Forum

[Lord-Toady]

Hi

I recently bought a 1993 Indian built Bullet 500 which has a few oil leaks, the worst leak of all is from the primary chaincase. A new rubber seal was provided with various spares that came with the bike so I took the chaincase cover off and drained it. I read that you can use ATF in the chaincase and had a gallon of TRIPLE QX ATF Plus Transmission Fluid in the garage so filled it back up with that after cleaning up the mating surfaces and installing the new seal with a bit of general purpose grease. It looks like ATF was in there before as what came out was red.

Anyway it is still leaking, the leak is not as bad as before but its still quite bad so that after I have run the bike and park it in the garage I have a red patch of ATF under the bike. The owners manual calls for SAE 20 oil in the chaincase so I am wondering if the ATF is a bit too thin and is leaking past the seal more easily than a thicker oil would. I can't find a litre of SAE 20 available cheaply but I can find SAE 30 marketed for lawnmower engines, would that be suitable for the chaincase?

Kind regards
Graham

[PeteF]

Just check it's not leaking from the back of the clutch. Difficult to spot sometimes.

[Lord-Toady]

I got down on the garage floor and tried to have a look under the bike. There is a drip on the back of the case behind the clutch but I am pretty sure the worst of it was coming from the front chaincase rubber seal as could feel the ATF along the seam. I will need to clean everything up and check properly.

[BulletNige]

Hi, I have run my primary (2003 Bullet 350) chain in Red ATF for the past six years with no leaks at all, I have also found that the clutch performs very well with this oil - no drag or sticking.Could the outer case on your bike be slightly warped or have a gouge in the mating surface? Cheers Nige.

[Revband]

If it only leaks when being ridden, Pete is probably right, look to the gearbox shaft seal.

[stinkwheel]

I use ATF in mine and it doesn't leak.



I've got ATF in the one I've just built and it has a 1950's meteor minor outer chaincase fitted on an early 90's bullet inner chaincase and it's not leaking either



It's easy and very tempting to overtighten the chaincase nut so check you haven't because it can deform the casting and actually cause a leak. It's also very easy to persuade yourself to keep nipping it up a little bit more and a little bit more to stop a leak when you actually need to undo the nut and tighten it up just enough. Too far down this road and you or a previous owner, can permanantly deform it. So if you have to remove it again, check it's flat against a bit of glass.



The fact it came with a new o-ring means the previous owner knew it had a leak. The fact he didn't take the 5 minutes to change it suggests he may have known a little more than that because if i was selling a bike, I'd invest 5 minutes in making sure I wasn't selling a leaky bike, especially if I'd already bought the part. But maybe I'm too cynical...

[Lord-Toady]

Well the bike was supplied with a full set of gaskets bought by the previous owner who sold it to the guy who I bought it off who is a bit of a bike dealer on ebay. It was meant to be a low mileage bike but turns out the speedo cable was broken for a few years so I don't know now. I have a receipt in the paperwork for a new piston and cylinder. Will laying the cover on a sheet of glass be enough to see if it has been deformed and can they normally be fixed?

[binary]

I agree with stinkwheel on this one in that the past owner knowing that the seal was leaking should have spent the 5 minutes it takes to fit the new seal instead of selling the bike with a leaking seal. Sounds like it has had a few previous owners as you are the 3rd owner. Saying that you bought it off a bit of a bike dealer on eBay does not inspire confidence. There are some motorcycles put together in India and sold on eBay that can be a bit of a problem. I know because I bought one 3 years ago and had to do a lot of work on it to get it back to how it was when it left the factory. You can use a strait edge to check how flat the case is, but to do this properly you may have to take the inner primary case off and with out the rubber put the 2 cases inner and outer together and check the gap to see how well they are mated up. I have heard that you can use a sheet of glass with some abrasive to get the covers flat again but I do not know about that. I took mine to our local engineering shop and they took care of every thing for me. My cases have not leaked since.

[Mark M]

Yes, a piece of glass will give you a flat enough surface to get an idea of the truth of the outer cover, however the inner case may be warped as well or it may be the warped part itself. Taking the inner off is a lot more involved! A quick fix may be to run a thickish bead of silicone sealant into the groove in the inner case, let it part set and then push the rubber bead in, let it fully set and then put the outer cover on. I did this as a temporary fix on a twin and although it wasn't a 100% solution it got the leak to a point where I could actually test the bike!

REgards, Mark

[Lord-Toady]

Thanks for the tip, I might try the silicon for now as I want to be riding this bike rather than having it in bits as I already have two other bikes in the the garage that are not ridable and the Enfield was supposed to be a riding bike.