil check and add procedures per the manual (if not already doing it that way).

1330's should NOT use any oil. If its overfilled--its going to come out someplace.

If none of the above--time for the dealer to look at it.

Let us know what happens.

[spyderyderjim]

Hi, I was riding to meet some friends and when I pulled up my 2014 Spyder RTSE was smoking and had oil sprayed all down the side of the body pannels. I checked the oil that morning before I rode and it was at the Maximum Mark. I had one of my riding friends drive their bike back home and bring their truck and trailer to tow my Spyder home, It's sitting in my garage. We looked underneath and the oil is comming out from behind the body pannels but we couldn't see exactly where it's starting from. Do any of you have any idea what could be wrong and have any suggestions? I'm terrified that this is going to be a major repair and costly. I only have 8,132 miles on it so I really don't understand why anything major would go wrong so soon. My Spyder has always used up more oil than any two wheel motorcycle I've owned. I've always had to add some oil after a 100+ mile ride. I have never put more oil in than needed in any motorcycle or car I've owned so even though I know it's possible, it just isn't likely. What's my next step and what do you all think?

Your service dealer can replace with a new loctited set screw on bottom right underneath engine/trans, (covered by recall warranty 2014).
My 2014 RTSE had oil all over right side/underneath panels leaking onto muffler with huge cloud of smoke on 1st ride home from dealer in Arizona in January 2014!!!
Oil set screw was replaced with new one & loctited, no leak after that.
It may be possible that your 2014 RTE oil leak is from that set screw (which leaked from early production 2014 RTSE 1330cc engines), worth checking with dealer.
As many others have said the 1330cc in line triple engines do NOT use oil.
(only other thing could be overfilled with oil, 1330cc engines only hold 5qts of oil, overfilling can cause oil pushing out dipstick hole).
(Let us know what dealer finds wrong, thanks).
Hope this info/what I experienced in Jan 2014 helps.
Jim

[1SpyderGal]

I will post on here what happened once I've had the mechanics check it out

Your service dealer can replace with a new loctited set screw on bottom right underneath engine/trans, (covered by recall warranty 2014).
My 2014 RTSE had oil all over right side/underneath panels leaking onto muffler with huge cloud of smoke on 1st ride home from dealer in Arizona in January 2014!!!
Oil set screw was replaced with new one & loctited, no leak after that.
It may be possible that your 2014 RTE oil leak is from that set screw (which leaked from early production 2014 RTSE 1330cc engines), worth checking with dealer.
As many others have said the 1330cc in line triple engines do NOT use oil.
(only other thing could be overfilled with oil, 1330cc engines only hold 5qts of oil, overfilling can cause oil pushing out dipstick hole).
(Let us know what dealer finds wrong, thanks).
Hope this info/what I experienced in Jan 2014 helps.
Jim

[SteveLaoyster]

If you just over filled your tryke then everything should be okay. But someone has a mess to clean up.

[Tbachli]

What is the verdict?

[Leadfoot]

SpiderGal, any chance you were doing 'track day' turns on that ride?

Yesterday I did first ride on my Ryker (Rally), very conservatively, home from dealer (65 miles, mostly interstate) and didn't have any problems. Near my house there is an open area where it's safe to practice handling. I worked up to at or near the cornering limits then did about 5 minutes of constant turns near the limit in both directions to learn the bike. Didn't notice anything wrong until I parked and shut down and that's when I was surrounded by burning oil smoke. It was cooking off the muffler and dripping off the bottom of the bike. I couldn't tell where the oil was coming from but it looks like somewhere at the top left side of the engine. I checked the oil level and it read very low but I hadn't read the manual and didn't do it properly, added oil to bring it up to max, read the manual, checked again, over full now so drained oil into clean pan then refilled and checked level using proper procedure. So I really don't have any idea how much oil was lost. If I had to guess, I'd say the oil was probably coming from the crankcase vent. Maybe these 900 ACE engines weren't made to take lateral Gs? IDK.

Dealer recommended not to ride and picked it up this morning to check it out. I'll post when I hear something.