crankshaft oil seal 885i

[TR5TRIDER]

I have recently renewed leaking crankshaft oil seal under side cover on front left side of engine, this is the seal that comes with a green plastic mandrel inserted where the crankshaft would be when in place. I have followed Triumph's install procedure as described in the factory shop manual and this has not cured the oil leak. After searching the forums I find no relevant posts so I assume that this oil seal failure is uncommon. I am looking for advice on how to deal with this leak. On the plus side the oil from this leaking seal does keep the chain lubricated and also the side stand pivot.   

[Timbox2]

Jeez, how the hell is oil from there getting to the chain? Must be some leak. Is it leaking out of the hose? You say you followed the procedure for the seal replacement, it may be that the new seal didnt seal properly. If you pull the hose off the cover and then run the engine up to about 5k Revs, if oil pisses out of the pipe then the seal isnt sealing. The 885 engine had problems around this, especially if the bike went over on the left side, it could wreck the motor.

Oh, and did you get the correct seal?  There is an engine number change, up to eng no 83309 its a seal kit part no T3550096.  Eng no 83310 onwards its T3600240

[TR5TRIDER]

The shortest runs I make on this bike are 75 to 80 miles long and at speeds of 60 to 80 mph so the oil from this leak gets well distributed by the wind blast. I will try running the engine up to 5K with the hose disconnected. Yes the bike went down on the left side while running and I was able to shut it off quickly. I did rely on my Triumph dealer parts man to supply the correct seal and I did not check to see that it is the correct one for this bike. I retained the package so will be able to check that when I run the bike up with hose disconnected. Thanks for the ideas.

[Timbox2]

Check the end of the centrifugal breather itself too, if the surface is badly pitted the seal wont work. I think, but dont hold me to this, the difference with the early type seal kit is it came with a spacer to stop the seal going in too deep in the casing, the seal should sit level with the casing it goes in to.

[Bixxer Bob]

 Evil Betty did a long "how to" on this seal as he had loads of problems with his, but I'm not sure whether it was an early or late engine.

[Timbox2]

Evil Betty did a long "how to" on this seal as he had loads of problems with his, but I'm not sure whether it was an early or late engine.

Im sure his was a 955 wasnt it?

[TR5TRIDER]

Thank you for your suggestions Tim, I ran the engine up with breather hose removed and she is blowing oil out the cover hose spigot. I also checked the part no. against your information and my engine is the later one requiring the T3600240 (without spacer), next I pulled off the cover and found the shaft surface to be slightly pitted? in a way that rendered a less than the smooth surface required for seal contact. The bike has now 31,000 miles and is running well and reliably with only a fuel pump problem that I cured by cleaning the electrical contacts.  Any thoughts on a fix for this problem?

[TR5TRIDER]

I polished the shaft surface of the crankshaft breather with a strip of crocus cloth and found a groove worn in it from contact with a previous seal. It appears that the metal shaft surface is part of the plastic breather and therefor easily  replaceable. When searching a part # for the breather I am finding T100107 but there is also a notation of "4 cylinder" I think all 885i's are 3 cylinder.  So I am thinking that I need to order a new breather plus seal kit and that will fix the problem, and also eliminate  my auto chain oiler.

[Timbox2]

I polished the shaft surface of the crankshaft breather with a strip of crocus cloth and found a groove worn in it from contact with a previous seal. It appears that the metal shaft surface is part of the plastic breather and therefor easily  replaceable. When searching a part # for the breather I am finding T100107 but there is also a notation of "4 cylinder" I think all 885i's are 3 cylinder.  So I am thinking that I need to order a new breather plus seal kit and that will fix the problem, and also eliminate  my auto chain oiler.

Yeah, I would do that mate. Remember that If you take the cover off for any length of time you should put the mandrel back in to stop the seal deforming. Think you have the right part number for the centrifugal breather, but youve lost a 1, should be T1100107, and it was used on 3 and 4 cylinder bikes

[TR5TRIDER]

Many thanks for the help Tim.

[TR5TRIDER]

3 hour trip to friendly Triumph dealer and back only to find that the breather he supplied is not the correct part, different dimensions and appearance (this thing looks like a Ninja throwing star) on the chance that it is an improved version I tried to fit it and not possible so definitely not the correct part. Must start over from the beginning, no progress to date.

[John Stenhouse]

My shaft had the same slight groove in it and on second attempt the seal worked even with that slight groove, the seal kit comes as Tim says with a mandrel to keep the seal lip from deforming.