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Oil leaking into primary drive

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My 56 Dominator 99 has stood for nearly 5 years without being run.

I opened the primary chain case drain yesterday to find that 750ml of engine oil had found its way through from the engine.

Does this mean that something is wrong inside the engine, or would the oil have found its way out even if everything is ok? 

I don't see a seal in the exploded views.

R

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There is a seal behind the drive sprocket. , Once the engine is drained and then used regularly the problem may either go away or be minimised. Its quite likely that the seal is old and would benefit from being changed. This can be done without a major stripdown ,but you may have fun removing the engine sprocket which will need a good puller. A couple of short self tapping screws and pincers/claw hammer will usually get the seal out.

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... is long enough for all the oil in the tank to have migrated to the crankcase ("wet sumping") and if the seal mentioned by Robert is at all leaky, from thence to the chaincase. I would drain the crankcase (and chuck the oil away as it'll be well past its use-by date), refill the tank with the correct oil and see how it goes.

Most Nortons wet sump to some extent so if it's not used more than once a week or so you may want to think about a non-return valve although opinions are divided on these.

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Thank you both for your helpful comments.

The parts list I have (for 1959 models) does not show a seal in its exploded view but it is listed.

I did not rebuild this engine so I don't know what's inside.

I will take your advice, drain it all out and refill it, and then see what happens, starting it every week or so.

Thanks again.

Richard

 

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... to open up the primary chaincase as the oil will probably have soaked the clutch plates. However, if it's held the 750ml successfully you may not want to risk getting it to hold oil again.

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I did open up the primary case to try to get an idea of what was happening inside, although it is obvious that the seal did not do its job. I ran it for about 10 minutes yesterday (with new oil!). and will check today if I can see if any oil is leaking from the seal. If not or very little, I will put it together again. If yes, the seal will have to be replaced.

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The oil level in the case should be just below the level plug. I put the bike on the side stand and let any excess drain off. If you have a non leaking case (a bit unusual!) the level will not change over a week.

 



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