ty, looking into fixing leak, I have the 'plug'  , of course parts guy at dealer, only asks if i need anything else,, figured he'd recommend   the 6 for the bolts... 'time to buy parts elsewhere' !!!

any savage /s40 can get leak, at any miles from what i've seen, bullet proof bike, easy to work on . I've had a 2009 s40 with 34640 miles , had leak, just rode it and sold it after 9 years of riding it ,  and recently had my 02 savage leak sealed at dealer, and which lost the exhaust valve a few weeks later, had bike since 2018 had 31260 miles, just sold whole as is for 100 bucks #noRegrets

This is on my 2003 LS650. Started blowing oil into air filter. (lots of oil) Pulled valve cover to find the notorious Plug/Cap. Valve cover was full of oil. Is there a way to tell if cap is bad by looking? How do you remove it? Just pry it out? Just looking it does not appear to be unseated or cracked.

Thanks for the quick response. A little history. Bike had set for a couple of years. It turned over ok so added gas, charged battery and it started right up. Idled for several minutes and then rode it. About a mile down the road started smelling oil. By time got it back to garage had oil running out of the air filter box and all down left side of engine. Hoping to find a cracked or leaking oil cap. I hope it does not have broken piston ring. Do you know if I can get to piston without removing engine from bike.

What is the dang purpose of this stupid plug?  It reminds me of a freeze plug.  I noticed mine is leaking today.  I really don’t feel up to the task.  I’ll probably screw something up.  Argh.

For those who are going to go in a replace their plug I have a couple suggestions that were helpful to me.

-  Read this thread real thoroughly twice.
-  Go ahead and get Verslagen1's upgraded plug, it is far superior to the  
-  oem.
-  Remember to put it in TDC.  
-  Print out the diagram of the bolt locations and put it on a shoe box.
-  Spray carburetor cleaner on a rag then clean parts appropriately.
-  Like Dave said, use a real thin bead of gasket maker / rtv.  I didn't use
  a syringe, I used the smallest portion of the 3bond applicator.  
-  Watch that one bolt that holds the valve cover on the left side when -
  sitting on the bike.  
-  Take your time.............


Best regards,

I have a bit of oil smoke coming out between the top of the engine and the gas tank - I assume its the plug leaking. I don't see any oil leaking out of the engine, so it must be a very minor leak.

If the plug is leaking but the valve cover is sealed properly, the oil shouldn't escape?