Ive been having problems with what i thought was an oil leak. It looks like oil and it smells like oil but my oil levels are just fine. ive checked them hot and cold and it has never been low but the amount its leaking it should be empty. Recently i started having problems with getting it into 1st gear. Could this be transmission fluid?
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Leaking fluid but oil levels ok.
- Thread starter seren22
- Start date
It is a shared sump meaning there is just oil for both the engine and transmission. Are you certain there is not gas leaking into the oil?
MechNewb
XS400 Addict
Can you see where its leaking from? I would suspect as HouhgMade said, there is gas in your oil.
Too me, that is a missing bolt hole. oil works it way from the the Oil sump,(under the Oil fill cap) then the Oil pump pushes the oil thought the filter, to the Head, and stator side, With all that said, Would gas mess up first gear? Sure its possible the oil we recommend is JASC MA, if the fuel can water that down, and you can possible lose the neccessary stuff for Clutch lubrcation.
Next steps?
1. Smell the oil under the oil fill cap. does it smell like fuel? Drain it, replace filter and refill with MA coded oil. (Shell Rotella-T is highly recommended by me)
2. No fuel smell? What type of oil did you put in their last time? was it MA? Drain it, replace filter and refill with MA coded oil.
3. Clutch adjustment could be out. See thread http://www.xs400.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10687&page=3
# 33, 50, and 60 something. Have pics, and or manual printouts.
4. if 1 or 2 didn't solve your problem? did you bend you shift armature? could you have been shifting with out the wheels moving? I am thinking of 3 things attached to the gearing stuff, that affects gearing shifting, not including damage to the 1st gear sprocket.
I have even had the clutch lining get out and screwup my clutching, and getting in and out of gears.
Good luck!
tobie
Next steps?
1. Smell the oil under the oil fill cap. does it smell like fuel? Drain it, replace filter and refill with MA coded oil. (Shell Rotella-T is highly recommended by me)
2. No fuel smell? What type of oil did you put in their last time? was it MA? Drain it, replace filter and refill with MA coded oil.
3. Clutch adjustment could be out. See thread http://www.xs400.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10687&page=3
# 33, 50, and 60 something. Have pics, and or manual printouts.
4. if 1 or 2 didn't solve your problem? did you bend you shift armature? could you have been shifting with out the wheels moving? I am thinking of 3 things attached to the gearing stuff, that affects gearing shifting, not including damage to the 1st gear sprocket.
I have even had the clutch lining get out and screwup my clutching, and getting in and out of gears.
Good luck!
tobie
You talked about an "amount" of oil, not just a drip which spreads into a 6" stain.
Oil doesn't replicate and the bike can't make it out of thin air so for the level to stay the same and for there to be a significant "amount" leaked out, something is getting into the oil to replace the volume you are seeing on the ground.
It's not likely water so it has to be fuel - unless - you have a friend or family member with a sick sense of humour leaving oil under your bike to drive you nuts. Come to think of it, that could be a pretty likely scenario .
If it is gas in the oil and it happens consistently (as opposed to one single incident), then you will need to repair the breach in the gas/oil barrier in addition to replacing the oil and the oil filter. I read on another site that when replacing oil that an owner put in by mistake, one should squeeze the clutch lever and hold it tight with a bungee while warming the engine and then while draining. The advocate for this said it allowed more of the "bad" oil to drain off all the clutch plates if they were separated. Couldn't hurt.
Oil doesn't replicate and the bike can't make it out of thin air so for the level to stay the same and for there to be a significant "amount" leaked out, something is getting into the oil to replace the volume you are seeing on the ground.
It's not likely water so it has to be fuel - unless - you have a friend or family member with a sick sense of humour leaving oil under your bike to drive you nuts. Come to think of it, that could be a pretty likely scenario .
If it is gas in the oil and it happens consistently (as opposed to one single incident), then you will need to repair the breach in the gas/oil barrier in addition to replacing the oil and the oil filter. I read on another site that when replacing oil that an owner put in by mistake, one should squeeze the clutch lever and hold it tight with a bungee while warming the engine and then while draining. The advocate for this said it allowed more of the "bad" oil to drain off all the clutch plates if they were separated. Couldn't hurt.
ken56
XS400 Enthusiast
There are only two fluids in your bike. oil and fuel. If the oil level is not going down it could be fuel. Does it smell like gas? Pull your fuel line off the carb with petcock in prime position. Should have no fuel flow. If its leaking its filling your crank case with gas diluting/thinning your oil allowing it to leak past oil seals. If this is the case fix the fuel problem and don't run the bike until you change the oil.
MechNewb
XS400 Addict
If the petcock is in the prime position, there should be fuel flowing. The petcock is vacuum actuated so there should be no flow in the ON or Res position.
ken56
XS400 Enthusiast
OOPS!
Thanks for the correction. Prime is full flow and res and on are vacuum operated.
And yes Dave, 4 fluids. 5 if you count the bottle of water in my pouch. Non of which would resemble an oil leak or cause a shifting problem so I went with the obvious. I will admit I never thought about battery overflow.
Thanks for the correction. Prime is full flow and res and on are vacuum operated.
And yes Dave, 4 fluids. 5 if you count the bottle of water in my pouch. Non of which would resemble an oil leak or cause a shifting problem so I went with the obvious. I will admit I never thought about battery overflow.
Hishman
XS400 Addict
A problem i had was oil leaking from the clutch pushrod seal. Turns out the oil was too full causing it to overflow out the seal. This could be your problem referring to the oil leak. I didn't noticed the oil level change much either. It is still about half a mm from the top line in the window.
See ya, I have an "All over the bottom of the engine Oil leak" I haven't been able to pin it down to one spot or other. So tomorrow, I am going to torque down all the Oil dump bolts, and Consider pulling out the sump check panel. I have the oposite problem, It doest pool oil on the floor, but it coats everything. I drive 2 days to work (120 miles) and I have to put the oil back between the full lines again. So right now I have duct tape on the different seals, trying to isolate the source of my leak.
Seal with yamaha covering the time stuff. (super minor leak, probablely should have gone with the wheaties cereal box, in stead of Cocoa Puffs) $6. bucks for
Oil Pressure sending unit was in, not tight. Held on by the wire, but sat in the hole.
Seal with yamaha covering the time stuff. (super minor leak, probablely should have gone with the wheaties cereal box, in stead of Cocoa Puffs) $6. bucks for
Oil Pressure sending unit was in, not tight. Held on by the wire, but sat in the hole.
Airsick
XS400 Member
Hey everyone, this seemed like an appropriate spot for my post before creating a new one. I started my xs400 about 2 months ago and went for one quick ride as it was pretty cold but no ice/snow on the ground. I then parked the bike because I need to sync the carbs before I continued to do more riding. I noticed after the next several days that I was getting an oil leak. As time as went by it was a pretty big leak and there is a lot of fluid on the ground. It looked like there was a slightly redish color to it, but it has the consistency of oil, I also thought that it smelled more like gas than oil to me. I will admit to my being naive that I didn't realize that PRI was prime, and I hadn't looked it up until this incident, I don't think that I left the petcock to PRI thinking primary, but that could have happened, I honestly can't remember. Now that the weather has been warming up for a ride I was looking at the bike again, the clutch has no resistance now and is just very loose. I will check the oil levels to see if there is oil there or not, but I didn't think much about it as I bought oil to do an oil change as part of spring servicing. Any ideas ? I can get pictures upon request. Thanks for helping a naive, new XS enthusiast.
My problem turned out to be a maladjusted valves. Oil was coming out the exhaust port on the head. If your smelling fuel in the oil mix, its time to change your oil. Generally the fuel smell will caused by either a faulty float, perhaps the petcock is not working right. Like I said earlier in this thread, torque the bolts to spec, perhaps check your valves. It is normal maintenance.
IF you have gas in the oil, do not run the engine until you have changed the oil and fixed what is causing the gas to get into the oil. It may be a petcock issue, but if your float needle and seat are in good condition, that should prevent fuel flow when the bike is not running. Check the float height as well as the needle and seat. If the float isn't working correctly, that can let fuel into the carb which will eventually get into the oil. Remeber to check the oil when the bike is sitting straight up (on the center stand, not the side stand). If you have any doubt about gas in the oil, change it.
There is only one fluid in the crankcase and transmission...or rather there should be- oil. Motorcycle or diesel oil. Regular auto oil may mess up the operation of the wet clutch.
Couple of questions- Where is the oil leak coming from? Have you adjusted the clutch cable per the manual (available in pdf form on this site)? Is it the cable that is loose, or the clutch itself?
There is only one fluid in the crankcase and transmission...or rather there should be- oil. Motorcycle or diesel oil. Regular auto oil may mess up the operation of the wet clutch.
Couple of questions- Where is the oil leak coming from? Have you adjusted the clutch cable per the manual (available in pdf form on this site)? Is it the cable that is loose, or the clutch itself?
Airsick
XS400 Member
It seemed that oil was dripping/leaking down some cables that were right around the side stand. As far as the clutch, I guess it would more be the clutch cable, as when I pulled the clutch there was no resistance like there should have been if the clutch was actually engaging, there is quite a large pool of the oiliy substance that has drained. I have been meaning to take the carbs off and give them a good clean, I'm just not sure where to start now that there has been this leak.
Airsick
XS400 Member
I've had a similar issue arfstrom so I will need to look into the valves too because I have noticed that oil seems to come out of the exhaust ports and will slowly trickle down on each side of the heads when the bike is running, so long as my terminology is what I think it is
Yup that won't hurt. Start a oil leak photo album. I did. Its still there. All the embarrassment.
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anonymosaurus_rXS400
XS400 Member
Hey guys,
I wanted to jump in this forum because the problems described here seem to fit the problems I am having on the bike. Like previous posters arfstrom and airsick I have gas leaking into my oil; frankly I have gas leaking everywhere. I live in the south so it never gets THAT cold, but we did have a couple nights of freezing temps; not sure how this plays into my issue. It's not the petcock as I have disconnected the fuel line to the carbs and there is no leak there. There is a considerable amount of gas in the H-vent leading to both air filters, as well as what appears to be gas (smells like gas, kind of feels like oil) under the bike, coming from two cables near the kick stand.
I believe there is a problem with the diaphragms in my carbs; last time I opened them up the diaphragm seemed flimsy, weak, and old. Could this be leading to my issue of leaking gas into my oil and air filters and down the bike?
Some info to keep in mind: the petcock was on Reserve for a couple weeks and the oil choke was pulled out to full choke for the same time (a mistake made by a frustrated past self that couldn't get the bike to start up); would this have any effect? I drained the carbs of gas and kept the petcock disconnected in hopes of figuring out if my oil box is leaking also :|
Help please! I haven't ridden in weeks I'm dying.
I wanted to jump in this forum because the problems described here seem to fit the problems I am having on the bike. Like previous posters arfstrom and airsick I have gas leaking into my oil; frankly I have gas leaking everywhere. I live in the south so it never gets THAT cold, but we did have a couple nights of freezing temps; not sure how this plays into my issue. It's not the petcock as I have disconnected the fuel line to the carbs and there is no leak there. There is a considerable amount of gas in the H-vent leading to both air filters, as well as what appears to be gas (smells like gas, kind of feels like oil) under the bike, coming from two cables near the kick stand.
I believe there is a problem with the diaphragms in my carbs; last time I opened them up the diaphragm seemed flimsy, weak, and old. Could this be leading to my issue of leaking gas into my oil and air filters and down the bike?
Some info to keep in mind: the petcock was on Reserve for a couple weeks and the oil choke was pulled out to full choke for the same time (a mistake made by a frustrated past self that couldn't get the bike to start up); would this have any effect? I drained the carbs of gas and kept the petcock disconnected in hopes of figuring out if my oil box is leaking also :|
Help please! I haven't ridden in weeks I'm dying.
anonymosaurus_rXS400
XS400 Member
Here is a picture of the underside where the gas-like fluid is leaking:
The red circle is where the majority of the fluid is sourced from, and it runs down the two cables, builds up and drops. The gap between metal parts in the blue circle seems to be accumulating some fluid as well.
There was gas-like fluid on the part of my chain that was harbored inside the engine. After draining my carbs/float bowls and disconnecting petcock, the fluid seems to have slowed. Hoping this is a good sign that my oil box isn't leaking.
Also, can anyone explain to me what the knob next to the blue circle is and what it's purpose is?
There was gas-like fluid on the part of my chain that was harbored inside the engine. After draining my carbs/float bowls and disconnecting petcock, the fluid seems to have slowed. Hoping this is a good sign that my oil box isn't leaking.
Also, can anyone explain to me what the knob next to the blue circle is and what it's purpose is?
