Oil leak from behind stator on 1965 CA77...

rzgkane · Post by **rzgkane** » Mon Feb 20, 2012 12:00 am

I am seeing about a drop a day coming out from behind the right crankcase cover and it looks like it's leaking from behind the stator. Have any of you been successful at squeezing in a new crank seal without spreading the case halves apart? I'm very reluctant to do that for fear of making it worse and biting off more than I can chew.

Could it be leaking from something other than the large crank seal? Should I even worry about a small leak? I'm from the school of "if it leaks it's broke" and I'm almost begging for someone to tell me that chasing small leaks is a never ending quest on these oldies and not to worry about it until it's something substantial.

joeweir1 · Post by **joeweir1** » Tue Feb 21, 2012 11:43 am

mines been dripping since I got it running, about 7 years.Not enought for me to tear it apart for at this point.

OldStan · Post by **OldStan** » Tue Feb 21, 2012 12:51 pm

Mine had a major leak from that area. There is a seal in the starter sprocket that seals against the crankshaft that was leaking. In this model the seal in the case actually seals against the outside of the starter sprocket. It's a good point to know, as people have replaced the seal in the case and still had a leak.

If you have the side cover off at some point you may be able to tell which side of the starter sprocket the leak is on, giving you a clue as to which seal is leaking.

Whether to worry about a leak or not is a personal thing, especially one as small as you describe.

rzgkane · Post by **rzgkane** » Tue Feb 21, 2012 1:01 pm

OldStan wrote:Mine had a major leak from that area. There is a seal in the starter sprocket that seals against the crankshaft that was leaking. In this model the seal in the case actually seals against the outside of the starter sprocket. It's a good point to know, as people have replaced the seal in the case and still had a leak.

If you have the side cover off at some point you may be able to tell which side of the starter sprocket the leak is on, giving you a clue as to which seal is leaking.

Whether to worry about a leak or not is a personal thing, especially one as small as you describe.

Thanks, Stan. I am reluctant to dive in too deep for a leak of such small volume. I may have to pull the stator to repair a charging issue so maybe while I'm in there I'll replace both of the seals. We'll see.

Any opinion on whether I need to loosen the case halves to get the new crank seal in there. I've heard conflicting reports.

48lesco · Post by **48lesco** » Tue Feb 21, 2012 2:57 pm

Don't loosen the case halves, they are sealed with Hondabond. Just soften the sharp edge on the case with an exacto knife and press a new seal in.

rzgkane · Post by **rzgkane** » Tue Feb 21, 2012 4:22 pm

48lesco wrote:Don't loosen the case halves, they are sealed with Hondabond. Just soften the sharp edge on the case with an exacto knife and press a new seal in.

That's what I was hoping to hear. Thanks.