Oil leak

[MikeM8560]

My 84 has had a oil leak sence i got it 1 1/2 ago. seems to be on the left as that the messy side or perhaps itts from sitting on the side stand. but the left pipe is dirtier then the right . grimy on the leftside near the kickstand. there dosnt seem to be oil running down form the valve covers. and only drips after a ride for a while. anyway i was looking for the source today and came across a few thing i was wonder about on the left there is a square rubber cover

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b22/MikeM8560/Venture%20XVZ12/th_100_1060.jpg

 

and under it seems to be a bleeder fitting? what is it?

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b22/MikeM8560/Venture%20XVZ12/th_100_1059.jpg

 

and on the left running along the frame and going up the front is a small metal line?

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b22/MikeM8560/Venture%20XVZ12/th_100_1062.jpg

and I also saw what apeared to be a repair to the frame, looks like it to me and has some black paint missing. the right side looks fine

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b22/MikeM8560/Venture%20XVZ12/th_100_1065.jpg

[Dano]

Mike, what you've got there is a hydraulic clutch fluid leak. It'll eat the paint off of anything. Under that rubber cover is the bleed screw for the slave cylinder for the clutch system. Probably got a seal in the slave cylinder leaking. Looking at my naked frame, someone may have made a reweld on the frame, but nothing new has been added. Check your fluid in the clutch master cylinder, it's probably low. Not sure how hard it is to get off in the frame, but doable with a seal rebuild kit. Let us know what you find out.

 

Good luck,

 

Dan

 

That metal line is your clutch fluid line

[Thom]

Mike , that black rubber patch with the bleeder , that is where you bleed the clutch from , looks like you had the frame repaired , as for the oil leak check your shifter shaft .

thom

[Thom]

Dan , you beat me by 1 min. :rotfl:you type to fast

thom

[MiCarl]

I just corrected a similar problem on my '89.

 

The grommet that the stator wires pass through was too small - leaving about 1/16" gap between the side cover and the engine case. I'm not sure if it shrunk or if someone replaced the stator and the new grommet isn't quite right.

 

The grommet is above the oil level, however the flywheel throws oil up there when running. It runs down by the brake slave cylinder and then along under the cover coating the side stand hinge and frame rail. It stops dripping a few minutes after shutting off.

 

I solved my leak by putting a little RTV on top of the grommet to close the gap.

 

BTW, I have a leaking clutch slave cylinder too. That leaks all the time (until the reservoir is empty).

[MikeM8560]

My clutch res is full in the window and im sure its motor oil. the leak seems to be in front of the shifter shaft as is oiley in front of it on the exhaust pipe and dosent look to be the shaft. perhaps it is the stator grommet. im planning the buckeye upgrade at some point so well see. so is that metal line a clutch line?

[Thom]

yep , but your line is a whole lot cleaner than mine , guess tomarrow i got to wash silver

Thom

[MiCarl]

Metal line is clutch line.

 

If you tear into it you'll need to pull the middle gear cover. That's the cover right behind it.

 

Under that cover are retainers for the stator wires and pickup wires. Bend the retainers open to free up the wires. I recommend you unplug the wires from the harness so you can take to cover to the bench to prep it.

 

Mark your shift shaft so you know where to align the lever linkage. You can put it back in 180 degrees out which changes your shift pattern to 1 up 4 down.

 

The bottom of the side cover is below the oil level, do it on the center stand to minimize oil loss (about a quart). You can also drain the oil first, but still do it on center stand so it drains out of the cover.

 

You should have on hand:

Side cover gasket

Middle gear cover gasket

Little copper crush washer for the bottom bolt on the middle gear cover.

Small tube of RTV.

 

Bout $20 worth of parts. Can do the job in under 2 hours.

[91nwl]

If your problem is the stator wire grommet, a temp fix until you install the new stator is to run you oil level just above the bottom mark in the window and park the bike on the center stand. That'll stop it from leaking.

[Dano]

My only thought is,,, I've never seen motor oil eat up paint like that, but hydraulic fluid does..... Might also check the neutral indicator assembly located just in front of the shifter shaft where it exits the left side of the motor.

[a1bummer]

I don't know if this will help, but... I had a problem with what I thought was an oil leak too. It kept making a mess on the left side of the bike. I would clean it up and then take it for a spin. for the life of me, I couldn't figure out where the oil leak was coming from. Then my Rear brake reservoir got low a couple times before I made the connection, ( sometimes I'm a bit slow). My metering block was leaking. I changed it out and no more messes.