Oil leak in the back of the engine

I mean "good tip"...damned spelling  corrector...

Matias wrote:

But I don't feel handling issues, and pressing on the seat the suspension seems to have a smooth action...  

I don't say these things for fun. I'm telling you from long experience over many, many years that swingarm bearings and shock linkages that haven't been maintained will be shot. It's not guesswork. It's experience. Whether you choose to believe me or not is irrelevant. When you take the swingarm out chances are the bearings will look like this.

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You cannot, physically, reinstall a bearing like that and the needles in the linkage will likely come out as dust.

I just bought an elevator platform.
As soon as I get it I will take a look at those links.
Thanks.

Hello, i had the same problem with oilleakage, at the back, I changed the sealing of the crankshaft, it looked good, reassambled everything, and still leaking after a decent testdrive. : at the end it were the 2 O- rings from the pipe at the back of the oilsump. while riding the oil was trown up to the hole where you had seen the oil coming from. and then after stopping it looked like coming from that hole. i bought 2 new rings for .0,50 euro, and problem solved. Good luck. Jos

Hi Jos,
I will take a good look at those too.
Boy, what a relief that would be...
I'm also hopping it could be excess of oil (still below the Full mark...). I took a small ride last WE and had no oil drops on the Garage todas...fingers crossed.

Thanks.

Hi,

Finally I went for the linkage bearings.
I came out with this out-of-the-box bike stand using a small scissor bench and a wooden laddle...it looked scary in the begining but it turned outr to be stable. Some pics attached.
There were some signs of rust on the outside of the links, but the bearings were not so bad. The inner races came out smoothly and were in good shape. I din't had much time, so I went for the "needle grease massage" instead of taking the needles out, clean them and grease them. I wish I had done it now...
I noticed some friction damage between the inners surfaces of the wishbone legs and the link with the 3 bearings (can be seen on the photos). Is this common?[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
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Hi Matias - i am very impressed by the condition of your bearings and you probably did just as well massaging the grease in.

I had side thrust markings the same as yours from the split fork onto my triple link -- either the frame is not straight or the triple link is not bored parallel. Quite frankly it is more likely the frame as parallel boring is not rocket science.

Hi Jon,

Probably there is a reason for the condition of the bearings. In these 40 K I only recall riding 2 or 3 times under the rain...I wash the bike with low pressure and the water jet comes sideways, not penetrating the gaps...that must be it...

Wear on the double conrod is common. Did you do the bearings in the wishbone as well?

Hi Pete.
Yes, I greased them all.

Good job. I've decided on my bikes I'll make it a once every three years sort of service item along with the swingarm bearings.

I really noticed a difference in how the rear suspension felt after the recent service they were given. I was aware that I might just be imagining a change before it was done so I went out on a road I know well and paid a lot of attention to it felt and behaved. I repeated the same experiment after the service and it was a definite and substantial improvement. Another customer with a 1200 Sport actually called me up 'Gushing' about how enormously improved his bike was after I'd informed him of the need to inspect and he found everything to be a complete mess. New bearings and a new double con-rod and bearings for the wishbone and he realised that his suspension had effectively been sized up pretty much solid beforehand! 'Hard Tail' Sport anyone?

Pete Roper wrote:

'Hard Tail' Sport anyone?

I think not. Tony, grease your dogbone at your earliest opportunity!

Have you done the swingarm bearings yet Tony? If not they will almost certainly be toast.

Er no Pete, was on my to do list when I arrived up here - "other" things have been getting in the way - though the garage is now "workable". I'll do the lot in a few weeks.

Not that I will probably get a response, make sure you check the play on the cardan shaft universal joints, pops off with a turn of a large screwdriver.
An add to this that only came to mind later, so front universal joint failed on one axis and rear is perfect, is it not possible to swap these two around as the front needs all four axis but the rear needs no such play. From bevel box to the shaft it is fixed, movement range is at the front?
Why did they not just supply a splined shaft to the bevel box instead of a universal joint.

Really like that idea Matias to use the bikes weight with a front tie down, clever

For the same reason that rear wheel drive cars have a trunnion at both the front and back.

As the shaft turns and the suspension moves up and down there is a sinusoidal input, a winding up and down, of the shaft turning it into a huge torsion spring. If you use a Hookes coupling at either end these sinusoidal forces cancel each other out, (Pretty much.). If you use only one the load fluctuations have to be accommodated elsewhere. If you look at the shaft system on the V7 series there is only a single trunnion. To cope with the forces there is a very flexible Cush drive in the rear wheel made of soft rubber cushions. If you want to see how soft? Find someone with a V7/Breva 750 or whatever with a centrestand. Put it on the stand and stick it in gear, (Engine off of course.) and just rock the rear wheel back and forth. It sort of goes 'Boin-n-n-g' back and forth! Fun for a minute if you're easily amused like me! Thing is though that 'Give' in the rubber blocks is there to deal with the sinusoidal forces. Fine for a smallblock with very limited suspension travel and power but try it with a CRC bike with 100 HP at the rear wheel and a fucktonne of torque and it would shred the rubbers in very short order.

On the Cali 1400's, even with limited wheel travel, they returned the face cam shock absorber to the gearbox and returned to a twin trunnion shaft.

Oz1200Guzzi wrote:

Er no Pete, was on my to do list when I arrived up here - "other" things have been getting in the way - though the garage is now "workable". I'll do the lot in a few weeks.

Do you want me to send you a pair of bearings and seals so you have them on hand? Just send them back if you don't need them.

Maybe worth checking

The oil breather drain pipe that goes into the back of the sump may be perished and leaking - bit like a hatchback the oil vapour is drawn back onto the clutch bellhousing.

You will have to uncover the protective braid to check

Pete Roper wrote:

Oz1200Guzzi wrote:

Er no Pete, was on my to do list when I arrived up here - "other" things have been getting in the way - though the garage is now "workable". I'll do the lot in a few weeks.

Do you want me to send you a pair of bearings and seals so you have them on hand? Just send them back if you don't need them.

Pete that would be good. I'll PM you.

BrianD wrote:

Maybe worth checking

The oil breather drain pipe that goes into the back of the sump may be perished and leaking - bit like a hatchback the oil vapour is drawn back onto the clutch bellhousing.

You will have to uncover the protective braid to check

Thanks Brian

Hi everyone,

I'm coming back to this old thread...
Today I had again a drop of oil in the garage floor...I took a look at the sump and could see some oil smearing at the surface (a couple of pictures attached. Sorry I don't know why but some pictures came upside down...). I am in doubt if this oil can be coming from the crankshaft seal or the sump gasket...I did the "finger through the window of the clutch bell" recommended by Pete and it came out with dust, not grease...
Could this be a blown sump gasket? I checked the sump bolts and they are all tight...
Is it common for these gaskets to blow up?

Thanks guys

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It depends whether it is coming out of the slot in the bottom of the bell housing or from the sump or spacer gasket.

If you can't tell the simple thing would be replace the sump and spacer gaskets and see if that cures it. If it doesn't then it must be a leak within the bell housing. If it's engine oil it will either be from the rear main seal, (Unlikely.) or the flange gasket, the bottom two bolts that hold the flange, or the welch plug on the end of the cam bearing.

Thanks Pete.
Besides these 2 gaskets (plus oil, filter) is there anything I should order in advance?
Is it as straightforward as draining the oil, removing the filter, disconnecting the metal tube, unbolting the sump and pulling everything down?

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Yes, just use an aftermarket, thick, gasket for between the spacer and block. Not one of the crappy factory ones.