[GuyBFF]

Hey guys,

Just finished my first 6k service. Installed MBP collets and replaced every shim with EMS ones (hopefully for longer service intervals). It was a while to get the hang of it, but after a bit was'nt too difficult. I have patience and steady hands which were an asset.

I finally took the bike out for a short test run and everything felt great. I then committed to a 60 mile ride between my house and the garage I was using (at night where there is no cell service between the towns)... and about half way out I start feeling like my right peg was unusually slippery. I got off the bike and used the cell phone for light ... oil was EVERYWHERE. Oil level still good, but I started thinking all kinds of bad scenarios (did I drop a shim, collet or tool and it went somewhere bad... was this the end of my DS1000...?).

Walking was out of the question, the likelihood of a car passing was negligible (I started thinking how dumb it was to take the short road, when the 70 mile route passed many towns), so I decided I the oil was still above the fill line and I would see if I could find a bar of service on the phone.

I made it to a farm road with a light and barely one bar of cell service. I was able to see the oil was coming from high up at the oil cooler, good news! So I called a good friend and after many lost calls was able to ask nicely for him to drive the 30 miles to my location with tools, oil, rags, flashlight, etc.

Turns out the right side oil line loosened off at the oil cooler. I presume I influenced it wiggling the belt covers off during the service. A quick tweak and the leak was sealed (I lost over half a liter).

Starting th clean up today, will definitely need to change the rear pads, but I was considering putting better ones on anyways, so not to bad considering.

So here's my question: If the belts are of soaked with oil (and I presume when I get the covers off they will be, there was heavy oil all over that side of the motor) should they be replaced or cleaned with something? (they are now 60 miles young, but I read that automotive belts dont like oil, so if they are going to fail prematurely I might as well get them out of there).

 

[Critical Goat]

GuyBFF,

Same thing happened to me about 7 months ago. Freaked me out when it happened, then was a simple fix of tightening down the oil cooler nuts. Sorry, can't advise on the belts though. I cleaned mine off.

 

[NExE]

Chemical Compatibility Database from Cole-Parmer

If you search chemical compatability charts. Motor Oil for nitrile and Kevlar fibers are comparable; but definitely would run past two years, if you decide not to change them soon. Compatabilty dosen't mean no degradation. Then there is petroleum based oil compatability and synthetic oil compatability, I forget which is worse for belts. I don't know of any cleaners that wouldn't do more damage.

How'd it stay off your tires? Glad she stayed upright.

 

[Air_Cooled_Nut]

NExE, thanks for that page, awwwwwwesome!

 

[GuyBFF]

The road was dead straight and flat so I continued to ride about 6 miles to the spot where I found cell coverage with the rear tire soaked in oil. It surprisingly still had some traction (Power Pures but likely makes no difference), maybe due to the rougher surface condition of the highway, maybe I just got lucky.

Cleaning this however, is a real pain, everything has an oil film and the exhaust headers are pretty stained, I presume permanently. However, on the bight side, everything looks waxed and shiny (for now, until dust finds out about it).

 

[GuyBFF]

Well, just finished cleaning. Other than degreasing the rear calliper I've removed all the oil (only 6 hours).

The belts were coated on the outside, but not the inside. I removed the belt covers then took my bike to the car wash in my apartment complex and sprayed down the bike without pulling the trigger (just a moderate mist, no power washing) and then ran the bike while wiping down the outsides of the belts with a rag (I still have all my fingers and no rags were consumed, but maybe not the safest way), and rinsed in the same manner. I think I might still replace the belts for peace of mind, but I'll probably wait until after the summer ends, to ensure any trapped oil leaves as they don't really look effected.

I noticed that while removing the belt covers the oil line is being torqued a fair bit, even dropping the oil cooler didn't help too much as you still need to get that lower cover below the front engine mount which interferes with the oil line.

Would the Fren Tubo lines be any better? Or is the HM routing the solution? I'd like to be able to take my belt covers off without fear of another oil slick, as I don't have much confidence in that oil line now.