Points taken on the K&N and zero offense taken. In fact, thank you for taking the time to type it all out.
I clean, air dry (usually overnight), and spray the aerosol from a distance. I know these things don't need a lot. Whenever I go into an engine part, I use white paper towels to see what color any residue/dirt/fluid is and a sniff never hurts. The fluid was engine oil, without any inconsistency in color or viscosity.
I'll go back in a month or two and see what's there just to check.
MANY thanks for the time to help.
leave the pair hose blocked. it has nothing to do with the oil leak, and won't change anything either way with the flash. Steve
ride safe, and PLEASE, report back, and tell us the results.. it helps everyone here.
I say this earnestly, as soo many people come here, for a free answer to an issue, and never come back to tell the results.., and we repeat this in an ongoing venture, to help.
+1 !! It is how we learn
help us out here...
are you talking about the black linear area, in the photo, behind the velocity stacks?
I'm not seeing a 'pool'.
valve cover gasket ( as opposed to HEAD Gasket another misnomer,) doesn't equate either...
as they are external, and not related to the issue..(the weepage on the front is likely a bad o ring on the exhaust cam sensor up front.. very common.) again, not related.
maybe some blockage in the airbox drain line...? ( I assume this is what you are calling 'manifold', vs airbox...) which is what the photo shows...
I have seen occasional plugging of the crankcase vent, that runs from under the airbox, to the crank case venting cover below it on the engine, but the only time oil ends up in the box via that hose, is on a turbocharged conversion, where the crankcase is pressurized... which ain't the case here..
wipe it all down, and replace the flies, as you were doing. check the drain line from the airbox, and the plastic collector bottle at the bottom, down on the left, by the idle adjuster screw, and tank drain..
and If in fact you were running a K&N filter, that was over oiled, stop using so much oil on it... go back to a factory airfilter for the next 20k miles, and re check.
not much to say, just from one poor photo, and a description like this...
has nothing to do with the cam chain tensioner either.... check the drain line and empty it, and blow air down thru it from the top, and re cap the bottom..( it can't really suck air back up, if it's capped.).
This is what happens when someone thinks they know what they are doing and does something that actually causes problems....
..... so I assumed the engine was due for a Sea Foam soak treatment and additive to the gas. This smart guy forgot that a month ago, I pulled the air filter and, wait for it, emptied a can of Sea Foam aerosol into the manifold. I knew there was a drain hose, but didn't know the collector down by the shifter has a cap on it! The collector and hose were full of a fluid that was less viscous than oil. Duh. The Sea Foam that didn't get sucked into the intake had filled the hose and was still sitting in the manifold to make the "lake" in my pictures.
I've sufficiently chastised myself for rushing through the foaming. If you all hadn't persisted in poking at a story that didn't add up, I never would have kept looking at the problem. THANK YOU!