Changed the oil and filter in my 2011 XL1200C (25000 miles.) last weekend. (10 days ago.) Started noticing oil on the garage floor. First thought I had just gotten sloppy while changing the oil. Double checked the filter and drain plug. Both showed no evidence of a leak. Put down fresh paper towels and still getting oil dripping.

This weekend I had time to pull the right side cover off and noticed the bottom most hose attached to the oil tank showed evidence of a leak. The oil seems to travel down the line and then drip on what I think is the oil pump housing and then on down to the ground strap, on to a component of the brake system(?) and then on to the ground or around to the primary drain plug and then the ground. (Primary drain plug is tight, no leaks.)

However, I can't determine why it is leaking. The lower hose seems to be connected tightly (with HD band clamp) and I can't detect a hole in the line. Could it be that I inadvertently overfilled the tank and it is coming out the top and flowing down? I filled it with 2.8 qts and it came to the top fill mark on the dip stick. Usually I only fill it to the half-way point.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Doug

 

Clean and degrease everything. Then leave it sitting and check. This will make tracking the leak much easier.

 

 

Gave it a thorough cleaning yesterday and put fresh paper towels under it. Will check it at lunch.

 

 

 

 

Weird. I have used the K&N filter for the last two oil changes with no issue. Im not saying the problem doesn't exist but am curious how many riders/bike have been affected by using a different oil filter than stock.

 

Replied to your comment in the other thread. Thanks.

Looks like mine is leaking from the drain tube. Oil flows down the exterior of the tube and collect on top of the engine case where it touches it before dropping on down to underneath the engine. There is no oil dripping off the lower end of the drain tube. This should be any easy fix to replace the drain tube.

I am assuming I pulled it loose during a change when I tugged on it to get a better angle on the band clamp. My bad.

Thanks again. Much appreciated.

 

There was about 3 our 4 of us not to long ago that had the same problem. All were leaking from that bottom drain line coming off of the oil tank.I was changing the oil anyway so when I had the tank empty I changed out the hose.I'm using a K&N filter and have no issues with that. If you're going to drain the oil to check it out, I'd check that hose before you pull the filter off and have to replace that for no reason.