need your help with an oil weep

[ninjaneer]

well i knew i'd be removing the mid gear cover sooner or later. i guess deep down inside i was hoping not to have to...especially for exploratory surgery. logic seems to suggest that the leak is higher up above the allen bolt. you know looking at rb's pic i wonder if i didn't fix the stator cover leak completely.

Regards from my Taptalking Hercules Android

 

[dannymax]

Where's rb's pic? :ummm:

 

[ninjaneer]

doh, i meant dannymax's

 

[dannymax]

Oh, was hoping he had posted one, he has a better camera than me.

Agreed that the stator wires are a likely spot but, is that wire grommet designed to be oil tight? Should there be that much oil behind it? I did a couple slave rebuilds recently and seems like those grommets were more to keep dust out rather than oil in....:ummm:

 

[Redbone]

If you cannot find a leak above that hex bolt on the slave, I would remove said bolt to see if somehow the seal for the clutch pushrod is leaking. That would be another source for engine oil in that area, especially if you eliminated the other possible sources from above it.
Ok Greg, if you want to see a picture from me I'll give you one, but I will just have to warn you that it might not be "on topic" like Danny's!





See, I told ya!:biglaugh:

 

[gamorg02]

ninja - you see my post on the middle gear cover?

esp when the bike is moving air can cause the oil to go everywhere and use the wiring and shift shaft as conduits. can you clean it and just let it idle for a bit and get under there with a good light/camera without the bike moving to see if that helps pinpoint it?

 

[CaptainKyle]

There ar ea number of things there that could be leaking based on what I can see in the pictures it could either be your stator wires still leaking & running down or the clutch pushrod seal. The big bolt down there is a drain plug & has a copper crush washer behind it . I have not seen to many of them leak but its possible. I took the bolt out just so yall could se the crushwasher & that its a drain.

 

[ninjaneer]

Ok Greg, if you want to see a picture from me I'll give you one, but I will just have to warn you that it might not be "on topic" like Danny's!
View attachment 35502
See, I told ya!:biglaugh:

I'd rather remove her midgear cover and look for leaks. unk: well maybe leaks are still a bad thing in this case. uke:

ninja - you see my post on the middle gear cover?

must've missed it, sorry. :blink000:

esp when the bike is moving air can cause the oil to go everywhere and use the wiring and shift shaft as conduits. can you clean it and just let it idle for a bit and get under there with a good light/camera without the bike moving to see if that helps pinpoint it?

not a bad idea, :thumbs up: i think this'll be step 1 of my attack plan

There ar ea number of things there that could be leaking based on what I can see in the pictures it could either be your stator wires still leaking & running down or the clutch pushrod seal. The big bolt down there is a drain plug & has a copper crush washer behind it . I have not seen to many of them leak but its possible. I took the bolt out just so yall could se the crushwasher & that its a drain.

Thanks for the input! One mystery solved :worthy:

 

[dannymax]

If you cannot find a leak above that hex bolt on the slave, I would remove said bolt to see if somehow the seal for the clutch pushrod is leaking. That would be another source for engine oil in that area, especially if you eliminated the other possible sources from above it.
Ok Greg, if you want to see a picture from me I'll give you one, but I will just have to warn you that it might not be "on topic" like Danny's!



View attachment 35502

See, I told ya!:biglaugh:

I'm sure it will be better received BB!! :rofl_200:

 

[wildweasel_pt]

To be sure use the talcum powder technique. Degrease the area and make it dry. Then run the bike on the stand and then dust some talcum and it will become damp on the leak area and runnings. Driving the bike around may mislead you due to incoming air blowing the oil all over the place rendering the attempt unsuccessful.

 

[ninjaneer]

Fred. Neat tip. It's so cool to learn a new trick of the trade. :worthy::worthy:

 

[davesax36]

Has this actually been solved? I think I might be in the same boat. Same bolt head full of oil, gritty junk everywhere when I get back from a ride. Smells like oil, only makes one dime-sized drip on the floor after parked.

 

[ninjaneer]

funny you should ask. i just got in from the garage from degreasing the underside. i couldn't address the problem this weekend--had to clean up the yard. i'm still hunting the weep down.

 

[davesax36]

All I got done was baby powdering a whole bunch of stuff that wasn't actually leaking. ...

 

[bazwell]

To be sure use the talcum powder technique. Degrease the area and make it dry. Then run the bike on the stand and then dust some talcum and it will become damp on the leak area and runnings. Driving the bike around may mislead you due to incoming air blowing the oil all over the place rendering the attempt unsuccessful.

That makes so much sense! Why hadn't I heard of it before? Lol

Ninja, I recall a thread by SpecOps about his extreme efforts to seal the stator wires/grommet. If I had time I'd link it for you.

 

[ninjaneer]

All I got done was baby powdering a whole bunch of stuff that wasn't actually leaking. ...

:rofl_200: :bang head:
knowing the guys on this forum, waaaaiiit for iiit....wait for it....

...Ninja, I recall a thread by SpecOps about his extreme efforts to seal the stator wires/grommet. If I had time I'd link it for you.

Ya, i remember reading something about that, too. i've clogged up the area with globs of rtv, but last night the flashlight showed glistening grommets and wires. don't know if it's b/c oil is finding its way out of there or if oil is getting flung onto the site. one of the last resorts, is to redo the stator and midgear covers

 

[davesax36]

Sean told me it might have happened that a bit too much oil could make it touch the slave gasket, making it swell up and ruining it's effectiveness. The high oil level would result in crank windage throwing oil up onto that seal. My oil is at the top line when on the center stand, but it could have been a bit higher at some point from residual filtering back down through the motor. I'll be pulling my middle gear cover tonight or tomorrow hoping to find the source.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[wildweasel_pt]

The oil level is checked with the bike in riding position not on center stand.

 

[Vmax Junky]

I had a similar issue with oil all over my engine and pants blowing out of my external breather after a long hard run. After lots of time checking everything out it was determined i must have had too much oil in pan. I used to fill my crankase to the top line. Now I only fill to about 3/4 and had not had an issue since. I check my oil with bike in level riding position.

 

[ninjaneer]

funny you should ask. i just got in from the garage from degreasing the underside. i couldn't address the problem this weekend--had to clean up the yard. i'm still hunting the weep down.

man this weep is a pita. :bang head: so like i said, i cleaned up the underside, but didn't have time to dust it down in talcum powder, so fluffed it off for the next weekend (which would be this past weekend). i drove around town for the entire last week and not once did i see any drips :ummm: come this past weekend. i decided to forgo the dust and ran the bike for 15 minutes on the centerstand (this may be an important piece of information), so that after the run it would be easier to look up from underneath. NOTHING, ugh. Now get this, after giving up, I put the bike down onto its kickstand and went to frig for a beer and to take care of the honey-do list. calmed down, and decided for shits-and-giggles to go at it again. 20 minutes later, after the fuel light turns on, i shut off the bike and wouldn't you know it, the area around that "drain" bolt looked wet. i tightened it down a bit and called it a day. come monday i drove the bike into work and had a look after parking it. no signs of drips. cool! come tuesday, no drippity drips to and from work. now it's wednesday morning. decided to visit the bike during lunch. i get on my knees and LO AND BEHOLD, there's an oil drip hanging off of the bolt head. ugh. but not only that, i see a drip off of the middle gear cover under that "venture" hole. i tried to see if it had a trail, but nope it mysteriously just appeared there.

so now the plan this weekend is to clean it up once again, actually dust it down, and now that i think i know how to aggravate the problem, take slow laps around the neighborhood to minimize the turbelance, and let it cool down on the kickstand.

this weep WILL NOT better me.