Fluid leak near the VEE???

[ardykay54]

Any progress Kevin?

 

[Kevin_56]

I was hoping the bore scope Dan sent me would arrive as he was told. Will not be here till Monday. I am going to wait to use it hoping it shows where the oil is flowing from before I remove the throttle bodies. My replacement oil pressure switch(which I do not think is the leak) arrived last night when told Tuesday. Guess things are going to take time.

 

[Kevin_56]

The bore scope arrived and due to the congestion under the hood, I could not see much. I was then resigned to remove the throttle bodies, and much more. I cleaned the best I could and decided that the alternator needed to be removed to see better. Scott (Scooter) came over and helped me look and dissect the bike. The alternator has quite a bit of gunk on the outside of the case between 4 and 8 o'clock. Lots of oil below it in the vee. All other points of leakage revealed nothing. The amount of oil and gunk on the outside of the alternator lead us to figure the o-ring failed. New o-ring and oil seal ordered. In removing the alternator one of the water pipe housings had to be removed. The o-ring sealing the pipe was hard as a brick. So that one and the other one are also getting replaced. The procedure to remove the alternator was pretty much per the service manual. A u-joint drive will be needed to remove the bottom bolt and I had to remove the left water pipe to extract the alternator. Parts ordered and if the stars align, I might make DinkieSTOC.

 

[Mondo]

Great news. Hope that's it.

Greg

 

[Kevin_56]

Hope that's it.

So do I.

 

[dduelin]

I can attest that when I removed and replaced my alternator it was dirty but not extremely so and not certainly not wet with oil. When the alt came out the machined mating surface of the alternator to the gear drive was clean and the O ring groove and O-ring were as clean as the day the engine was assembled in Japan. (My alternator had failed). The area under the alternator had the grimy "oily" look but that was dried coolant coated with road grime.

I was able to get the pesky bottom bolt out and then back on with a regular socket on the end of a long 3/8" drive extension although it was slow going, like a 1/16 or 1/8 turn at a time.

Glad to hear your news.

 

[Kevin_56]

I was able to get the pesky bottom bolt out and then back on with a regular socket on the end of a long 3/8" drive extension although it was slow going, like a 1/16 or 1/8 turn at a time.

With a U-Joint it turned right out. Going back in is yet to be tried. There was standing oil along with lots of debris in the valley below the alternator.

 

[ardykay54]

Good news! Hope to see you at Dinkie's. Russ.

 

[dr1954]

Parts ordered and if the stars align, I might make DinkieSTOC.

There is no shame in taking the cage to a STOC event. You may

Parts ordered and if the stars align, I might make DinkieSTOC.

Kevin, at last resort take the car. You will be given grief, but you can't miss DinkieSTOC.
If you have to ride, let me know and I will run up and get you.

 

[Kevin_56]

There is no shame in taking the cage to a STOC event.

Did just that for WiSTOC. I have 2 weeks, but by the time I get the parts, 2 maybe 3 days.

 

[970mike]

Did just that for WiSTOC. I have 2 weeks, but by the time I get the parts, 2 maybe 3 days.

And we are hoping that is the problem!! 4:

 

[Booger Man]

Hey Kevin time to trade that old bucket of bolts & come over to the darkside like your brothers.:duck:

 

[Arizona Jim]

Hey Kevin time to trade that old bucket of bolts & come over to the darkside like your brothers.:duck:

I wouldn't call it the "dark side" more like the "enlightened side"

 

[Darth rider]

Hey Kevin time to trade that old bucket of bolts & come over to the darkside like your brothers.

I was going to suggest that to Kevin also, but he probably wont let me attend a STOC event again........ especially with a hog rider

 

[Kevin_56]

I was going to suggest that to Kevin also, but he probably wont let me attend a STOC event again........ especially with a hog rider

Jeff - You and Merry are always welcome. I am going to bet that if it turns out to be the oring on the alternator, the number of these failures could be counted on one hand.

So why am I the lucky one? If you think about where this happened as compared to where it could have happened, I am lucky. Right now we would be in the middle of a 7000 mile trip to the Pacific.

The wait to get parts is killing me. I am going to DinkieSTOC, just want to ride there and not drive.

 

[Kevin_56]

Got a shipping notification today. I should have my parts early next week. Hoping to be reporting no more leak.

 

[Kevin_56]

Well I got home about 2:30. Opened up my UPS box and proceeded to reassemble my bike. I added 3 photos as it went back together. Note how LITTLE you can see once all is back together. Add a rubber mat on top of this mess and the Throttle Bodies. Being able to see where the oil was coming from was/is next to impossible. Took me two hours to get to the point that I could run the bike. Total run time was 10 minutes. End result - NO OIL leaking. Still have a couple of hours to get the bike ready to ride. Can not guess the amount of savings doing this myself. Down side is that it took 4 weeks from signs of the leak to today. Off to St. Louis this weekend to share some time with friends

Alternator added


Oil Pressure Switch



Thermostat assembly

 

[Kevin_56]

Based on the number of responses, this is the first Alternator O-ring failure on an ST1300. It can happen. The replacement was a dark blue in color, so refrain from running to a car parts store to get one that might work. Do not know the makeup of this new one, but was not BLACK.

Used the bore scope The Dan sent me and was able to verify that there is NO oil in the vee. Tomorrow is final assembly day and a test ride if it is not raining. Can not say how happy I am. See many of you this weekend at THE EVENT called DinkieSTOC.

 

[dduelin]

Glad to hear it and thanks for sharing your experience with the problem, diagnosis, and repair. I can't remember the color of the O-ring but thinking it was black. As long as it is an OEM part I don't think the color matters.

 

[Kevin_56]

I don't think the color matters.

I do think color matters. Not sure of why, but it might represent the actual material and use.

http://www.darcoid.com/html/color-faqs.html