Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Oil Leak at clutch actuator/lever on top of case

This past weekend I ran into a bit of a pickle on my 07 Bonnie to where it started spewing oil like an erupting volcano from the clutch actuator/lever on top of the clutch case. I didnt lose a ton of oil, but enough to make a good mess and to tell me there's definitely something not right here...ha.

I noticed there is a black seal/washer of sorts under the ugly aluminum actuator/lever that looked to be raised, so i pushed that down via two flat head screw drivers to see if that would reseat things. This was last night so it was too late to start her up and see if the oil leak still happens. But I also noticed movement with the actuator/lever to where i can move it up and down about a 1/4 inch or so. I've never messed with this before, so im not sure if this movement is normal or if it was there prior to this dilemma.
From what I can tell, the crankcase breather is clear and there was just a tiny smidgen of oil in my air box underneath my K&N filter. Filter is clean, too (just did the K&N Filter w/ drilling it and the air box last september. Not sure if this info helps or not.

I can say that riding home was fine (rode straight home once I noticed this) but was about 20 miles out by this time. There were no issues with getting in/out of any gears at all at any point and oil level seems to be ok still.

All in all, has anyone experienced this with their bike and can you tell me what i might be in for? I am gonna start going through the interwebs to get an idea on things further. My Haynes manual doesnt seem to help much in this particular situation, and just thought I'd bring it up here to see what you guys might think.


Thanks in advance for any info/help on this!

Jay Holden

Most seals seem to fail because the shaft that is to be sealed has developed excessive (beyond spec) runout. A little exploratory looksee inside the case may be indicated, IMO. Get your new gasket enroute first, if you decide to go with that. I have found that a very light smear of non metallic (bearing friendly) anti-sieze on both sides of the gasket will enable you to crack the case in the future without having to buy a new one every time you have to pull it apart. I also use a torque wrench to impart an even load for the proper seal. Never had a problem with a drip.

Yeah it looks like cracking her open is the only real viable option, i guess.

What sucks with that is i want to go from a black to silver clutch cover and dont feel like doing this all again once i finally find one. But, sometimes these cookies... they crumble...ha

Thanks, Ryk

Ive not looked at the manual but 1/4" vertical play is way too much for an actuator arm to be floating. You may find a bigger problem when you pull the side cover.