I picked up a new to me '02 with 8,300 miles on the clock.  I noticed I have some oil leaking from the top of the engine and was looking for some advice as to what may be the cause.  I've done lots of digging and reading on here and determined it's not coming from the "plug" that seems to fail often.  It appears there is oil leaking out around this stud on the front of the engine under the exhaust pipe. There was a drip hanging from the stud/nut that I wiped off before taking the picture.


Also I have oil coming from somewhere up top  that is working it's way down, eventually to the fins on the left side.

I'm speculating that this one is coming from the valve adjustment inspection covers.  but I won't know until I can dig further into it.  

So to all those who are fare more familiar with this bike, does the above look familiar?  if so what was the cause and fix?  

More noob questions:  other than keeping the head bolts properly torqued and looking after the cam chain tensioner, Is their anything else I need to do to keep her running besides the obvious routine maintenance?

LOL no bet lost     I play nice.  I think you're the first to notice since I registered almost 5 years ago.  Granted I've only made slightly more than 1 post/year.  I don't mind changing it if need be.

Good point about the oil filter.  I've seen posts about the oil filter.  It looks similar if not the same as my first bike which was a GZ250.  So I should avoid that problem.    
 
Thanks for the good advice!  Glad to hear the stud leak likely isn't an indication of something bad.  I have some "Right Stuff" RTV gasket goo that works better than anything else I've used.  Should seal up those studs if snugging down the nuts doesn't do the job.  

As for the other leak I am certain it's not the head plug. I was sure that was the source but I found the plug completely free of oil.  The valve adjust covers are the only other thing I could think of.  I guess I should have asked if there is somewhere else up there that would make sense for the oil to leak like the decompression thingie.  I'll replace the gasket on the covers and see if that fixes it.

I couldn't remember what needed tightening up top every so often, my memory fails me as I was thinking it was the head bolts but I was probably remembering the exhaust as u suggested.

I plan to make my own Versy modded cam tensioner.  I just need to find out when my friend will allow me to use his mill for the slot.  

I am not sold on ditching the vacuum actuated petcock.  I love them on my other bikes.  Besides I'm forgetful and lazy and I'd almost always forget to turn it off after riding and if I do remember to turn it off, then I'd wonder why I stall after 20 yards because I forgot to turn it back on.  I just rebuilt one valve that finally started to fail after 20 years.  They're very easy to rebuild.  Is there something different about the Savage's petcock that I am missing?  

The stud and nut that is located at the direct front of the engine sometimes leaks.  Take the nut off, clean up the area and nut, put a little sealer on it, then put the nut back on and tighten it up.

When you decide to tighten up those little 6mm studs on the head cover, the ones that take a 10mm wrench.....easy does it.  Those are small bolt and easily stripped out of the soft aluminum head.  The studs that intercept oil cavities have sealing washers on them.....consult your manual, the tech section or an online parts diagram to see which ones are supposed to have sealing washers.

I never touched the head bolts, bought new in 05, sold it w/ 20,000 miles. No p[roblems,I cant think of any engine that needs the head retorqued,

I've got 2 spare vacuum petcocks in the junk bin. PM me your address once you have enough posts to use that site feature. My 2003 runs a Raptor petcock, the 1998 has a generic 3/8 pipe or metric equivalent petcock. No need for the vac suckers... have plenty of other fishing weights (like old sparkplugs).

Yes, I guess I do have the benefit of experience  

Here's a test I do... push the plunger completely in, hold the ratchet in and let the plunger snap out against the pin.  If it stays put it's fine.

Not really.  you can get little bits from various threads about it's development.  Essentially you don't want the plunger to extend more than about 18mm.  So drill a hole in the plunger for a roll pin and cut a slot so that the roll pin will prevent greater than 18mm extension.  The second half is to weld a tab for the second hole.  I spaced it 12mm instead of 18mm because I'm fairly certain the cam chain insides would contact each other if  the tensioner extended an additional 18mm.

I think you can get the verslavy mod done to your tension for about $70. In hind sight $70 seems like a bargain now that I know how much work is involved.  If you can't figure it out from my description above and browsing the threads on it, put in some extra hours at work to get the $70 and have it professionally done!

The hardest part for me was drilling a hole in the hardened steel plunger for a roll pin.  Using a drill press I went thru about $15-$20 in cobalt drill bits before I completed the hole.  I kept pressing too hard and snapping the bits.  I don't see how you could possibly do this without a drill press.

wickedbiker wrote on 05/05/14 at 19:00:36:
 I'm not trying to talk you out of it I was just making the point that it's a lot more difficult than it seems for the average shade tree mechanic.  If I were to spread that $70 over the hours I spent working on this it'd be well below minimum wage.  since there are no measure here and cut instructions, I started by cutting a hole close to the edge for the pin.  Then I had the initial slot cut for me intentionally short(friend with a milling machine).  I then enlarged a little at a time with my drill press until the plunger would just stick out 18+mm.  I also forgot to mention that the drill bits I broke were brand new sharp cobalt bits that I kept well lubed to prevent overheating.  If someone knows an easier way to cut holes in hardened steel I'm all ears.  I almost gave up on trying to drill the hole and was going to look for a local machine shop to do it for me.