oil leak left cylinder filler cap?

[Jon]

2000 R1100RT, 38000miles on the clock.. I just returned from a short steady speed ride of about 3 hours. There was oil spray on the left saddle bag and oil stains on the cylinder. I topped up the sight glass with about 3 ounces to bring the cold level to almost the top of the glass. Was oil leaking from the filler cap? should I replace the O ring or get a metal after market replacement?:scratch

[Jon]

I looked up an old thread, filler plug looks to be the problem. easy fix. happy Flag Day:usa

[jossblom]

Agree, your filler cap O-ring is toast. Also, should you be filling it up to the top of the sight glass??:banghead

[bikerfish1100]

.... should you be filling it up to the top of the sight glass??:banghead

NO, you should not, and neither should Jon.
middle of the sight glass is best. more you put in, more it will blow out until it reaches its "correct" level.

[Jon]

Thanks, if you picture the sight glass as a clock, I like to keep the level no higher then a line across 11-1 and not falling lower than 9-3

[bikerfish1100]

of course, as with all/most things, you can do it however you choose to, it's your bike. however, my suggestion would be to drop you're sights down a bit Jon.
"no lower than" should be "yup, i can see oil in there" (5-7) and "no higher than" should be more like 2-10. in fact, "okay" has been frequently defined as "i can see oil in the glass when the bike is on the sidestand" (this prevents up from feeling the desperate need to get oil into a motor when we're in the middle of EBF, and don't have an appropriate grade/wieght to use, but do so anyway because we're convinced that we're jsut miles away from a bone dry sump).
it is very well documented that oilheads have a strong tendency to burn/use/dispense with excess oil, which is the stuff up near the top of the window.

best level is about 60-70% of window filled, checked correctly on c-stand (do a search if you're not totally sure how to correctly check oil level)

[Jon]

Thank you good points, I will work your system

[brewmeister]

:bradI also had some oil leakage to the rear of the oil filler plug side,it turned out to be the o-ring seal behind the cam-shaft cover,,a 83 cent o-ring fix .I got off easy!:brad