Crankcase vent/breather

[vstrom]

Just like the title.. is there a crankcase vent on the L300? I know there's a vent on the valve cover that connects to the air intake.. what I'm wondering is there a vent somewhere on the bottom end for the block?

I've oil leaking out of everywhere on this van.. rear crank seal (which I'd just replaced), front case seal, somewhere else on the back, the friggen oil cap.. Once when I parked in the garage in Saskatoon it almost poured out! And then the next time not a drop... somewhat confusing itermittent oil leak. Anyway, I had to come back to Thompson, so I had a tense 10hr drive back. Luckily I didn't have a catastrophic failure in the middle of nowhere and only had to add a small amout of oil (Ichecked often).

Anyway, if I had weird oil leaks like this on a piston airplane (in the winter) I'd be looking at the crankcase breather. But I can't seem to find one on the online schematics. I haven't had a chance to poke around the van too much.. plus now it's outside and it's too damn cold out now to really crawl around it.

Any ideas are welcome. I think I'll be parking this thing until summer now, I can't trust it on the highway anymore. May even sell it or part it out. Compared to all y'all's vans, mine seems to be in a constant state of broken-ness. I've thought now for awhile that I have a lemon.

[Big-Bird]

The valve cover and the half-moon shaped gasket at the back of the head is notorious for leaking. using a good quality sealant to bond everything in usually fixes this common leak.

There are only 2 bolts that hold the valve cover in place and these both have rubber brommet seals which can move and allow bolt tension to be compromised. Suggest valve cover new gasket kit with half moon and rubber grommets.

As for the oil cap, check that the screws that hold the metal lock plate are tight, gasket is not torn and if these check out you can bend the tabs on the metal plate to get a tighter fit between cap and valve cover.