Where is this oil comming from?

[GeorgeAdam]

I have a 1300 tha I purchased last month with 11,500 miles. As I have begun putting on miles and getting used to her an oil leak has developed.

 

At first I did not see anything, but thought I smelled burnt oil. Then a couple drops of oil on the garage floor appeared, and now it's 4-5 drops. Today I got underneath and took a look around. The left side of the exhaust collector has oil on it. There is also oil on the lower portion of the driveshaft cover. There is no oil i could see above the driveshaft.

 

So here is my question. What are the likely locations for oil leakage? Is there a sensor I cannot see? (fingers crossed) Or is it a seal for the output shaft?

[Eck]

Sounds like it could be the rear Drive shaft seal has gone bad and is leaking oil out the drain hole on the lower aft side of the drive shaft housing.

 

Look about 2 to 3 inchs forward of the rear hub on the bottom side of the drive shaft housing for a small hole and see if oil is coming out of it.

 

If the oil is coming out of it then it is splashing onto your mufflers and this is where you could be smelling oil buring. You could possibly also notice "spots" of oil on the rear / back side of the left saddle bag..

 

 

Did you, or the shop pull, the drive shaft out recently?

 

If not how about did you change the oil recently...?? You might have over filled it and it is running out of the over flow tube

[MasterGuns]

Exactly under which part of the bike is the drops leaking onto your garage floor?

 

Thanks

[GeorgeAdam]

Oil was changed by others prior to purchase. Oil level is where it should be. To my knowledge the driveshaft has not been touched.

 

When on the kickstand the oil drops appear to be located beneath the rear of the motor and to the left.

 

I can not see a specific place where oil drops are forming.

[Dano]

If it is coming from over the left side of the collector, possible points of interest are the shift shaft where it enters the case, gear indicator switch, grommet for the stator and pick-up coil wires where they exit the stator cover (big cover on left side) or the clutch push rod also where it enters the case (behind the slave cylinder). Put the bike on center stand, use a mirror and flashlight and look underneath where the middle gear cover (smaller cover on the left side) is. There is a void behind the flat portion of the cover. The oil on the bottom of the drive shaft "cover" or swingarm, is probably due to blow-back from these areas.

If the bikes been sitting for awhile, it's probably one of these seals.

 

Good luck,

 

Dan

[GeorgeS]

Forward end of drive shaft houseing, fine the rubber boot, just aft of the engine case. Bottom of rubber boot, is a drain hole, if SAE-90 gear lube is leaking past the Seal on the Aft End, of the drive shaft, it will run forward in the shaft houseing, and drip out the hole in the boot.

 

First determine if its motor oil, or SAE-90 rear drive lube.

[GeorgeAdam]

OK, so now I'm getting somewhere. I saw oil forming at the shifter shaft. Is this seal easily replaced? Or is this a dealer job?

[MasterGuns]

From my experience, smoke means the oil is finding its way to the top of the exhaust collector. In my opinion, if it was a faulty shift shaft seal, the oil would be further to the rear and would not drip onto the collector. That leaves only the clutch shaft (unlikely), the stator grommets (as previously mentioned), fairly good possibility, and the infamous "gear indicator switch", high possibility. I'll place my money on that highly ill designed plastic gear indicator switch which is mostly likely cracked or loose or both. Only one way to check it out is to pull the middle gear cover, clean up the area in and around all the above really well which are all located in the cavern behind the middle gear cover. When I say clean up, I mean that hole should be as clean and dry as you can possibly get it. Then re-assemble everything, add oil, and fire her up an run until it leaks. Disassemble the entire thing again and try to see where the oil is coming from (should be wet). I did the above several times and still couldn't figure it out so since I had an extra middle gear cover, I cut away the cosmestic portion so that I could run the motor while watching for the leak. Low and behold, it was the gear indicator switch. That cutaway middle gear cover is floating around with other members somewhere; lost track. Good luck.

[jasonm.]

Your already there with the cover off. I would change the o-ring on the gear indicator sender. The o-ring should be high quality "orange" silicone from the factory. Usually it's a loose screw on that. Also many CRACK the cover when reinstalling, me included. You need a long phillips and dab grease for this. The grease will allow you to get this seated. And DON'T tighten the 2 screw unless you are absolutely sure the holes are "dead on". Flash light and perfect vision 20/20 or better needed. Next- The shift seal can be a pain. I have had luck using a sheetrock screw or 2 carefully put into the seal and PULL carefully. Lastly the wire gromments. ALL 80's Yamahas have this issue to some degree. Whatever you do. Clean everything with a cleaner that will not hurt paint or rubber. If it's water base like Simple Green...let it dry. Then spray foot powder on the suspected area. The powder turns dark when it gets wet. FYI all seals and orings are relatively easy when compared to other bike out there, to work on, with the possible exception of the clutch rod seal. Let us know if it's gear or motor oil. The shaft gear seal is actually simple once the rear wheel is off. But I doubt that's the problem. Remember 99% chance it's a simple fix.

[GeorgeAdam]

I am going to dig into my problem Friday. Thank you for the information provided. When I discover the cause I'll post the result.

 

One additiona question. Do I need to drain the oil in order to remove the cover?

[jasonm.]

There is a bolt at 6 o'clock on that cover by the left foot peg. It should have a copper washer. 1st drain that oil thru that bolt(about 10oz.). Thus you do not need to drain the whole engine for the small cover by your left foot peg. Just have plenty of rags handy when you pull that cover. ALSO that bolt at 6 o'clock MUST have the copper washer. If it does not...that could be you cure right there.