I had some oil on the SE air cleaner backing plate and figured it was an o-ring or something. When I pulled the plate I noticed both bolts were loose and there was only half an o-ring at the front cylinder head.

Then I noticed the threads in the front cylinder head were gone. I assume it was from the bolt vibrating and wollowing out the threads. I had to put in a helicoil.

Moral of the story is to check your breather bolts if you have any seepage on your backing plate.

 

Interesting situation. Your advice is good but could be expanded to say "keep an eye on ALL the bolts on your bike". They do seem to come loose if not properly tightened in the first place, and even then sometime they come loose.

 

At least these newer rides are not as bad as the Panheads or Knuckles, we used to have to stop every fifty miles to reattach and tighten most everything!!

 

My old shovel used to have something vibrate loose or fall off on any long trip. Now I use torque wrenches.

 

Just did the air cleaner before the fluid changes, and when I pulled off the cover, 2 of the 3 screws holding the filter on fell out and were between the filter and cover. I have had oil coming out of the air cleaner after I noticed oil spots on the rear cylinder exhaust cover. I remember when I put the new filter on I did not put blue locktight on the screws.... we'll see if that helps.

 

I use blue loc-tite on almost all bolts.

 

Thought I did, as that is SOP here, but can't say for sure since it was 4.5 years ago when I installed them.