[tahoest2]

1998 ST2.

On a recent trip, as some of you know I had a few mechanical issues. While at a shop, they noticed an oil leak. Now, in hindsight I realize that I have not seen any oil leaking until I was at the shop-none at all.

Their thinking was I may need to replace the pistion o ring. And possibly have the heads re-surfaced/ machined. The later being a better/more expensive way to possibly ensure the leak would stop.

I made a few calls yesterday to some shops in my area-lake tahoe/reno. the guy at Michaels power sports said that if it's the o ring, it would be anywhere from $500-$1,000 to repair it. I then called a smaller shop, Dynorider and spoke with Ed. He feels that it 'could' be the oil over flow spilling oil. He doubts it's the o ring, but of course that's an educated guess over the phone. He said that it doesn't take much extra oil to cause this sort of leak.

What's important in this is that the bike has ALWAYS been kept on the center stand, except at the shop in San Francisco. And that is where the leak was noticed. My ride from SF to Tahoe showed some leaking, but the bike did spend some time on the side stand. Is it possible that my leak is the over flow valve and nothing more?

I am going to ride the bike and keep a careful eye on the oil level which is 'maybe' a few millimeters lower in the window than when I started my trip-extremely hard to be certain of that but I know I'm leaking a touch of oil so sooner or later it will read lower.

Now, should I not worry about the leak and just clean it when the leak appears and not worry too much? The bike runs great and while sitting in the garage there is zero leaking.

What Ed said makes sense(and I like the less expensive option) that perhaps I'm only seeing the leak when it's on the side stand due to the over flow port?

Any input from someone with a leak?

thanks.

 

[stryder]

I'm not sure what a "piston O ring" is. You said it's not leaking now, so is this a big problem or a niggle? You mentioned in another post about a head gasket leak.(?) Has anybody checked the torque on the head bolts? As I'm still not sure where it's leaking, I'd say keep an eye on it and repair it if it gets worse. Diffrent grades of oil may make a difference if it's a weep. If it's a head gasket on the way out, I'd say repair it asap.

 

[tahoest2]

Head gasket leak I guess is what I was told by one shop. O rings were also mentioned. Same thing? I have no clue(obviously)....

I'm 1/2 way to belts and timing again. I think it can wait until then to look further.

 

[Stick]

My ST2 had a vy. small leak on the rear cyl. head. So small, that it would not require topping up between changes. I always wanted to R&R, but since it was mainly cosmetic, and the fact that I use the machine 12 mo. a year, I opted to live with it.

I think it was coming from the head gasket area, and I believe that an o'ring might have shifted. And I blame this on the lousy temp sensors that allowed the coolant to get a lot hotter before the fan turned on. I estimate that the coolant was upwards of 260F when the fan came on. Luckily, most of my driving is without long stops, but there were occasions....