Author Topic: oil leak (Read 9314 times)

tbot · « **on:** November 07, 2005, 09:10:43 PM »

The B12 is leaking oil. It appears to be coming from some place near crankcase bolts #11 and 12 on the left side bottom of motor. Bolt #11 has a copper washer. I put a wrench on it and it came out dry. I decide to to come solicit some input before I broke something.

The leak formed a 3" Dia puddle over the the weekend with quite a bit more in the belly pan. Now what should I do???? I can't figure it out

rider123 · « **Reply #1 on:** November 08, 2005, 01:42:22 AM »

Do you mean on the stator cover? Or Hydralic clutch cover? It may be as simple as a 5 dollar gasket. If it's the stator cover you are set, let the engine grow cold so that the oil is nice and thick then put the bike on the centre stand and take off the stator cover. Be carefull as a little oil will drain out so its best to put a 1 dollar aluminum foil tray underneath to catch any drips of oil. Change gasket and retorque cover back on there and your set. I had to replace a bunch of stator cover gasket in my days. REMEMBER put it on the centre stand, if it's on the kick stand gravity will let oil continuosly leak from your crankcase. If you're fast enough you only lose about 300ml and it should take only about 5 minutes to be carefull not to rip the new gasket. Scrape any of the old gasket off there.

Do you leave it on the kick stand? A good way to test if it's the stator cover gasket is leave it on the centre stand one night and see if you get the same kind of leakage. The stator doesn't really have oil journals under pressure but it's designed to have a bit of oil circulate there to keep things from rusting and getting too hot. Since there is only oil usually dribbling in there and not under any high pressure, putting it on the centre stand would relieve any excess pressure from gravity and hence have less of a mess in the morning. It doesn't sound too serious, just a gasket to me.

I wouldn't drive too far with that, if only under gravity you're losing that much oil, imagine under pressure!!! If this is your only vehicle you can temporarily retorque the bolts on the stator cover to get a new gasket but that's as far as I'd drive with that much leakage.

Here is a pic I've found of a 98 B12 with belly pan:

Which is leaking Number 1 (stator cover) Or Number 2 (Hydralic clutch cover)?

From your description it sound like number 1 the stator cover in which case you're in luck friend as it's the easiest of the two to fix. Go grab that gasket!!!! I would use a T-Handle hex wrench on those allen bolts though, don't use a crappy allen key set. I believe it's a 5mm bolt. YOu don't want to strip those bolts!

Red01 · « **Reply #2 on:** November 08, 2005, 02:09:51 AM »

What rider123 is calling the stator cover is actually the starter clutch cover. The stator is part of the alternator, which is under the carbs and has no oil in it.

rider123 · « **Reply #3 on:** November 08, 2005, 02:12:29 AM »

Oops my bad sorry starter clutch cover(sorry still thinking of old bike

), but the concept is the same. Is it this unit that's leaking oil? If so it's easier than the hydralic clutch cover. I would replace the gasket and see if that helps you out.

Remember chris new bike, new bike!!! Doh! Ok I need a nap now.

mike · « **Reply #4 on:** November 08, 2005, 08:03:34 AM »

Quote

I would replace the gasket and see if that helps you out.

Ditto...

Another consideration:
Didn't you JB Weld your oil pan a couple months ago ?...

You might wanna clean everything real good with degreaser, let it leak, and make sure the leak is not somehow trying to trick you on its origin...

Sven · « **Reply #5 on:** November 08, 2005, 09:41:47 AM »

I had a leak from the starter gear cover (#1 in the photo) and tighterning the bolts would not help, so I replaced the gasket and the one metal washer (as specified in the service manual) and leak went away. It forces you to do an oil change, however! The gasket was about $6 online. You are also supposed to you an gasket bond, which I did. All this was easy to do, even for ME!

tbot · « **Reply #6 on:** November 08, 2005, 12:18:21 PM »

Quote from: "mike"

Quote
I would replace the gasket and see if that helps you out.

Thanks for all the advice.

I put the bike on the center stand last night. I left the belly pan off and put a catch under it. The area under the starter cover had a drop forming but it had not fallen. That is substantially less than what I got over the weekend. Over the weekend the bike was on the side stand. Today I'll pick up a starter cover gasket and perhaps an oil filter while I'm at it and get busy.

From the picture, the oil forms near the Cam shaft? at the bottom of picture 1. The oil was all over both sides of the belly pan, the rear bolt, belly pan to bike.

Quote
Another consideration:
Didn't you JB Weld your oil pan a couple months ago ?...

I did JB weld the pan. As a matter of fact, I tossed it in the trash yesterday. I picked up another oil pan off ebay for $30 and mounted it. I like the job the JB weld did, but someone wrote me a horror story which included a broken leg from a JB welded oil pan. I could never bring myself to trust it.

Gonna do the progressive spring mod next month, front end po-goes badly at speed. I hope that solves the problem. 27K miles.

FrankB12 · « **Reply #7 on:** November 11, 2005, 11:07:41 PM »

The starter cover gasket (#1 in the picture) seems to be a common source for oil leaks on the 1200. I had to replace mine after only 11 months. And I found lots of reports of the same issue on other sites.

Easy to fix, but take your time and do it right. A little dab of gasket sealer where the cases meet.

Frank

GaryB12VA · « **Reply #8 on:** November 12, 2005, 09:19:15 AM »

This sounds familiar. Lately I've noticed a little oil seepage, not really a leak, around the front of the starter clutch cover. After a few hundred miles of riding there is a thin film of oil on the front of the cover.

Sounds like time for a new gasket.

tbot · « **Reply #9 on:** November 13, 2005, 12:01:04 AM »

Replaced the starter cover gasket and changed the oil. Dry as a bone 3 days plus now. The left side cover was a bit... to get off. Took me almost about an hour just for that. That dowel was stuck tight.

FrankB12 · « **Reply #10 on:** November 13, 2005, 11:57:14 AM »

Tbot,

I also remember some frustration after removing all the bolts, and finding that the cover was still being held in place by a press-fitted dowel. I used a plastic 1" putty knife and worked it around, but it still took me a while. I don't know if there's a trick to it, or not.

MikeD2001 · « **Reply #11 on:** February 24, 2006, 01:58:30 AM »

Is the dowel really necessary? If one were very careful lining up the cover and gasket, and properly torqueing the bolts when reinstalling, would anything miss it? Or might it open the door to leaking, premature or otherwise? Just curious.

Red01 · « **Reply #12 on:** February 24, 2006, 12:15:34 PM »

I suppose you could do without it as long as you have it lined up perfectly.

ray nielsen · « **Reply #13 on:** February 24, 2006, 01:30:20 PM »

The dowel is for aligning the two parts together. Without it the cover can move and "saw" the gasket apart prematurely. That's why the old Brit bikes leakes to much -- no dowels!

gearset01 · « **Reply #14 on:** February 26, 2006, 11:02:40 AM »

Put a dab of never seez on the pin to make it easier to remove next time.