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How bad is this? Engine leaking...

3K views 19 replies 6 participants last post by  Jeff in Kentucky 
#1 ·
Here are the pics:



And here is a close-up:



So as you can probably see from the photos, my engine seems to be leaking near the 3 bolts on the left side. It appears to be an oil/fuel mix, and if you look at the close up it seems like the gasket is coming out?

Anyways, here is the back story. The bike is a 2000 Ninja 250. It only had 384 miles on it when my wife stopped riding it in 2001. It sat with the original fuel (93 octane most likely) in the tank until about a month ago.

About a month ago my wife took it out and tried starting it. She said it actually started and ran for about a minute, stopped and then would turn over but wouldn't start. I opened up the tank and showed her all of the rust inside. She showed interest in riding again, so I spent the time tearing the bike apart, I cleaned the tank, rebuilt the carbs, new spark plugs, new oil filter, new oil, put everything back together added fresh gas and it started right up.

Everything seemed to be running perfectly. Took it for a drive, the oil light never came on, the engine gauge never got above 50%. I drove about 15 miles total, came back and parked it for the night. Didn't see any leaks or anything.

Came out the next day and tried to start it, it just went click (once) and wouldn't turn over. Thought the battery might be dead, threw it on the charger and it was at 98% charged. So I pushed the bike, threw it in first and it turned (a little, the bike is light so the wheels tend to skid in 1st). Tried starting again, it started right up. I drove it for another 5 miles or so, parked the bike again for the night.

Came out the next day and tried to start it, same thing. Wouldn't turn over. I tried going forward and couldn't get it to turn, so I tried backwards thinking maybe the piston needs to come down first to get some more oil on it. Next thing I know I see a trail of gas leaking all over the place. So I looked around and it appears that somehow the hose going from the air box to the top of the engine came loose (I'm guessing it's the hose that provides positive pressure to the crankcase?).

Anyways, gas was leaking from somewhere around there. Couldn't pinpoint it exactly, but I hooked the hose back up and tried starting again and heard a loud clank, then nothing. Next thing I see is this oil/fuel mixture leaking all over the place from the left side of the engine.

So my question is - how bad is it? The bike only had 405 miles on the engine, that's really going to suck if it's trashed now...

I'm not a certified mechanic, but I am a DIY'r and can usually fumble my way thru things...

Thanks for any help!
 
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#2 ·
Could just be a gasket. A clank is normally not a good sound though. Have you cleaned it up and seen if it is still leaking? If the crankcase vent hose came off that might be why you're seeing gas/oil leaking. I had an issue with my 675 a few weeks ago where a gas/oil mix came out of the crankcase breather. Scared me but I checked everything out and it runs fine now. There was actually a bird nest in my pipe, make sure there aren't any mice nests in your exhaust pipes :dunno:
 
#4 ·
I doubt the engine is trashed, but you should probably check a few things.

1. are the carbs assembled properly?
2. are all hoses attached properly?
3. are any hoses cracked or leaking since it hasn't been run in 13+ years?
4. if you drain the oil, does it smell like gas? does more fluid come out than you put in?

It's hard to tell from the pictures, but the area you're showing as a leaking gasket actually looks like wires to me. Where are you located?
 
#5 ·
@CookieBug79 - Ok...

1. Carbs assembled properly? I believe so. I did completely tear them down and reassemble them. Like I said, they ran fine after that. Engine started right up, I drove it ~20 miles after reassembling them.

2. No, but I think most of them were. I did forget to put the clamp back on the hose from the air box into the crank case, so that blew off. It always seemed to leak some from there, which I thought was kind of odd, but I'm not expert. (I believe this just leaked fuel because it evaporated quickly and left no stain).

3. None of the hoses appear to be cracked or broken, they all seem flexible and pliable.

4. I haven't drained the oil, but the oil level doesn't appear to have gone down much (looking thru the site glass). The oil that leaked did smell like fuel.

As for the leaking gasket, you were right on the money. I investigated it further and it was wires, so I haven't found exactly where it was leaking.

I am in Michigan, just outside Detroit area.
 
#6 ·
if this was the oil from 2001. Ouch. I really hope you changed it. I mean I REALY hope you changed it. Also you need to flush the hell out of your brakes with some good fresh DOT4 fluid from a sealed container. Brake fluid that sits that long is bound to be water logged.
 
#7 ·
@VanHalen - Well, no - I didn't change it right away. Put a few miles on the old oil. When I drained it, it really didn't seem that degraded. The oil was just changed in the bike before it was put away.

I know I probably should have changed it before even cranking it over, but I saw numerous other threads that said to run it for a bit first and get it warmed up, so that's what I attempted to do...
 
#8 ·
What's done is done. Change the brake fluid pronto. Suck all the old stuff out of the reservoir with a turkey baster or syringe, whatever you can come up with, refill with fresh DOT4, Bleed the piss outta those brakes, keeping topped up with fluid of course. Be sure not to get any on the paint. Brake fluid will go through paint in about 2 seconds. It's about 10X worse than paint stripper. Seriously. It is.
 
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#12 ·
If the bike is on it's kick stand you should not be able to see any oil in the sight glass.

If the blow-by tube blew off, you *might* have too much oil in the engine causing too high of crank case pressure. Getting a gas leak from that area is also indicative of too much fluid in the crank.

Otherwise, something mechanical is stuck in one of the carbs - meaning the float isn't closing or something is allowing a gas leak path after the motorcycle is shut off. This is a little hard to say is happening because the tank needs a vacuum to drain into the carbs. In theory it could be caused by the motor cooling drawing a little more fuel into it, but that's kind of a stretch.

I don't really have time to go into detail on either of these right now, but first confirm the level of the fluid in the oil sight glass with the bike perfectly up and down on both tires.
 
#14 ·
Thanks for the offer, I appreciate it... So here's the deal, I think I put WAAY too much oil in. When I filled it, I had the bike level and I filled it to the line on the sight glass, which I thought was the correct way to do it... When I leaned it on it's kickstand, the sight glass was empty. I thought all was good.

I started the bike and drove it (as I explained above), got some gas, etc, came home, put it to rest, next day engine seized (or seemed to have), you know the story from above...

Anyways, so I've been letting it sit (frustrated, upset, disappointed, all of those feelings thinking I've destroy the engine... I almost cancelled the insurance even!) until today. I went outside and was going to try to track down the oil leak... Couldn't find exactly where it was leaking from, I mean there was oil in several places. I checked the sight glass (knowing I shouldn't see any oil since it was on it's kickstand) and it was full... Oil all the way to the top!

So I think the step I skipped was that I should have filled it to the bottom line perhaps while it was level, started it and let the oil setting, then filled it to the top line?

Anyways, I cranked the engine (totally expecting to hear the loud CLANK that I did just before I left it to sit 2-3 weeks ago) and it started right up. I immediately shut it off because it freaked me out...

Question is - now what do I do? Could having too much oil cause it to CLANK?? And now that some has drained it's better? Doesn't sound right, but I'm no mechanic...

So the bike only has 300 miles on it.. I think I want to put in some lighter weight oil (the Bike shop sold me 20w40 for it), with all of these issues I think I want 5w40 or 10w40 to make sure the engine is getting lubed, right?

Thanks!
-- Rob
 
#15 ·
Your bike takes 2 US quarts of oil as long as you changed the filter. If you put in more oil, that *could* be your problem. But, your initial filling proceedure sounds ok. It really reads more like gas is draining into your engine when it's not running and caused it to hydro lock.

Drain all the oil and measure how much comes out. Does it smell like gas? Is it way more than you initially put in?

How much gas is in your tank right now? Is it at the level that you'd expect for the amount of riding you did vs. the last time you filled up?
 
#16 ·
The problem with draining the oil and measuring is that I initially put in 2.5 - 3 quarts and I lost ALOT when it was leaking (the way it was dripping, I honestly didn't expect ANY oil to be left in the engine)...

What oil do you think I should go with only have 300 miles? I plan to change the oil again later today...
 
#17 ·
If you put in 2.5-3 qts you definitely overfilled the engine.

Drain it all. Clean everything off. Do not skimp on how many rags or towels that you use. Re-fill with the correct amount (less than 2 qts if you don't change the filter). I use Mobil 1 10W40 motorcycle oil in all my bikes. But seriously use whatever the manual says for your riding conditions.
Motorcycle Oil | Mobil 1 Racing 4T™ 10W-40

After that, I would check to see if you can rotate the engine by hand.
1. Remove the tank.
2. Remove the spark plugs.
3. In the top picture that you posted, you can see a big plastic cap with a slot in it. Take the biggest flat head screwdriver you have and remove that cover. No oil will come out. Inside there is a nut you can turn that will manually turn the engine crank. This should not be hard to do, especially with the spark plugs removed.
4. For funzies, there's another plastic cover above that one that's a little smaller. If you take that off, you can watch the timing marks to know when you're at top dead center, etc.

If you can crank it by hand, you should be ok... If you cannot crank it by hand you're going to drain your battery and potentially damage your starter trying to crank it. If you are able to crank it by hand, make sure you're not spitting any fluids out of the spark plug hole. Also, check your plugs and see if they are clean or dirty.
 
#18 ·
it's already been covered but yea 2.5-3qt is far too much. This bike takes around 2qt w/ a filter change.

keep us posted on what you find. i'd also be interested to know if the oil smells gassy at all as that can be a significant piece of data. I recently redid my carbs and you have to make sure you get the floats reconnected properly or they'll just continue to flow into the bowl. I'm glad I figured that out before reassembly, lol.
 
#19 ·
I love it when people disappear mid problem with no word of what happened :(
 
#20 · (Edited)
Since you waited a few days then it started normally, I am guessing the loud clank you heard was not too serious and was caused by too much oil, but it is probably best for an expert to check it over.


I always run the engine for a couple of minutes after changing the oil, then shut the engine off and stand the bike straight up like I am riding it in a straight line and check the oil level (one of my bikes has a sight glass, the other a dipstick).
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