The Yamaha Road Star Warrior Forum

I'm currently on a short trip with my '04 Warrior and it seams to have sprung an oil leak!  While running a operating temp, it's dripping regularly right below the primary drive sprocket.  After cooling, this stops.  I made it to Eugene, OR from Bend, about 2.5 hrs without losing too much, but I need to get back!  Any ideas about what this might be?  I'm thinking of riding it back with a couple spare quarts and checking it a few times just to get it home.  If I can prevent it from ever getting too low, is this likely to result in any damage?  Any advice will be appreciated!

First, as long as you keep the oil levels up, you should be ok, be aware of oil getting on your back tires! 

To help diagnos the problem, how many miles does it have on it?  Where again do you think it is leaking from?  Are you sure its engine oil and not transfercase oil?, have you checked all of the bolts for tightness?

 Can you tell if its comming from behind the pully?If it is its not motor oil it would be gear oil have you added or changed either recently?If so are you sure you didnt over fill I over filled the gear oil and it leaked under the transfer case/front pully

My original thought was that it is gear oil, however that level is fine and the oil level is dropping slowly.  Both oils were recently changed and I think the level is right on the gear oil. 

This is an '04 with about 5700 miles on it.  The oil is dripping from right below the drive pulley.  I pulled the cover and found oil behind it.  It smells, looks and feels like engine oil and the oil level has been dropping slowly. 

Is the drive pully is the one with the belt on it?  Check for signs of wear on the pully and shaft.  There has been an issue regarding the pully getting loose and it can cause that shaft to wear out and that might be what has caused your leak.

Also, if you can, take some pictures, and post them up.  I think it is easiest to post them in the gallery.

Found that this is actually gear oil, it just wasn't leaking at the rate that it appeared.  My dealer stated the seal is probably bad,  I looked at the schematic and see the oil seal is right behind the pulley.  Asked my dealer about changing that seal and he responded it would require cracking the case and would be a major job.  This seems a little odd as it is right behind the pulley.  Anyone know if he's correct about that? 

Im kinda confused.  To my knowledge the only place that there is gear oil is in the transfer case.  If it is indeed the seal behind the pully you might have to crack the case if it installs from the inside.  If it is infact gear oil you will know by the very "sharp" smell for lack of a better term.  It will linger in your nose for a while.  The place you are describing seems like it would infact be motor oil.  Has the dealer actually looked at it?  Without having seen it it would be hard to make an accurate diagnosis.  I am very interested to find out your resolution to this.  Let us know!

Your dealer has prolly NOT taken a RoadStar apart before. That seal can be replaced in-frame without splitting anything. The thing is... that seal doesn't go bad unless you have other problems.  Very likely, the drive belt is too tight, causing the front pulley nut to come loose, causing a vibration in the drive shaft that will make that seal leak. If the splines are still good, re-torquing the pulley nut will stop the vibe and the leak. Lots of press on this, I'll see if I can dig up some links.

http://rswarrior.com/forums/p/20832/324166.aspx#324166

http://rswarrior.com/forums/t/2868.aspx?PageIndex=2

http://rswarrior.com/forums/p/23565/352523.aspx#352523

http://rswarrior.com/forums/p/22855/282747.aspx#282747

Have you looked under the cover? Is there red dust or red greasy stuff in there?? Check the pulley nut torque???

Ok, pulled the cover and took some pics.  Obviously have quite a bit of the red dust your talking about mixed in with the gear oil which is everywhere.  The nut is loose and rotates freely about 1/4" either way.  I giggled the sprocket at the bottom and it has a little play.  The belt is positioned all the way to the edge of the left side and is very tight.  I rode this a total of around 260 miles like this to get back home and am concerned this may have caused further damage.  Here are some links to the pic's.  

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=150764432&albumID=1843586&imageID=24646444

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=150764432&albumID=1843586&imageID=24646450

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=150764432&albumID=1843586&imageID=24646467

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=150764432&albumID=1843586&imageID=24646478

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=150764432&albumID=1843586&imageID=24646485

Gear oil leaks at front pulley? http://rswarrior.com/forums/p/21621/961041.aspx#961041

This is the Final Belt Drive ... The Primary Drive is the Cranshaft to the Transmission Input shaft via a spur gear under the clutch cover 

AlanH:

Here's an 'A' typical loose pulley failure and loss of differential fluid. As the middle shaft splines become coined and worn from the hardened frt pulley, the fluid begins to seep and leak around the small o-ring seal on the middle shaft between the spacer and brg behind the frt pulley. The leak is not from the mechanical seal... i repeat... the leak is not from the mechanical seal . To get this bike back on the road we removed the naked pulley adapter plate (improperly installed), inspected prime components and tightened the $hit out of the front pulley nut

Ok, so I'm going to pull that pulley tonight and check out the splines.  Can you tell me the size of the pulley nut?  I don't have a socket that large so will have to find one.  Anything other then the condition of the splines I should look for?  Obviously I need to loosen the belt as it has NO play.  How much should there be?  I'm a little pissed as I had that tire changed at the beginning of the season and they obviously put it back too tight.  Thanks for the pic and all your help!   

dbreuer:

Ok, so I'm going to pull that pulley tonight and check out the splines.  Can you tell me the size of the pulley nut?  I don't have a socket that large so will have to find one. 

• The pulley nut is currently loose so you won't need the 36mm 6-pt 1/2" drive socket for the inspection tonight. Just bend back the tab on the splined washer before removal.

Anything other then the condition of the splines I should look for?

• Ken aka Bladerunr has provided some really excellent links on the subject

Obviously I need to loosen the belt as it has NO play. ....  YES

How much should there be? .... I pass on this

I'm a little pissed as I had that tire changed at the beginning of the season and they obviously put it back too tight. 

• IMO, this failure didn't happen overnight .... it would take 8,000-12,000 miles. The root cause of the problem is described in the links.

Thanks for the pic and all your help! .... you are welcome

SO here are a few pics of the pulley and shaft, any thoughts?  When I pulled the collar off the shaft, around a couple tablespoons of gear oil leaked out and there seams to be around 1/4" play when I push or pull the shaft in/out, is this normal?      

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=150764432&albumID=1843586&imageID=24677113

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=150764432&albumID=1843586&imageID=24677159

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=150764432&albumID=1843586&imageID=24677163

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=150764432&albumID=1843586&imageID=24677167

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=150764432&albumID=1843586&imageID=24677172

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=150764432&albumID=1843586&imageID=24677183

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=150764432&albumID=1843586&imageID=24677185