2006 vfr oil leak?

Hey all!
I just bought a 2006 vfr800 and I love it to death. Recently I've noticed a few drops of oil under her in the garage. Of course I had to tear off all the body panels and search for the source but here is where I need help...
It seems the oil is coming from the canister just to the left of the oil filter. Is this common? Any cause for concern or an easy fix? Please forgive my ignorance this is my first bike not made by the Flintstones. view from underneath (sorry it's such a bad picture)

 

might be the gas tank epa unit-remove and put in closet-it may be gas-oil

 

Are you sure it's not the oilfilter ?
Maybe a little leak from the oilcooler ?

 

Generally speaking, unless you get in there and do something to the bike, the 6th gen is not known for leaks. Mine, with 192,000 + km on it only has one minute leak from the right side that is not enough to even drip. Been that way for a couple years now and some day I will fix it. So, that would tend to lead one to believe it could be the filter as that is something that is, or should be replaced fairly regularly. That would increase the opportunity for a leak there.

Now that you have all the panels off, get in there and give it a good cleaning with a rag and some sort of de-greaser so that the surfaces are really clean and dry. Now you can run the bike for short distances at a time and find out exactly where the leak is from, or if need be, a longer ride to heat up the oil and take the right course of action to correct the leak.

I am leaning to agree with EpiEric in that it is likely the filter. The cheapest and easiest to check and fix. For starters anyways.

 

I hadn't even considered all of that! I will get it nice and clean and see what I can find. I only saw that the canister was soaked pretty good and assumed that was the issue.
Thank you all for ideas. Hopefully I'll have a chance tonight to tear into it further and fix this ocd-nagging drip!

 

Ya. I think unless you get it cleaned up first, you may have difficulties finding where that leak originates. Leaking oil like a water leak on your roof, can travel. Put the motion of the bike into that equation and this is even more so an issue.

 

a charcoal epa may also be the cause- check the three hoses-it will look like gas-oil drops-the oil filter could be loose too.

 

Spray down with Simple Green, then hose off. Use an old paint brush to scrub the SG for stubborn spots.

 

+1 on the oil filter.

I have heard of (but never experienced first-hand) leaks from K&N branded oil filters that appear to be unrelated to bad installation.

The oil filter should not be over-tightened as the thread is pretty soft; most mechanics just do them a firm hand-tight.

The evap cannister should only be dealing with fuel vapours so I would not have expected any liquid to accumulate/leak from there.

 

Sincere thanks to everyone! I have torn it apart, cleaned the area and rode it for about 10 miles.
It appears to be the filter.... And wouldn't you know it! A k&n haha. I'm going to change the oil and put a Honda filter back on it and hope it fixes the leak. Thank you all!

 

Be sure all is very very clean.

And you have to rub in the rubber ring with some motoroil (to prevent drying out the rubber)......



Glad you found it. Good luck !

 

You cant go wrong with a Honda filter but they are expensive. There are very good filters oit there far cheaper. I know some promote a Purolator filter. I don't know anything aboit those. I have been using Bosch for a few years now. There are two. The more expensive one is what I use
Super Improved, extra soft, sugar free one.

 

You can see the rubber o-ring squeezing out from behind filter!

 

I just wrote K&N about yet another leaking filter on my VFR. I'm done with them. At least for the VFR, I think I will still use them on the CBR track bike just for ease of safety wiring. And they don't leak on the CBR.

 

I just changed the filter to a pure onePL14610 and ran it about 50 miles with no leaks! I'm kind of sad though. I thought k&n made good products?! Oh well... Looks like I'll save $10 a filter and get them from AutoZone haha.

 

I'm glad......it is as Randy said: a vfr doesn't leak oil....

 

Glad you found it and got it fixed. Sleep well, fellow OCDer!

Related, but off topic, that's really a disappointment with those K&N filters. Honestly, I use to swear by them, but after all the bad publicity and continuous failures lately ain't no chance I'd use them.

I do run the Purolator Pure One or Napa Gold on my turbo V6, and I know those are good filters. I'm sure they work equally as well on a VFR.