[nichon16]

Hey people, just purchased a used Suzuki VZ1600, which as you know is basically a meanstreak.
Hoping someone can help me out! Thanks in advance.

Love the bike but now ran into an issue I am hoping is not too alarming:

There is significant oil leak coming from the rear right-side cylinder spark plug, I first noticed as smoke came up while I was at a stop sign, basically indicating some oil was burning on my engine, then I lost some power and RPMs dropped at idle, I still made it home, but confirmed there is oil leaking from there.

I had pulled the spark plugs the day before after purchasing the bike and doing my maintenance overhaul, I am not an expert especially when it comes to the engine but I do all the the work on my bikes myself. There was teflon taped on all of the spark plug threads, so I took that out as I think it's a terrible idea. Now I'm wondering if a previous owner had put that to prevent oil leaking.

However the electrode is not wet with oil but the whole spark plug sleeve socket is, and of course the spark plug threads and all the rest of it. I think there are also small shards of metal on the plug threads which could be bad news.

Could this be due to the spark plug sleeve not sealing properly? Or do you think oil is coming in from the electrode side which I think would indicate a bigger problem?

I will try to remove the spark plug sleeve as soon as possible but I need to fin M18 nut and bolt to have the 27mm outer diameter nut to create a tool to do so... this size is not easy to find.

 

[CRU]

Sounds like your cam chain has stretched and rubbed a hole into the sparkplug tube. The links will explain it all.

Tensioner Extenders

Sparkplug Tube Tool

 

[nichon16]

Thanks for the quick answer! That does make a lot of sense. Anything I should do to try to catch metal shards that are probably now in my oil before starting it up again after the fix? Maybe pushing a magnetic rod in the spark plug hole and around?

I suppose an oil change would be a good idea also... looking at the oil level in the window I don't even think I can see any oil in there so it's probably too low.

 

[CRU]

The chain has been slowly grinding that tube away for a while now. The oil filter should've caught most of the metal shavings. Anything you do now probably won't make a significant difference. An oil change is a good idea though. It's cheap insurance.

 

[nichon16]

Thanks again! It's prime riding season so I went today to buy the material to create the plug sleeve removal tool, I got them both off, however to my surprise they were not really that damaged! Just small scratches (see first picture). I'll still do the extender fix obviously, parts already ordered. I do believe I see the chain right there though (see second picture).

But what I'm thinking is that the leak around the plug may just have been caused by a leak in the o-rings on the plug sleeve, which I have ordered as well. Especially since there was teflon tape around the threads of the plug sleeve also which makes me think there a previous owner somewhere that had tried to half-*** fix it.

I have ANOTHER question if someone can help! I noticed on my front left spark plug, there is a hole directly under where the spark plug goes that I have circled in red (see third picture). Is this normal, I have not seen this before on another motorcycle?? It's really a hole not just a surface scratch. This was not even the spark plug that was leaking oil that one had no leak.

 

[CRU]

Glad it wasn't as bad as it could've been. As for the hole, that's a new one to me as well. This forum is dead when it comes Mean Streak stuff. You'll get more traffic if you head over to vulcanforums.com. It's a sister site to this one that revolves around the Vulcan cruiser line. Best of luck.

 

[Ozninjaguy]

I have ANOTHER question if someone can help! I noticed on my front left spark plug, there is a hole directly under where the spark plug goes that I have circled in red (see third picture). Is this normal, I have not seen this before on another motorcycle??

I don't have your model bike but since the plug is recessed deep in the head, I'm guessing that is a drain hole for water which might get past the plug cap.

 

[nichon16]

That seems to be the consensus with everyone I checked this with, thanks for your input Ozninjaguy!

 

[allvaromm]

I bought a new radiator at Outlet das Peças and only then managed to solve this problem. I tried everything, but I had to change the whole piece.

Note: I live in Brazil