Oil leak

[dashfixer]

I've just ridden home from work to find oil dripping from under the bike. I've traced it back and found a reasonable amount of oil coming from under the plastic alternator belt cover.

I'm planning for the worse and hoping for the best. Worst case seems to be the crankshaft oil seal has let go, best case balance shaft cover o ring has gone.

How easy is it to get the front engine cover off without taking the forward suspension apart. Also if any one has replaced the oil seal behind the belt pulley is it fairly straight forward?

The bike is an 09 1200gs. I'm an aircraft maintenance engineer and so will be doing the work myself. I understand that if I do have to replace the seal that there are a couple of seal installation tools that BMW can supply. Do you really need them, if so I will knock them up on my lathe.

Any advice from someone that has done this job would be greatly appreciated.

Rich

 

[dashfixer]

I've just ridden home from work to find oil dripping from under the bike. I've traced it back and found a reasonable amount of oil coming from under the plastic alternator belt cover.

I'm planning for the worse and hoping for the best. Worst case seems to be the crankshaft oil seal has let go, best case balance shaft cover o ring has gone.

How easy is it to get the front engine cover off without taking the forward suspension apart. Also if any one has replaced the oil seal behind the belt pulley is it fairly straight forward?

The bike is an 09 1200gs. I'm an aircraft maintenance engineer and so will be doing the work myself. I understand that if I do have to replace the seal that there are a couple of seal installation tools that BMW can supply. Do you really need them, if so I will knock them up on my lathe.

Any advice from someone that has done this job would be greatly appreciated.

Rich

 

[GrumpyTwo]

I done this same job about six months ago, I’m no mechanic and it only took me an hour from start to finish.
I took off the front wheel, left the suspension alone, removing the bolts from the engine cover was the hardest part but after that it was relatively easy.
I used the old seal to drift in the new seal, no special tools required, I let the old seal sit in a glass of oil overnight to soften it a bit, removed the old seal, fitted the new one and drifted it in to place with the old one, used my fingers to push the seal around the shaft (those instructions are as per Motoworks when I bought the seal) and refitted the cover with a bit of red sealant. I also changed the bearing whilst I was in there, I used a SFK bearing for £4 rather than the BMW £20 equivalent.
I changed mine because the engine cover had corroded all the way through and was leaking, I haven’t seen any leaks since so I must have done something right.

 

[dashfixer]

Thanks very much GrumpyTwo you're a gent.

I'm at work until Tuesday so I'll take your advice and replace the seal then. You never know it might be just 1 of the O rings!

This forum is fantastic for stuff like this.

Rich

 

[dippy]

Are you sure it's from behind the cover? Something to consider: I had the same, oil coing from under the plastic alternator cover. the actual leak was from the oil temp sensor and the oil was dribbling down and soaking into the foam that sits behind the alternator cover. confused the hell out of me as once i'd sorted the oil leak there was still oil showing from the cover. took the cover off, squeezed out the oil and all sorted.

 

[Pukmeister]

Same thing happened to Rowbo99 whilst touring, oil leaking from the alloy sealing washer of the oil temp sensor, right hand side atop the engine block near where the para lever arm bolts to the engine.

 

[dashfixer]

Well Dippy and Pukmeister you were both right. Oil was coming from the oil temp sensor sealing washer. I was quite pleased as it's an easier and cheaper job.

One good thing to come from this is while taking off the plastic cover I found that the alternator drive belt had a hole 1/2 its width in it!

Another good thing is no sign of any corrosion on the front engine cover, and no foam seal on the plastic cover.

Thanks for all your help guys.

Rich

 

[Bendy toy]

Was it an aluminium sealing washer?

 

[dashfixer]

Yes it was, nicely corroded away as well. I've replaced it with a dowty washer and I'll be doing the same with all the other ally sealing washers!