New OEM gasket leaking any ideas.

[nurse]

Replaced the 23yr old original clutch cover gasket (fibre type material) for a new OEM one. All torqued and retorqued as per yamaha and Haynes specs.  It had a tiny weep to start with but this resolved and I assumed all was good.  It ran at tick over a few times but didn't have a proper run until Sunday.  On return there is quite a bit of oil leaking.  I have had the gasket off and ordered another new OEM one. Couldn't see anything obviously wrong with gasket.  The new gasket had a 'metalised' appearance when it came off and left some residue on the mating surfaces. Kinda looked like pencil lead?

Anyone else had this problem? Any tips or tricks you guys have learnt.

I have checked the faces of the casing and cover and all seem straight and true!

Any value in using some sort of sealant like blue hylomar?

[ribbert]

I use a smear of this stuff (any brand), silicone gasket maker, on ALL those type of gaskets. You only want a smear, press the cover home and put the lightest tension on the bolts. Let it sit for an hour then tighten the bolts. Those gaskets alone will not take up much irregularity in the mating surfaces. Old gasket cement residue can sometimes leave the surface too rough to seal with the gasket alone or it might have been nicked with a scraper.




If you need to disassemble, this gunk doesn't stick to anything and can be peeled off with your fingers. Never have to scrape gasket sealant again. Whoo hooo!

It's handy to have around. I also use it to fill in the gaps of torn gaskets or you can use as intended and make an entire gasket with it. It is not a temporary fix, it is permanent. In fact Doug's (the General) sidecar has about an inch of missing clutch cover gasket substituted with this.

I assume you tighten the bolts in some sort of sequence and a couple of steps so it pulls in evenly and there was nothing sticking to one of the surfaces.

Noel

[FJ1100mjk]

Unless, you botched the clutch cover gasket's install somehow, by letting it slip out of place when putting the cover back in place, knicking the sealing surfaces, or leaving a piece of old gasket on one of them, I doubt that your oil leak is due to the new gasket. Read on... for what I've experienced in this realm. WARNING, IT'S LONGISH!

I've replaced three clutch cover gaskets so far. Two on two separate FJ's to do the replace the narrow fiber clutch disk with a wider fiber clutch disk mod/improvement, and most recently to replace a rubber gasket that seals the Yamaha emblem thing that is centered in the clutch cover thing. Do a search on Annoying Oil Leak to see it, and Randy's link to the needed items.

When I disassembled the clutch cover, I did find the emblem's rubber gasket to be deteriorated and split. When find this, I had an aha moment, and considered the oil leak issue a thing of the past once everything was reassembled. However, on a recent long distance trip that entailed a lot of high-speed running for hours, I found my right boot and shin sprayed with black engine oil. I figured that it had to be coming from the oil filler cap, because I assumed its o-ring was shot. I did an emergency exit en route, and found a suitable replacement for the o-ring. Oil level looked all right at that time, and away I went. No further issues. At least on the way to my destination. However, as I prepared for trip back, I topped off the oil level. On the way back, again, motoroil sprayed all over my right boot and shin!?!?!?

I'm guessing that even though the oil level looked correct in the sight glass on the clutch cover, that I had actually over-filled it, and when I returned to high-speed riding, pressure built up in the crankcase and the oil was forced out in various paths of least resistance. The oil filler cap being one.

There's an old post (do another search if you want), where the proper procedure for checking the FJ's oil level can had. The procedure was argued and debated, but holds merit, based on my experiences. It may be better (at least on my bike) to have the oil level at the midpoint and not the upper limit anymore. Especially if there'll be a lot of high-speed running.

[wyraider]

The black oil resistant rtv is the shizzle