oil Leak

[EVAHank]

Hi, All (and Carl, the Guru, I Hope!)
I went to a rally put on by the LSV last fall, and started having problems with my '03 VXII. I started smelling burning oil. It doesn't seem to be the exhaust, it apparently is coming from the left side of the engine around the gear changer area. I've been keeping an eye out for drips on the ground, but there are none, so I'm assuming that it only happens under pressure.
Question: Can anyone guess the location of the leak and how hard would it be to fix (would I have to 'break the cases')? Any advice youall can provide would be appreciated! Ride Safe And WARM!

[carl leo]

hank, check the seal on the clutch slave, if it is intact your leak is more than likely the waterpump seal, this is the most common thing to leak on the left side, also be sure your oil level is correct, too much oil will cause pressure build up and force the clutch slave seal out.............

[ekap1200]

Hank , also check in the boot for gear oil. I had a drop every couple of hundred miles drip out from the boot that migrates from the rear up the drive shaft and drop a few drips on the frame and then on the exhaust pipe. As Carl has told us do not overfill the gear housing.
Drove me nuts for a while. Gene Kap.

[Nathan (South Carolina)]

While you are checking the clutch slave unit, examine the area around the water pump. Whenever I smelled oil burning and could not see any on the ground, the culprit was the water pump because it drips straight down on the exhaust header tube and was not a constant drip so it was hardly noticeable.

[tinsailor]

Yea, mines doing the same thing in the same place. Gonna let it get a little worse before I pull the pump and fix the seals.

[HMB Don]

Yes, this is a pain in the A-- job. I did the water pump oil seal in Dec before I gave my 1200 to my son. I ordered the parts from Carl Leo, only problem I had was me, I tried to do the job fast and ended up cutting the coolant tube seals. I found out at the AVA Rally that my engine cases were dirty (thanks KC Cris) didn't want to belive that the seal was leaking again. Seemed like just last year I had replaced it, it was 70k ago. I rode the whole second half of 2011 with that leaking seal, when I did replace it, the whole left side of the engine cases and swing arm were black including the chrome pipes.

Don Medina

[ksawatsky]

your leak is more than likely the waterpump seal

and get the parts from CL... A pain, but not difficult...