Hello Again from Across the pond.....

[kboehringer]

FZR friends,

It's certainly been a very long time since I was last here. I haven't forgotten you or all the help you provided a year or so back. I apologize for my absence and lack of interaction. Although, I have helped with a part or two for Nuggitt and Stig over the last year or so. I'm ALWAYS available to help with these kind of things for my EXup Friends.

I'm honestly not sure how long it has been since I posted here. Those that helped me a few years ago know I am an absolute NUT and have a huge herd of Yamaha Motorcycles. I believe I have acquired two or three more since my last visit. My herd is now 15 motorcycles.

My Exup has been running very well without issues until recently. A friend and I went riding (he took the ExUp) and we put over 200+ miles on the bikes on a nice Saturday ride. Shortly thereafter, the FZR had a noticeable oil leak coming from the left side.

Today, I pulled her into the work position in the shop to try and determine the cause of the leak.



I BELIEVE the leak may be coming from the shaft seal on the water pump. The leak does not occur when the bike is static so it's not the pan, drain plug, etc. that would leak regardless of running or sitting.



I also had some issues with the clutch not working properly. I was all prepared to rebuild the master & the slave only to find that I had neglected to keep the fluid in the reservoir up to proper level. I refilled the master and completely bled the system and the clutch seems to be working fine. Very stupid mistake!

I'll keep you posted on the oil leak. If there are any trouble spots here I should be looking at closely please let me know....

Sincerely,
Kurt

Here are some of my most recent acquisitions:

1980 XS850 Special - Purchased last month for $300.

A lot of work required on this one. I recently replaced the cylinder head, rings, and etc. It's running now but requires a great deal of additional effort.

1978 SR500 Purchased last year and completely rebuilt. This machine won BEST IN SHOW at a Vintage Yamaha Rally.


1979 XS1100 - CUSTOM - I've had this machine for a few years but recently have spent a lot of time on her trying to get her finished. I expect to be done with this one shortly.... A very CUSTOM bike with a standard tank and other misc. changes. The bike was too far gone for restoration.


Hope you are all getting back on your bikes and enjoying the ExuPs!

KURT

[BONLY1]

Good to hear you're still keeping the EXUP running Kurt, enjoy and stay safe!

[nuggitt]

Hello Kurt and its nice to hear from you.

Last time we were in touch, you were very productive with projects at work, did it all go to plan?

I think I mentioned last time I got the gold spots cleaned up and fitted? Thank you for those by the way. Didn't really have enough time on the roads to give them a good work out because the riding season was coming to an end.

As for your clutch problem. I once came to my bike and pulled the clutch lever in and there was no pressure at all. After looking in the reservoir it was empty, but the strangest thing was there was no sign of any clutch fluid on the garage floor. I refilled the reservoir and bled the system again and I didn't have another problem with it at all. A complete mystery to me??

Take care and give my regards to Nancy.

[kboehringer]

Last time we were in touch, you were very productive with projects at work, did it all go to plan?

Nuggitt,
Thanks for the response. Unfortunately, work has been difficult the last few years. My most recent job as Maintenance Manager for a large Manufacturing facility ended very abruptly when the company decided to close our production facility 3/21/22. This was a BRAND NEW 500,000, sq.ft. facility with over a dozen BRAND NEW production machines. I set-up the entire facility, interviewed hired and established the Maintenance Team, installed all the equipment, and supervised the start-up. Again unfortunately, our largest customer (for which the facility was established) had a "shake-up" in management hurting the relationship and also a significant reduction in sales of their products/services as well. Our company decided to close my facility. The overall loss will be well in excess of $70,000,000 (us dollars). Fortunately, the company is providing 60-days of full wages and benefits as each member of the team looks for new employment. NOTE: There is no law/requirement in the USA for a company to provide this compensation so it speaks well of the parent company. I have a few hot irons in the fire and a few interviews scheduled for next week.
Meanwhile, I get to work on my many motorcycles and enjoy the paychecks for the next 6+ weeks.

I am extremely happy the "Gold Spots" were fitted on your machine and appear to be a good upgrade. I have MANY MANY spare parts from many machines (ALL YAMAHA). I also have access to a motorcycle junk yard or two not far from my area.

I won't make promises I can find a needed part but I invite ALL to let me know if there is a hard to find part needed. I will try to help whenever I can. Nuggitt & Stig are well aware that shipping to the UK from the USA can be very expensive....But, if that's the only way to keep a good old machine running for some there may be little choice. I've also helped by forwarding e-bay parts when the seller refused to ship over the pond. Members HERE helped me extensively when I was rebuilding my ExUp. Several parts on my machine came from the UK. I'm very willing to return the favor(s).

MY FZR 1000:
CreedExup is absolutely correct on Seal #12. I pulled my SPARE water pump from my box of spares and found exactly what he was referring to. I own so darn many motorcycles I've forgotten a little bit about this machine.



I am absolutely certain I replaced this sealing o-ring during my original rebuild of the FZR. I must have pinched it or otherwise screwed up the assembly. The o-ring on my spare does not look good and I will not go through all of this work to install a used one anyway. The parts house (Partzilla.com) has one in-stock and I will purchase several other related o-rings to assure everything that is removed to access the seal (coolant lines etc. has new seals/o-rings as well.

Sincerely,
Kurt

[kboehringer]

FZR Friends,
Although I didn't see a darn thing wrong with it, I replaced the seal (o-ring) and the leaking problem appears to be resolved.



The ONLY thing that looked a little out of sorts was the wire for the oil level sensor. I had it running to the left of the drive port and it was not retained under the clip with the neutral switch wire. It was certainly long enough and could easily be retained under that clip. I thought it MAY have been possible the wire was pinched into the drive port or otherwise caused some sort of complication.

Again, although probably ill-advised, I put a TINY dab of Yamabond #4 on the exterior surface of the engine case. It appeared that when properly fitted, the pump rear face would impact flush with this area of the case. I didn't think a bit of Yamahabond would actually hurt anything.

I took the machine for one hell of a ride. Actually got a bit of a wheelie (that I wasn't expecting) I had to check my shorts for brown stains before continuing.

The bike ran exceptionally well and considering she had been "resting" for several months I thought carbs would likely need a clean. But no issues and a BEAST of a machine all ready for the spring and summer.

Thanks for your help gents!!!

KURT

[Teego]

I took the machine for one hell of a ride. Actually got a bit of a wheelie (that I wasn't expecting) I had to check my shorts for brown stains before continuing


While skidmarx inside your gear are deeply unpleasant, it is much more painful getting skidmarx on the outside.

[NickZT]

I decided to replace my chain and front sprocket over the weekend. Already replaced the rear sprocket a few months back when I fitted a new rear wheel.

When I removed the sprocket cover, every thing is covered in engine oil. Not enough to drip onto the floor, but I cant for the life of me see where its coming from, so gonna replace all the seals including the water pump. So have ordered a drive shaft seal, gear change, clutch push rod and oil pump cover seal. As the water pump will be removed I will even replace the neutral switch seal.

So fairing off once again and another busy weekend ahead!!

[bunk]

I decided to replace my chain and front sprocket over the weekend. Already replaced the rear sprocket a few months back when I fitted a new rear wheel.

When I removed the sprocket cover, every thing is covered in engine oil. Not enough to drip onto the floor, but I cant for the life of me see where its coming from, so gonna replace all the seals including the water pump. So have ordered a drive shaft seal, gear change, clutch push rod and oil pump cover seal. As the water pump will be removed I will even replace the neutral switch seal.

So fairing off once again and another busy weekend ahead!!

My fzs had soo much chain lube/debris at the front sprocket it wasnt funny. Can you do a die test to make sure its engine oil?

[NickZT]

Never tried adding a die to the engine oil. Sounds like a good idea. But I did change the oil just a few weeks ago. The oil below the sprocket and around the top of the kick stand looks very clean! Have already replaced all the cooling system seals, so the remaining oil seals are probably well overdue

[Teego]

Never tried adding a die to the engine oil. Sounds like a good idea. But I did change the oil just a few weeks ago. The oil below the sprocket and around the top of the kick stand looks very clean! Have already replaced all the cooling system seals, so the remaining oil seals are probably well overdue

Whenever I removed the sprocket cover on any of my bikes there was so much crud in there from old chain lube, road grime and grit etc. If I used Scottoil or similar it flung all over the place if I overlubed but looked nice and clean. My Foxeye never dripped oil in 14 years and 55000 miles. Drank a bit tho' (That's in spec Sir).

[NickZT]

Whenever I removed the sprocket cover on any of my bikes there was so much crud in there from old chain lube, road grime and grit etc. If I used Scottoil or similar it flung all over the place if I overlubed but looked nice and clean. My Foxeye never dripped oil in 14 years and 55000 miles. Drank a bit tho' (That's in spec Sir).[/quote]

There certainly was a lot of crud behind the cover. Definitely the original front sprocket and chain. 39k miles so well overdue replacement. Doesn't use oil between servicing. Not leaking enough to register on the site window. Committed to replacing all the seals now they are ordered and paid for. Already removed the big one behind the sprocket.

[Nicoxj]

Doesn't use oil between servicing.

You probably have the only Genesis-type engine in the world that is not oil thirsty, lucky you!


My '89 model drinks 1/2l every 1000km...

[bunk]

Never tried adding a die to the engine oil. Sounds like a good idea. But I did change the oil just a few weeks ago. The oil below the sprocket and around the top of the kick stand looks very clean! Have already replaced all the cooling system seals, so the remaining oil seals are probably well overdue

Dies are awesome tools for finding hard to diagnose leaks. They make them for all fluids and it wont hurt anything to have it in your fluid. When i maintained a machine shop every oil had die in it, just to make repairs go quicker. If you have a black light you have a head start.

[creedxup]

I decided to replace my chain and front sprocket over the weekend. Already replaced the rear sprocket a few months back when I fitted a new rear wheel.

When I removed the sprocket cover, every thing is covered in engine oil. Not enough to drip onto the floor, but I cant for the life of me see where its coming from, so gonna replace all the seals including the water pump. So have ordered a drive shaft seal, gear change, clutch push rod and oil pump cover seal. As the water pump will be removed I will even replace the neutral switch seal.

So fairing off once again and another busy weekend ahead!!

I can see on the bottom of your sprocket cover dissolved paint where the clutch slave cylinder has leaked, you might want to replace those seals as well, that might be the cause of your problem as just a little bit of clutch/brake fluid goes a long way.

[NickZT]

I decided to replace my chain and front sprocket over the weekend. Already replaced the rear sprocket a few months back when I fitted a new rear wheel.

When I removed the sprocket cover, every thing is covered in engine oil. Not enough to drip onto the floor, but I cant for the life of me see where its coming from, so gonna replace all the seals including the water pump. So have ordered a drive shaft seal, gear change, clutch push rod and oil pump cover seal. As the water pump will be removed I will even replace the neutral switch seal.

So fairing off once again and another busy weekend ahead!!



I can see on the bottom of your sprocket cover dissolved paint where the clutch slave cylinder has leaked, you might want to replace those seals as well, that might be the cause of your problem as just a little bit of clutch/brake fluid goes a long way.

Never spotted this. Just ordered a slave repair kit