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V85TT -- Found the oil leak... maybe not...

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DesertPilot:
For the past 6000 miles, my V85TT has been using something like a quart of oil every 2000 miles.  This seems excessive, and adds an unnecessary amount of character to the bike.  I checked the airbox to make sure the engine wasn't blowing oil, did a compression and leakdown test to make sure there wasn't anything too terribly wrong inside the cylinders and those were all fine.  Finally, I sprinkled flour on the outside of the engine -- King Arthur flour, because it's important to do these things with style! -- to look for leaks.

Oil is indeed appearing along the crankcase separation between the front two bolts (see below).  Darn.  I've been unable to tell whether the crankcase gasket has gone bad or it's leaking from  the alternator cover seal, then flowing back along the crankcase separation because oil can do things like that to challenge our minds and keep our lives exciting.  Needless to say, I'm hoping it's the latter, because that would be a lot less traumatic to deal with.

Has anyone else had an oil leak in this general area?  If so, what was the cause, and how dreadful was it to fix?

Dirk_S:
A whole quart of oil is seeping out from the crankcase gasket? Wonder if you can just cross-torque the bolts with the engine in frame?

I’d be curious what inside the bell housing is like.

DesertPilot:

--- Quote from: Dirk_S on July 31, 2024, 09:38:59 AM ---A whole quart of oil is seeping out from the crankcase gasket? Wonder if you can just cross-torque the bolts with the engine in frame?

I’d be curious what inside the bell housing is like.

--- End quote ---

A lot can be accomplished in 2000 miles.  My Tiger 800 developed a similar leak in the sump gasket.  It was barely visible to the eye -- even a good shop took several tries to find it -- but managed to weep a quart of oil every 2000 miles.

I checked all the crankcase bolts, they were tight, and I really can't imagine how a seal that's squooshed down that hard and doesn't have to hold pressure could leak.  The alternator cover bolts on the other hand... some of the ones I could reach without pulling a zillion things off the front of the engine might not have been quite as tight as they were supposed to be.  I could grit my teeth, order a new seal, drain the oil, pull things off the front of the engine (see above about 'a zillion'), pull the alternator cover, and swap in the new seal, but my dentist warned me to stop gritting my teeth lest I damage the enamel, so I thought I might ask around here to benefit from the experience of wiser minds than mine before I contemplate the defying my dentist.

bigbikerrick:
I think a quart in 2K miles, is alot of oil. If it were all leaking from that area, there would be alot more oil all over the place. I think some of that quart must be getting burned somehow.  How do the spark plugs look?
Rick.

Dirk_S:

--- Quote from: DesertPilot on July 31, 2024, 10:58:32 AM ---A lot can be accomplished in 2000 miles.  My Tiger 800 developed a similar leak in the sump gasket.  It was barely visible to the eye -- even a good shop took several tries to find it -- but managed to weep a quart of oil every 2000 miles.

I checked all the crankcase bolts, they were tight, and I really can't imagine how a seal that's squooshed down that hard and doesn't have to hold pressure could leak.  The alternator cover bolts on the other hand... some of the ones I could reach without pulling a zillion things off the front of the engine might not have been quite as tight as they were supposed to…

--- End quote ---

Right—they may be rtght, but perhaps the case might not be seated squarely. You could back each bolt off a tick, then retorque, again, at cross-pattern.

Time to pop out the torque wrench!

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