Steve Saunders Goldwing Forums banner

1987 Goldwing 1200 Interstate Oil Leak

4K views 23 replies 13 participants last post by  DaveO430 
#1 ·
I have a 1987 Goldwing 1200 which I bought new about a year and a half ago. Several months ago I switched to synthetic oil and have been chasing an oil leak ever since. I replaced the valve cover gasket and cleaned everything up but that apparently was not the leak. I traced it to the timing belt cover area and it would drips from either side by mostly from the left side of the bike. I just got done pulling the timing belt cover and there is signs of oil just not where it is leaking from. I had not ran the bike in 2 or 3 weeks which may not be helping. I will attach some pictures. It might be coming from the main crank but does not look for sure. The cam don't appear to be leaking or doesn't look like evidence of it.

Any ideas?
 

Attachments

See less See more
8
#3 ·
I took the belts off and got a better look. For sure the right side Cam is leaking and the Left side is dry. I pulled the pulley and took a pic. Still on the fence about the main seal.

Any idea on best way to pull the leaking cam seal? What are the 2 bolts around the cam seal, what do they do?

After these pics do you still think the crank main seal is leaking? I should pull the crank bolt to take a look but was wondering how to do it. I could probably hit it with an impact to get it off but how do you put it back on? The main crank turns real easy so not sure how to hold it when your torquing. Torque after the belts are on?
 

Attachments

#4 ·
I took the belts off and got a better look. For sure the right side Cam is leaking and the Left side is dry. I pulled the pulley and took a pic. Still on the fence about the main seal.

Any idea on best way to pull the leaking cam seal? What are the 2 bolts around the cam seal, what do they do?

After these pics do you still think the crank main seal is leaking? I should pull the crank bolt to take a look but was wondering how to do it. I could probably hit it with an impact to get it off but how do you put it back on? The main crank turns real easy so not sure how to hold it when your torquing. Torque after the belts are on?

the two screws are only holding the timing cover back plate to the head. u have to remove valve cover and the rocker arm assembly and then the camshaft. probably not the main seal.
many have had success with www.auto-rx.com for cleaning and stopping seals from leaking.
 
#5 ·
To hold the engine while removing / replacing crank bolt put transmission in 5th gear and have someone stand on the rear brake.
 
  • Like
Reactions: limpy45
#6 ·
To not risk any interference problems it would be best to loosen the crank and cam bolts before removing the belts & put the belts back on before tightening them. Take the inner cover off and the valve covers and just loosen the rocker arm bolts a little so the seals come out and go in easy & you don't have problems with the lash adjusters. Might as well replace all 3 seals, finding a crank seal may be a problem.
 
#8 ·
Finding the crank seal will be impossible. The 1500 seal will fit but it is for the opposite direction. Still, probably your best bet.

The 1200 seal simply is not available and in all my searching I've never seen an aftermarket replacement the same size, let alone the right direction.

So, Kite, how is it you bought the bike new 1½ years ago? I assume that's a typo...

And please, be sociable and fill in your profile. Let folks know what city & state you hail from.
 
#9 ·
You say you switched to synthetic oil, so I take it you used dino oil before. It's not unheard of for engines switched over to synthetic oil at higher miles to develop a leak.

Before I pulled her down, I'd change back to oil I was using, like in my case Delo LE 15W40, maybe dose it with a little Bardahl's seal sealer additive. Not a lot, but half a bottle anyway. I have a '77 Ford F-150 with 351M that doesn't get used enough. Rear main seal was leaking bad, a bottle seemed to help it. It also tremendously slowed the oil getting by valve stem seals in my '95 T-bird.
 
#10 ·
Delo is a Group III oil. Group III chemistry shrinks seals and o-rings. They have and do put additives in the oil to prevent this. sometimes its not enough. Has issue with my 7.3L powerstroke 105k miles started using Delo, engine started burning motor oil. found out about Group III and went back to Supertech. oil burning stopped within 200 miles.
something to think about if seals are leaking.
 
#11 ·
I put the belts back on and then used a tool to hold the cam and checked by trying to remove the belt with a ratchet, did not work the greatest. Tried putting it in 5th gear but could only get to 3rd and tried having someone and tried the ratched again and did not seem to hold it. Went back to the wrench and used and impact and it spun right off.

In order to get the last gear off I had to spray some penetrate so when I got the gear off it was hard to tell if it was leaking. I cleaned it up and took a good look and I don't thing it was leaking, and if so not very very little. I have a pic of it off.

Can anybody explain the deal with the cover gasket. When I took it apart it was like the seal grew by about 3". Is that normal or am I missing something? Attached a pic. I looked on line and they are about $30 and you need (2) of them
 

Attachments

#13 ·
Hm... Hard to say on the crankshaft seal, the "evidence" is gone... As to the cover gasket you might try cleaning it off real good with gasoline and then put it in the sun and see if it shrinks back down to size.

As to getting transmission in 5th, you will probably need to rotate the rear tire back and forth while shifting to get the gear dogs to line up, then it'll go into 4th and 5th. You'll probably want that while torquing the crank bolt back down.

As to the crankshaft seal, don't know what to say short of reassembling things enough that you can run the engine some to see if any "evidence" reappears...
 
#14 ·
You have a lot of good answers posted here so I will not add to them...,I have a 1986 GL1200i , I have a small leak, no big deal and can live with it,,but just wondering, at the beginning of your question "I have a 1987 Goldwing 1200 which I bought new about a year and a half ago." ?? NEW ?
 
#15 ·
Synthetics are known for finding leaks mainly because its really refined and molecules are smaller from what I read. I thought about going synthetic but never have because of leaking. I have used the Castrol Syntec its dino oil refined 2 or 3 times, but didnt cause any leaks. Yesterday i went back to my old reliable of Castrol 10-40. I've used it in all my bikes for no other reason than it worked for me. I dont use any "High Milage Oil" that has to do with catalytic convertors on cars. My suggestion is to change all three seals and go back with a Dinosaur oil, whatever brand you like.
 
#19 ·
mainly because its really refined and molecules are smaller from what I read.

has nothing to do with it. The reason is that synthetics tend to be natural cleaners, so they clean out sludge that was keeping those dried out shrunken gaskets and seals from leaking, so then they leak. all modern synthetics and certain group oils actually will swell the seals and gaskets due to their chemical group or the additives put into them.
 
#16 ·
I got the seal out. I used a tool I had for seal removing and it came it fairly easy. I had to work it in about 3 spots and then it just popped out. I took the valve cover off and loosed the 2 bolts on the cam cover but honestly I do not see how that did anything. I attached some pics
 

Attachments

#18 ·
Th eonly thing I would add is clean all of the old oil out from around the cam belt areas. It helps to see where the leak is originating from. It is possible for the oil to travel inside the cases.
 
#22 ·
Thank you Carshando and I did go buy that seal.

Just to update, I used the impact to tighten the crank bolt, used a little lower air pressure and just bumped the gun but it got it tight.

Changed out the seal, when I tapped the new one in it seems it was sticking out a little. By that I mean maybe a 1/32' or smaller. After tapping it several times I just stopped since I didn't want to screw up the seal. I did go loosen up the cam rocker bolt but that didn't help. The tapping was solid so I felt it was fully inserted, maybe it was my imagination.

Found some Gates belts for $10 (for 2) and used them. Also changed the plugs. Antifreeze needs to be silicate free so found some of that. I used the old belt cover gaskets which I had to trim since they grew by about 3 inches.

Bike runs good, starts easier, idles better, seems like it has a tad bit more power.

So far no leaks but I only got to drive it for 2 days and now it sounds like the rear break is metal on metal so I had to put it up until I can check that out.
 
#23 ·
Thank you Carshando and I did go buy that seal.

Changed out the seal, when I tapped the new one in it seems it was sticking out a little. By that I mean maybe a 1/32' or smaller. After tapping it several times I just stopped since I didn't want to screw up the seal. I did go loosen up the cam rocker bolt but that didn't help. The tapping was solid so I felt it was fully inserted, maybe it was my imagination.
How did you get the seal and install it in a day? Are you magic?
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top