85 ATC 250 ES undercarriage covered in oil after riding

[80ATC110]

I finally got the chance to take my 250 out and run it this past weekend, and when I got back I looked at the rear of the machine to find oil all over the back sides of the tires, the frame, air cleaner box...everything. I think it might be coming out the breather tubes for the crankcase. Could I have overfilled it? used the wrong weight oil? Any ideas would help. I used 30 weight oil thinking that should be heavy enough. I see the manual calls for 40 weight. Any help is greatly appreciated.

[motordude]

Is it indeed engine oil? Any chance it might be gear oil from the rear end?

[80ATC110]

Im pretty sure it is engine oil, because it is fairly clean. I changed the oil a few weeks ago and its the first time I drove it since. Any ideas?

[dustrunner]

check the engine oil dip stick when when engine is cold. also be sure that the little itty bitty o ring on the oil filter housing is still there. sometimes they fall off when u remove the old oil filter.

[rodeofan5656]

just my 2 cents....... mine doesnt have the gasket on the drain plug and leaks a few drips while sittin there idlin. your leak may not be that much oil. when theres an oil leak, it looks like theres more than there actually is. especially if it splatters around. i would check major things first- crank case gaskets, top end stuff, etc. or, you can clean the whole thing, run it for about 5-10 minutes (maybe longer dependin on how bad the leak is), then look the engine over from top to bottom and find where the leak may be comin from..