For whatever reason, my float bowls are filling with oil and gas. Since this is not a 2 stroke, I assume this is bad. From what I've found so far, on un-related engines, this typically means the head gasket has gone plooey. My issue is that oil seems to be coming from the gasket at the base of the cylinders. Is this something common? Which gasket is it? I think I hurt my own brain trying to figure it out, and there don't seem to be any topics (that I've seen) covering this. Can anyone give me some insight?

 

could also look into valve adjustment, I know this can also cause oil from the motor to blow back to the carbs

 

What would I be looking for in the valves, as I have no idea whether it would be too much or too little clearance, intake or exhaust etc...

 

You'll need a shop manual to find out the clearance specs for your valves. There are plenty of download links posted on the forum.

Beyond that it'd be just tearing into them, measuring everything and then seeing how far from spec you are. There are also some good How Tos on doing a clearance check / valve adjustment here as well.

I think a more telling sign of a blown head gasket would be coolant in your oil. Take and drain enough out of the pan to inspect it. Beyond that I'd hope you'd mention if the bike has been laid down. That'll get oil... well, everywhere

 

also in a blown head gasket there will be a bit of oil in the coolant as well in most cases. be sure you dont get in over your head in the valve adjustment this is one part of the bike you want to get right too loose and it will run like crap, too tight and you risk a piston hitting one.

 

Thanks guys! The bike has been laid down in the past but not recently. It ran fine until this happened. I will check the oil for coolant and the coolant for oil lol. And I know when I'm in too deep and if I feel that way at any point I will be taking it to a shop. I have good working mechanical knowledge and have worked on plenty of engines so I think I will be ok as long as I take it slow. Again thanks a bunch!

 

From what I understand, gravity is a pretty sure thing. I can't imagine oil from the base of the cylinders traveling up into the carburetors. The oil you're seeing is probably from the previous spill. Once the oil is there, there is no real reason for it to leave. There aren't any connections between the oil system and your carburetors. There are vent hoses from the crankcase to the airbox. Oil vapor could be coming in there if you had some major engine problem causing excessive crankcase pressure.

A drain and flush of your coolant and a good carburetor cleaning will probably get you back on the road in short order. Take the opportunity to clean the exterior of you engine while the carbs are off. Plug the intake ports to make sure nothing gets in there.