Pushrod tube & Seals

[rwait]

After running many miles with what I thought were weeping pushrod seals, today I think I found the issue of the oil drips on my left boot.  I had the R65 up on a lift recently to ease the replacement of my rear tire.  Once off the lift, I was warming up the bike on the side stand and saw a puddle of oil forming under the left side.  Damn...what happened?!  

It appears that the pushrod tube for the intake valve on the left side was moving back and forth, causing the pushrod seal not to make contact with the engine case.  Hmm...what to do?  As a short term fix, I levered the pushrod tube and seal up close to the engine casing and put two small hose clamps around the tube at the other end, up tight to the cylinder.  This seems to have stopped the tube from moving back and forth and the seal is tight and not leaking.

Anyone else ever have a similar issue?  

[Bob_Roller]

I've heard of doing this, I guess the tubes can come loose over time, not a real common problem though !!!

[Julio A.]

I've been doing this for the past two years. Although it prevents the oil "misting" all over my boot, it still occasionally weeps.

I've been planning to replace those tubes but they are a pain to get to.

[tvrla]

Normally they're a very tight fit in the head. I didn't know they could loosen up like that. Hopefully the tube is undersize, otherwise it's going to take some 'creative mechanics' to repair.

And it's not a big deal pulling the head to repair, although your solution seems sound as a stop-gap measure.