Oil leak and harsh transmission

[OASISTOM]

I recently bought a 1994 steamer and it has developed 2 faults that may or may not be linked. Very much like the opinion of an expert on these machines please! I have tried to find answers through searches but no luck.

The oil is coming from somewhere at the back of the engine below the carbs, there is quite a bit of it but I cant see where it comes from without stripping things down. It is running down the hoses on the left side of the bike. Any ideas please?

There is a harsh feeling through the footpegs particularly. It is quite rough and appears to throb. It feels like worn chain and or sprockets but although not new these items do not appear worn enough to cause such a problem?

This is such a pity because I was just starting to enjoy this bike!

Thanks

Tom

[Mustang]

The oil leak sounds like a clutch pushrod seal , if the oil is coming out around the slave cylinder

the chain sounds like it may be excessively tight . They need to be run with almost an 1 1/2 inch of play when sitting static with no load on bike .

and if the chain is adjusted properly , look to make sure the chain rubbing strip is good or needs replacing and also check the chain rub block for the bottom run of the chain .

[OASISTOM]

Thank you Mustang. I will check these suggestions out. Is the pushrod seal an easy fix?

[Mustang]

Thank you Mustang. I will check these suggestions out. Is the pushrod seal an easy fix?

It is relatively easy ........for a steamer  

you need to remove the oil fill / sprocket cover .
sounds easy , right ?

1. Drain engine oil . (or lay bike over to the right side to keep the oil from running out )

2. Remove foot peg / kickstand bracket from frame . ( there is a 19mm nut on the backside of the big Torx bolt )

3. Un bolt the slave cylinder from sprocket cover , and position out of the way .

4. Now remove the sprocket cover .

5. The pushrod seal is in the engine block behind the sprocket cover .

6 . it will pop out easy and a new one just pushes in . also flip the pushrod around to give a clean unscarred area for the seal to ride on .

7. apply a new gasket to the sprocket cover , now might be a good time to replace the shift shaft seal also in the sprocket cover .

8. re assemble .

Easy right ?
 :shock:

[OASISTOM]

I hope your diagnosis is right as it appears within my capabilities to fix! Will have a good look to see if that is where the oil is coming from. Thanks for your time.

[OASISTOM]

Have followed Mustangs advice and unfortunately the clutch pushrod seal is not the problem.

It is clear with the footpeg etc out of the way that the leak is outside the sprocket cover.

Surely it cant be coming from the crankcase gasket?

The water pump drive is in this area...is this possibly the cause?

Ideas please! I would like to check out the most likely stuff first!

Thanks

[Mustang]

   

Like the old saying goes
"A picture is worth a thousand words !"

show me the offending oil leak ......................
when the push rod seal goes the oil generally runs down the pushrod and collects behind the slave cylinder and then leaks out the weep hole on the bottom of the slave cyl. it looks like this when it goes



This is a T-Bird motor but the Tiger motors are the same . notice all the oil all over the water pump and case it came from the weep hole on the bottom of the slave and the pushrod seal is the culprit .

[OASISTOM]

OK, going to assume you are correct and clean all this up and put in the new seals. Sprocket looks fairly worn too so may as well put new set on? Pictures attached so I hope people can see why it appears the oil is coming from elsewhere.

Thanks again for your help Mustang  :)

[OASISTOM]

Looks like I can get away with bigger file size?

[BR]

Nice pictures...
I just cleaned up something simliar on my '98... except I found mine to be leaking from the Alternator o-ring.  I had pinched it the last time I had it out;  it's a tight fit and it's easy to damage the o-ring.  Use a flashlight to look back on the crank-case in between the bottom of the Alt and the top of the sprocket cover... any oily wetness and there you go.  I had also replaced the o-ring on the water pump.

Brendan
'98 BRG Steamer

[OASISTOM]

Brendan, thanks for that information. It certainly seams that those O rings are where the oil is coming from. I might as well replace them while I am at it (assuming its not too big a job?) It appears many items are time expired at once! My bike is a 98 btw. I made a typo above.

[BR]

Not a big job.  3 bolts and your alternator comes right out... I used a little engine oil on the o-ring initially for re-install but again almost pinched it!!  I then used some Armor-All and it was much easier.  It still took a little careful twisting/gentle pushing and checking with small mirror before I got it in.  No such issues on the water pump O-ring and I just lubed it with engine oil.

Brendan '98 BRG Steamer
San Jose, CA

[nightrunner]

I too have pinched a few O-rings on the alt after I fixed the DAR.  I finally just went to a small diameter O-ring (and upgraded to Viton, which is tougher than standard Buna) from McMaster Carr.  Got a bag of 10 for a few bucks.    I can give you the size if interested.  But yeah, if that O-ring gets pinched it gets sheared off and makes a pretty big oil leak.

[Tim]

Hi Tom,  I also have a '98 and just did the sprocket cover, push rod and gear lever seal last month.  It's an easy job, take some extra time and patience to make sure everything is in it's proper place and not pinched or shifted.  
Before you close her up change your chain and both sprockets.  They're worn and hooked.
Good luck and I hope you don't have to wait the three weeks I did for my parts.
Tim

[OASISTOM]

Thanks for all the help so far. Have stripped everything down and over the last week have been soaking the alternator bolts with penetrating oil and bending torx sockets trying to loosen them. Have used an impact driver but broke the (impact proof) torx. They just wont budge! Any ideas please.