Oil Leak.

Hi, iv got an oil leak at the front sprocket on my 99 SVS and i need some advice. Iv done a search and some people suggest tighting the sproket bolt and others say to replace the seal. Is this easy to do? or is it better to take it to a mechanic? and does anyone know how much this may cost? I need it fixed very soon (wednesday ) as my bike is my only form of transport. thanks.

depends how good you are with mechanics on bikes etc...?if you have never done that sort of thing you may be best 2 leave it 2 someone who has done or no how 2.

[NedSVS]

I doubt very much that tightening the sprocket nut (not bolt) will help. The oil seal is probably worn and will need replacing; and it will probably have worn a slight groove in the sprocket spacer too, but you may get away with reversing this spacer (after a good clean up) so the seal lip is running on a different part of it. The spacer also has a o-ring seal on the inside of it and it might be a good idea to replace this at the same time. The sprocket nut should be very tight (well over 100nm torque) and engine sprocket replacement has been covered numerous times on the forum, so try a search. You will need a 32mm socket for the sprocket nut.

[punyXpress]

Didn't someone have a similar problem a few days ago on here?
It was caused by a breather that had been dislodged.

Hi,

I had an oi leak which I presumed was the output shaft oil seal, turned out to be the rear crankcase breather pipe wasn't connected.

Take off the plastic sprocket cover and clean the area with parafin or degreaser and confirm exactly whats leaking.

There's four possibilities: Output shaft oil seal, clutch rod oil seal, gear selector shaft oil seal and finally check the above mentioned breather pipe.

As for tightening down the sprocket retaining nut to cure a leak from the oil seal, this only applies when the nut is not torqued down properly, bear in mind this torqued down 145nm (very tight).

Hope this helps.