Crankcase (PTO) seal blowing oil

ReX

ReX

TY 4 Stroke God
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I don't know if I got stuck with a lemon, but my sled seems to have it's share of problems.

It seems my PTO seal is leaking lots of oil still. It was changed 240 kms ago and now there's at least as much oil dribbling down in front of and around the primary clutch again.

How common is oil leaking past this seal?

How much oil do you guys see "weeping" out in this area?

I just checked mine and in 240 kms there is enough to dribble down the bottom of the belt guard and "just" start to drip off the front right (throttle) side of the guard.

We're leaving for a 3500 kms trip this Sunday. I'm not sure if I should bring it in again or just hope the oil doesn't get on the belt too much.

The other possibility is the oil isn't coming from the PTO seal - but where could it be coming from? The dealer thought it was the PTO seal...

I wonder if this is why the motor is turning 10,600 at WOT - a hint of oil on the clutches?
 
Sounds high for pto seal. If it is on the belt cover. Maybe, valve cover gasket or gear reduction cover gasket. Niether one is a big deal. This is the first one I have heard of.
 
It's also running down the plastic panel in front of the clutch and the lower belt guard is coated in oil.

There is a very small puddle at the bottom of the plastic panel (about a teaspoon full).

They changed the cover gasket and the pto seal last Friday and dried off all the oil.

After a 80 kms ride I wiped the oil off again (after getting it back from the dealer) and now the amount of oil is as mentioned. I actually did about 120 km to get this much oil in the area.

I guess I'll have to take it back in. I just don't want to admit to myslef that the sled needs to be dragged to the dealer to be taken apart again.
 
Definately don't ride it on a long trip like that. For one, the leak could get worse and leave you stranded in a vary bad place. Another, it could cause more fatal problems if you lose too much oil. And last, if you run it too long like that, the dealer could claim that it wasn't a "lemon", but that it just wore after many miles, instead of just a few...and if you do have further problems, the dealer could void warranty work based on you riding the sled too long after you noticed the problem.

As for it being a "lemon", I don't think too many, if any, states have an offical "lemon" classification for recreational equipment. For cars, if you have a large enough problem often enough, you can force the dealer to give a replacement. I don't think there is such a thing for power equipment, except maybe on a case by case basis if the dealer or manufacturer volunteers to do it.

Jim
 
sounds stupid but check the foam on the side panel and hood, i had a oil issue same side and thought I had cleaned it all up. Couldn't for the life of me figure out why, after a good cleaning I was still getting oil under the belt guard and small amounts at the base of the side panel until I took off the panel again and brushed the foam with my hand. The foam was soaked with oil. I could run my finger through it and push oil out. I assume the clutch spinning at high revs was sucking out enough to make a mist under the belt guard and every where else. took the side panel to a car wash with brake cleaner and the soap gun. No more oil.
 
Unfortunately it's not oil built up in the foam. The oil is only found on surfaces between the clutch and the engine - where it has been flung out by the clutch.

Closer to the side of the sled, the surfaces and foam are pretty much dry.
 
Are you sure it isn't related to the crankcase breather? That is where the hose connects to the engine. Maybe it is loose or has a small hole. That would put alot of oil in that area.
 
That's what I kept thinking - but now the hose is all taped up with my heated crankcase breather setup.

The hose assembly is dry. Also the hose isn't kinked in any way.

I was also wondering about the possibility of some sort of crankcase porosity issue.

The oil really does look like it's coming from the PTO seal though.

One thing pretty much for sure is the oil started leaking out on a very cold day when the crankcase breather froze up. The crankcase probably had lots of pressure built up inside it causing something to start leaking.

Anyway - gota go take the sled in again...
 
Oil

I had oil all over my clutchs too, thought it was a breather problem. Then thought it was coming from gear reduction cover seal, nope. Head gasket, the oil galley on the clutch side was leaking at head gasket. It was so small, the oil would trickle out and work its way to lower areas and puddle up here and there. Kept me guessing for a while. Good luck.

Muskrat
 
I have oil on my hood foam, but none on my clutches or the belly pan. I can't find where its coming from, but I'm assuming its from the crankcase vent hose somewhere.

Jim
 
Believe it or not, a 3rd seal was installed Wednesday and I went for a good ride that evening (400 kms). At the end of it there was oil all around the PTO seal again. This time not enough to get on the clutches, but that was only after 500 kms total.

It's at the dealers now. Yamaha wants to split the case to install a new PTO shaft, but we're leaving on our trip this weekend. They too are convinced it's leaking from the seal.

Yamaha managed to get a new PTO cover, seal, etc. and went over my sled with a fine tooth comb. It sounds like they worked on it all day, checking every possible thing out. Finally they put it together and took it for a good ride.

Zero leakage - at least so far. Sounds like I'm good to go.

I should give my dealer and Yamaha Canada credit for putting a major effort into getting my sled ready to ride quickly every time I bring it in (weekly recently). This sled really hasn't lived up to the Yamaha reputation for reliability (the fundamental sources of the problems have been fixed in 06 models - grease fittings, improved crankcase breather), but my dealer and Yamaha has come through fixing it up ASAP whenever anything has gone wrong.

Hopefully this will be the last of the problems. I should have close to 10,000 kms on it by the end of next week.
 
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