I've noticed that my oily mess is emanating from above the head gasket.  How will I be able to discover its source?  Suppose I'll have to remove my fuel tank again?  Thank you!

The repair always starts with a good cleaning.

Leaky areas can include the left front cylinder stud, any of the smaller head cap bolts that have sealing washers on them (don't overtighten those small bolts or you will strip the threads out of the head....it is better to take these screws out and clean and apply a sealer than it is to try and crank them down tighter).  The RTV sealant between the head cap and head can also fail, and this requires removal of the head cap and cleaning out the old sealer, and applying new sealer.

You can remove the vent tube at the top of the cylinder, and pressurize the crankcase to about 5psi....then spray soapy water on the engine and looks for bubbles.

Oily mess on head:


Air/soap test revealed a leak a the sealer on the head cap.





Here is a link to the air test thread posted by Verslagen:
http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1335737953