Suspected timing shaft oil seal leak

[yellowfever]

So I’ve had a small subtle oil leak for much of the summer that I’ve been doing my best to ignore whilst I enjoy riding. I’ve limited myself to some regular cleaning and checking after rides to try to trace it/avoid too much oil getting where it shouldn’t. It is getting a bit worse so I can’t really put it off any longer.

I thought it was from the oil line(s) originally, as there was oil around there and further back down clutch side case (where it would logically get blown when riding). After investigating I realised the oil lines had been reversed in error by a pro mechanic way back in 2014 and never noticed by any pros since nor myself until now. This made the clutch side oil line very tight/under strain and of course it can also get disturbed at belt changes. So the idea it may have started leaking from where it connects to the engine seemed plausible.

I’m happy to say that, apart from the unfortunate strain on the shorter oil line, no real issues caused by this error as the oil cooler is not one way flow so swapping feed and return over by mistake makes no difference to cooling. I will however be rectifying this given strain line has been under and also for cosmetic reasons swapping to a longer line from a Hypermotard so I can route both lines past the starter motor and up the alternator side.