I looked through the forum some and didn't see a thread with my problem.


My DS(02 baja) has had an oil leak for awhile. Not horrible, I change my oil after every Glamis trip and check it every day while there so I wasn't worried about it. Anyways, it looked like it was leaking from the case seal. I torqued all the bolts on the case, it still leaked. I didn't want to split the case just for that. Well over New Years at Glamis we were doing the Glamis to Buttercup ride and on the way back I was 5th gear pinned after stopping for a break and telling my group to keep going, just wanted to turn my helmet cam on. So I was pinned for a minute or 2 catching up(I kept thinking this is not good for it) then looked down cause I thought I saw something out of the corner of my eye. Well it was a cloud of smoke coming off the exhaust!
So I stop and jumped off and there was oil burning on the exhaust. While I was stopping I saw what looked like oil spraying onto it. It looks like its coming from behind the starter or the side of it or somewhere. There was a lot of oil coming down from behind the starter on the engine. Might be coming from higher. I wont know more until this weekend. I'm going home from college this weekend and plan on looking at it.

It didn't lose power or run weird or anything. Checked the oil on the spot and it said it had enough(full), but I knew it lost a lot of oil so we towed it back to camp. Quad towing me ran out of gas about 100ft from camp so I rode it back that little bit and it was fine.

So is there a known problem like this? Anything I should look for? I'm thinking maybe some of the sealant or gasket(don't know what it is) inbetween the case got blown out. I'm gonna call Ron Wood tomorrow and see if he has heard of anything like this, and get a quote on a new top end and stuff...pretty much his stage 2 kit installed. If I split the case to reseal it may as well freshen her up, new top end, new bearings and such...


Thanks for reading(I know I type too much) and hopefully thanks for the help.

Steven

 

This leak is very very common at long WOT pulls & is simple to fix. Also keep in mind a large amount of smoke can be created from a very small amount oil. I have personally dealt with this issue myself. What has happened is during the long pull, enough heat was created to slightly soften the valve cover gasket. The bolts holding the valve cover have stops on them along with rubber seals. There are some times when a bolt or two gets loose and oil is lost around the rubber grommets. Also as the grommets get old and soft when heated, the valve cover gasket looses torque/tension. But more often than not, the leak is coming from the valve cover on the front of the engine. There is a good resoivor of oil infront of the exhaust cam due to the forward tilt of the engine. The gasket gets soft, coupled with crankcase pressure & that resovoir & runs down the head, onto the headers & continues down behind the starter, fiinishing up at the front of the case. Give everything a tightening while inspecting the grommets and gasket & you should be good to go ... replace as necc. to achieve proper torque for sealing.

 

Another commen oil leak is from the starter seal (seal on starter nose). The best way I have found to fix this leak is to pull it apart and get the oring off - buy the next bigger size from your local parts place on put it back together. It will be hard to put together because of the bigger oring -but this should stop the leak.

 

Okay, so I got to look at it. I cleaned it all up and its obviously leaking from behind the starter. I revved it up and I saw smoke coming from the exhaust. I couldn't tell where it's spraying from, but there is oil leaking down the engine from behind the starter. It's not coming from the head gasket. Next time I go home later this month I will take the starter off. Hopefully It's just the seal.

I will try that MRDS650, sounds like my problem thanks


Steven

 

Glamis to Buttercup ride? So the dunes are open between the 2... How long does it take? I'm looking for more riding there...

 

ya its open. in between the canal and the closure is open and it goes from glamis to gordons well. you take the bridge over the highway and you get to buttercup that way. i think its about 30 miles one way. just crusin in 5th gear it takes about 45min to an hour one way maybe. i've done it many times but honestly have never looked at the time to do it. i know my DS wont make it there and back with some duning in buttercup on a tank, so bring some extra gas, a gallon will do(for me it does).

 

Mrds650,
Are any of these the o-ring that might need replaced. I figured there would be an o-ring right on the starter shaft, but it isn't showing one there. From what I get from the diagram is that 3 sits on the starter shaft and 4 rides on 3 which is the gear on the starter. Then 5 sits on the back of the engine side gear and has a spacer then an o-ring that sits in the case. 36 is KLUEBE PASTE 46 MR 401, 60 GR, is that a sealant? Is there also an o-ring there? I'd like to kinda know what I'm getting into before I jump into it. Luckily we have the shop manual, I'll use that when I do it.

Thanks
Steven

 

7 isn't an o-ring, but rather a washer. 36 points to the o-ring on the starter.

I'm curious as to how a leak there can "spray" on the exhaust though ?

 

Well it looks like it was the starter o-ring. I was gonna go home from college this weekend and pull the starter but my Dad said he already did it the weekend before. He said the o-ring was defiantly bad. Said he went to the local hardware store and got a little bigger o-ring and put it all back together. He said he ran it this weekend and didn't see any oil leaking. So as of now it looks like that was my problem, I'm going to Glamis all next week so we'll see how it holds up.

Thanks for the help!
Steven

 

ok so i just got back from the dunes and the oil leak is still there. when i have time gotta look to see what else it could be. any more ideas?


Steven