R65 1981 Oil filter cover leaking

[NorR65]

I changed oil and filter a few weeks ago.
This was my first oil filter change.
Today I discovered that the oil filter cover is leaking.
I thought i replaced o-ring and shim correct.
From inside, shim first, then o-ring, paper gasket and cover.
What to do?
Wait for the leak to fix itself? Take of the cover and have a look for damaged o-ring? I do need the shim, it protect the O-ring, does it not?
But I do not need the paper gasket, am I right?

[Barry]

I thought i replaced o-ring and shim correct.
From inside, shim first, then o-ring, paper gasket and cover.
What to do?
Wait for the leak to fix itself? Take of the cover and have a look for damaged o-ring? I do need the shim, it protect the O-ring, does it not?
But I do not need the paper gasket, am I right?  

This can get a bit complicated. The cover gasket is absolutely not there to prevent oil leaking out as there should be no oil on the other side of it if the O ring is doing it's job. You have everything in the correct order but a leak at the cover must mean that oil is getting past the O ring so it isn't sealing properly. This is not something to be ignored as it will be reducing your oil pressure.

Yes you must use a shim to protect the O ring from the end of the filter tube but as you say the cover gasket may or may not be required depending on the depth of the filter tube. The idea is that there must be some compression of the O ring for it to seal. To decide if the gasket is required there really is no alternative to gaining an understanding of the whole "2000$ O ring issue"  A search will find you lots of detailed info and this is probably the best place to start. http://www.largiader.com/tech/filters/canister.html

[Bob_Roller]

First, whatever you do, don't over tighten the three bolts that hold the cover on, you can strip the threads quite easily .

I would pull the filter out and check everything out .

The metal shim goes in first, put the o-ring on the cover and then the paper gasket on the cover itself .

Did you use an OEM filter, or was it aftermarket ?

Had another thought about this, the current filters have seals incorporated into the filter itself .

When the bikes originally came out, you had to put an o-ring on the tube that goes inside of the filter .

When you take it apart again, remove the filter and check to see if there may still be an old o-ring still in there, probably not, but you never know !!!!!

[NorR65]

Thanks Barry and Bob
I have read the largiader site. The oil filter change is a bit complicated.
In my R65 Riders handbook it seems less complicated.
One thing I did not think about trying was to tighten the cover bolts.
I bought an OEM filter kit from Motobins, I think it was a Mahle filter.
The old filter left a black square O-ring on the pipe, in the bottom of the canister but I managed to remove it before I installed the new filter.
Only one thing to do, empty oil, pull the filter out, check everything and measure length of the canister.

[Barry]

Only one thing to do, empty oil, pull the filter out, check everything and measure length of the canister.

The filter sits above the oil level in the sump so you don't have to drain the oil. With the bike leaning well over on the side stand (Ideally with couple of 1" planks under the wheels) you can remove the filter cover and lose only a very little oil from the filter tube. I've done this a couple of times after a filter change to check all is well.

[NorR65]

Perfect.
Then it is a lot easier to check the filter tomorrow.
What should I have done without this forum?

[Mike V]

Nor,

Here's a snip from a previous thread we had going a year or so ago titled "Crushed Oil Filter".  You may want to do a search to find it if you have some time to read.  Lots of the guys here have great information but the combined consensus on this subject is; even though it's a bit of a drag to do the math and measuring - it's worth it and can save you catastrophic results.  And, you only need to measure your canister once every few years - it shouldn't move.  My personal preference is Oak's 10-25% compression formula.  You can choose any method you want but it's important you understand the procedure for your own safety.  If you don't understand, please don't be afraid to post more questions - any of us here will walk you through it.  Below is a portion of the thread and my attempt to simplify the formula.

-Mike V.

I wanted to share Oak's percentage formula with all those who aren't aware of it.  It's a pretty simple formula based on a target 10% to 25% O-ring compression. From an old Airmail Airtech article titled "$2000 O-Ring Revisited - Critical Installation Criteria". Oak's formula works well for me and is nice and simple when you wrap your head around it.
Basically...
O-ring + shim - cover gasket (if used) - measured canister depth / O-ring x 100 = % O-ring Compression. Target is 10 % to 25%.

Here's my numbers plugged in from my 81 R65,
4.0 + 0.3 -3.6 / 4.0 x 100 = 17.5% (no cover gasket used)

Constants:
O-ring = 4.0 mm
Shim = 0.3 mm
Cover Gasket = 0.5 mm

As Oak states in the article "if less than 10% or more than 25% adjustments are needed. Different trials can be made with more shims or the use of the cover gasket.

As a reminder; always use a precision depth gauge when measuring your cannister depth and a good idea to check your new shim, gasket and O-ring thickness as I learned to do thanks to Barry. A check with new filter parts in the box revealed the above values to be in conformance with my measurements.

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

You may want to do a search to find it if you have some time to read.

Here is the thread.  Mike's post is on page 3.

http://www.bmwr65.org/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1269110468/0

[Julio A.]

I had an oil filter change and had the same problem, the oil was getting past the o-ring and was leaking from the cover. Since I did the proper procedure and layout of parts, which was filter-shim-oring-gasket, I just concluded that there was not enough pressure to make the $1000 O-ring seal properly.

I simply added another shim and all my oil filter problems went away.  

[NorR65]

Problem solved, I hope.
No leak.
Canister was 3,5 mm deep.
I removed the gasket and got more pressure on the O-ring.
I got 20% O-ring compression when I used the formula Mike V presented.
Thanks for Your help.

[Justin B.]

Every leaky cover issue I've had was cured by removing the paper gasket!  

[tvrla]

LOL

Seems contradictory, doesn't it?

[Julio A.]

Ironic.