Got a call from the shop the other day, my rear brake plate was in to hold the slider pins in place. I had just changed my oil too and it was a pretty nice day for a ride. So off I go.. I'm about 10 minutes away from my house at a red light and stop to put my foot down. It was pretty slippery so I looked down to find a little bit of oil on the ground and on my boot and jeans. I thought it was water at first, until I realized that my OIL CAP WAS NO LONGER ON MY BIKE. I had been spraying oil all up the side of my bike and the road for the last mile or two. Checked the oil light, no light. Not sure if it is a pressure indicator (which with no oil cap, there would be no pressure) or a level indicator, I contemplated shutting her down and getting a ride somehow back to my house. Decided to try to ride her home, made it back safely, and ordered a new oil cap. I must have not tightened it enough and it twisted off and fell while riding. Thanks to Jesus that I didn't rev her up at all because of the slow traffic and lose more oil without me knowing it. This is a testament to pre-ride checklisting. I'm definitely going to be more thorough in my from now on... -Klos
:doh::doh::doh: Sorry to hear you've been taking advice from BP. At least now you have an excuse to get the bike squeaky clean right! On a side note, leaving the cap off will only vent CRANKCASE pressure, not oil pressure. The oil pressure light would have come on once you made enough turns to dump most or all the oil out of the bike, or rode long enough to sling it all over. Live and learn, glad nothing really bad happened!!
I've done similar. On my Shadow I checked the valves, finished up for the night, and parked it for the evening. The next day I went out to go do some riding and got to my destination. Noticed my right leg was covered in a film of oil and so was the right side of the bike. Didn't know how much oil I had lost and didn't want to ride it home so I called my dad to come with the truck. I parked it in the barn and noticed that one of the rear valve cover bolts was backed all the way out and thats where it was leaking oil. Tightened things back down, topped off the oil, and never had a problem again. We can all miss the simple things and it is bound to happen from time to time. It is just good that we can catch such things before they cause major problems to our bikes and/or injury to ourselves.
