VFR oil smoke?

[grotto]

I got about 1 km down the road on my VFR40 the other day, and whilst stopped at traffic lights heard what sounded a bit like a sneeze. The next second a cloud of oil smoke poured from under the seat.
I pulled off the road and switched off, with smoke still pouring out.
Temperature was fine, oil level was fine, bike sounded OK.
I started up and rode home slowly - no more smoke but a bit of oil smell.

I have not ridden it since as I thought I should check it out first.

I don't know much about VFR's but wondered if there vis an oil breather pipe or something which may have spat oil out onto the exhaust? It looked & smelt like it was oil on the exhaust, but don't know how it got there.
Bike has run perfectly up until this. It still runs fine but I'm a bit nervous about using it.

Anyone got any ideas?

[bsasuper]

You will just have to spend a bit of time checking things out.Pull the side fairings off and see if there is any oil leaks.Check the breather pipes for blockage, even have a look inside the airbox, it could be drowned in oil.If you cant find anything, start it up and have a good look around it.

[grotto]

Had a pretty good look, and still can't see the source of the oil.
Airbox is fine.
Ran the bike without the fairing on, and it's all good until I rev it to 8-10K, and then smoke comes off the header pipe. There's not much so it must only be a drop or so of oil, but it's hard to see where it's coming from, as the frame obstructs a good view. Shoved my fingers in trying to see if I could detect where oil is dripping/weeping from. Couldn't find the source, but got a good burn!
I might hit it with some degreaser, in case it's just a build up of oil from the chain getting thrown into the wrong place.
The good news is I found a socket to fit the plugs. Everyone had been telling me it was 16mm, but with the tank off it was easy to see they're only 1/2 inch!

[Taz]

Also remove and check your air filter.

[hayd3n]

it might pay to check your oil level it could just be over full

[grotto]

checked the air filter, looked OKish, but I'll throw a new one in as it's probably due.

Oil level is below full, but above mid point. I changed the oil about 1,000 k's back, and haven't put any in since, so guess this problem would have shown up before now if it was too much oil.

I can't see any breather pipes down round the exhausts, but it's sort of hard to see in there as it's all a bit ramped.

I'll take it in to work tomorrow and see how it goes. It'll make a nice change from the Triumph.