Oil residue on front side of engine

[TeamGeek]

Hi,
Like many others, it seems, I’m trying to track down some leaks on the front of my engine. The right side valve cover gasket is clean but the right-center and right side of the engine has a caked up oily mess. I’ve been digging around the forum looking for similar symptoms but haven’t quite stumbled on a leak similar to mine.

Any thoughts?

 

[core-aggie]

I'd clean that up ... then check every so often for any fresh leak.

 

[TeamGeek]

Yeah I was thinking the same it’s mostly kinda dryish. Here’s another shot of the weep holes.

Note it was all dirty below that ‘clean line’ I needed to get the engine serial number and didn’t know where to look so that clean area was me trying to find the serial.

 

[TeamGeek]

Pulled thermostat housing and the tstat was stuck open. Coolant reservoir was empty and kinda grungy inside too.

 

[TeamGeek]

So I started washing out the overflow tank and everything coming out was a silvery metallic color.

My buddy is a mechanic and we are thinking the PO had a pump seal leak and put stop leak in the overflow tank. Would explain the color, older crud around the front of engine, and tstat stuck open.

I’m open to other thoughts!

 

[Igofar]

Standing by the

 

[Igofar]

So I started washing out the overflow tank and everything coming out was a silvery metallic color.

My buddy is a mechanic and we are thinking the PO had a pump seal leak and put stop leak in the overflow tank. Would explain the color, older crud around the front of engine, and tstat stuck open.

I’m open to other thoughts!

Several thoughts thank you.....
Do NOT ride your bike until you sort this out.
Your water pump oil seal may have gone south, and your mixing coolant & engine oil together, which is not a good thing.
Please tell me your oil view window does not look like chocolate milk.
Standing by if needed.

 

[TeamGeek]

Thankfully I live in MN and there is like three feet of snow outside - that’s why I’m trying to tackle this mess now!

The oil in the sight glass is dark brown. If I can trust the PO service records this oil has 1700 miles on it and was changed June 2021. I suspect this is about right as he mentioned he bought a DR650 around that time and didn’t ride this bike much after that. I bought it last fall and maybe have a tank of gas through it (long enough to find out it had a plugged 5-way).
The antifreeze that came out looks pretty normal to me. Unless you’ve got some other thoughts on leak area I’m going to pull the pump and see what that seal and bearings look like. I’m already in this far…

 

[core-aggie]

The oil in the sight glass is dark brown

Larry (Igofar) is spot on, as usual.

"dark brown" is NOT a good thing. Snow or no snow, no more riding for now

 

[snowmoer]

I am more in favor of the water pump seal also.

If it is not that, also check the valve cover gasket on that side. When I had my 1300, I had oil in the same place after I did a valve check. The seal moved as I was putting the cover back on and oil leaked into the V. It drained out the front of the engine like that.

 

[SupraSabre]

The waterpump alone would not make that big of a mess. I'm thinking that you have leakage in the valley, where some hoses are probably leaking. Even though that valley leaking "should" come from the square hole on the side of the engine, often the coolant leaks down around the waterpump cover. That I could see making that mess!

 

[TerryS]

It is apparently easy to trap the rubber mat (under the throttle bodies) in the cam cover gasket when refitting that cover; my original 1300 had exactly that problem and a similar leak.

 

[TeamGeek]

I made a little (very little) progress tonight and got all the goo off the front of the engine covers. Certainly smells like antifreeze as it was coming off.
I probably won’t have time to work on it again until this weekend.
I did post in the wanted section if anyone has a fsm and new water pump parts if anyone has stuff they’d like to sell.

 

[Igofar]

The waterpump alone would not make that big of a mess. I'm thinking that you have leakage in the valley, where some hoses are probably leaking. Even though that valley leaking "should" come from the square hole on the side of the engine, often the coolant leaks down around the waterpump cover. That I could see making that mess!

The location of that mess was probably due to the radiator pipe was over tightened, and egg shaped, spewing coolant down the front, and blowing it backwards as well.
I'm guessing he's going to find he'll need to true up the pipes, as well as replace the T-stat, water pump O-ring, tighten all the loose clamps, and more than likely replace the water pump mechanical seal due to the condition of what came out of the coolant overflow tank.

 

[TeamGeek]

Well I got out to work on it tonight for a little bit.
Oil came out first and it looks like regular old used oil. Not excessively dark, milky, or other indications of water intrusion.

Water pump cover cover came off nicely. Lots of gravel like stuff in the Vee drainage area. It’s had antifreeze in there too, so I’ve got to check those upper hoses for sure. They are all stiff and hard so new hoses are in order.

Got the clutch cover pulled next. I found more evidence of the mystery gray substance in the two upper coolant jackets (Honda calls dowel pins).
I need to head out to my parents shop to press out the pump shaft yet. The bearing feels a little rough but not terrible. It’s all going to get replaced since I’m in this far.

My educated guess is still a coolant leak likely now from old upper hoses, PO was lazy and put stop leek in the overflow tank and just rode it.

Onward and upward. I need to order parts but will be assessing other areas first to save on shipping costs. Front SMC is froze so I need to look through the brake system and wheel bearings, etc before I order anything else.

 

[Igofar]

When you press the impeller out inspect the shaft area where the oil seal sits.
Let us know if you find something like this.

 

[TeamGeek]

Will do. Looking at mid Feb for parts. I got everything I need in my cart at Ron Ayer’s but I already bought new tires this month so I need to let the money tree regrow a little before I get parts.

 

[TeamGeek]

I pressed put the impeller and bearing/seals so I could put my front cover back on. I’ve got a groove starting on the impeller shaft but not as bad as what Larry posted. From what he says if you can see a groove in the metal it’s time to replace it.

My impeller was only pressed in 21.3mm so it is possible the mechanical seal also wasn’t preloaded enough to stop leaks.

 

[TeamGeek]

Well it was a long winter and spring had some unexpected expenses come up. I finally was able to shake the money tree enough to order parts for my bike.

I got a new water pump impeller, seal set and bearing installed and got the front end of the engine buttoned back up.

After that I got my new tires spooned on and turned my attention to the brakes.

All three calipers were sticky. I got them all tore down and rebuilt and got fresh OEM pads all around.

Finished up the spring tune up with replacing some missing bolts and fasteners and fired it up May 18. I ran a 65 mile loop ‘around the block’ the next day to shake down any problems. No leaks, brakes run cold to the touch and it handles better than it ever did with the half square old tires I took off. Next day a buddy and I rode 250 miles round trip to one of the state forests where we hooked up with the local Beta dealer for an afternoon of dirt bike demo rides in the woods. All in all great weekend and the bike ran flawlessly.

Many thanks to the helpful folks on the forum here and special thanks to Igofar who called me a couple times during the journey to offer helpful tips and advice.

-Another happy rider!