Zr 550 stator cover oil leak

[Sykesweld]

I have a new gasket on the cover and made sure the cover was clean. I realized today there was no o ring on the crankcase plug which I have ordered. My question is , is there a replacement part for the rubber plug that holds my 3 stator wires?

[hugojose]

There should not be any oil in the stator compartment. That only happened with the older bigger 900/1000/1100 engines with the starting clutch behind the stator.

[Sykesweld]

That’s not what my service manual indicated. There is also a crankcase drain at the stator cover

[Sykesweld]

If there isn’t suppose to be oil in the stator cover what is the crankcase drain doing there under the cover? I suppose that could be where my leak is

[hugojose]

I don't own a 550, I own a 750, but the engine architecture are same....and I fail to see why oil should be there.

I changed stator once on the 750 and it was bone dry in there. If starter clutch is not behind the stator, as in the older bigger motors, then there is nothing mechanical to lubricate and no need for oil to be there, or be sent there, as stator electrical insulation don't take well to fluids.

In my view, It only could get there through the engine crank main seal. ....but hey,....maybe is the way the 550 is...or how these bikes get with age.... I can only state from my experience; the 750 is normally dry.

[Sykesweld]

OK guys thanks for getting in touch with me and giving me your input. Looking at my manual again it doesn’t actually say anything about it being wet I thought it did. It has a drain plug right beneath the generator cover which could be leaking since it did not have an O-ring on it. It seems to leak more when I’m writing it not terribly though. The starter motor is behind the generator above the countershaft sprocket area on the 550. Tonight I’m gonna take the cover off after work and see whatI’m dealing with. I’ll re-post once I look at it again hopefully it’s dry. I bought a bike with 8000 miles on it and just got done building it and it runs great and the regulator seems to be doing its job to the battery

[Sykesweld]

Well my worst fear came true. I took the generator cover off and there was a couple of ounces of oil and I thought no big deal. I pulled the flywheel and found permatex all over the main seal. I started taking some of the sealer off and found some small tears. Can I replace the main seal without taking the entire motor apart? Any help would be greatly appreciated

[Sykesweld]

Here is another picture of what I found

[hugojose]

I have never had engine apart, thus can't tell for sure. There is very little about main seals in forums, thus, obviously they last a very long time. Am afraid the correct way of doing this is splitting the cases. And some members of this forum who have torn the engine apart may pitch soon in to advise properly.

.....if nothing else, I'd order the seals first, and see what kind of lips they have. They are very inexpensive. If they allow simply to be driven in (which I doubt), I'd try tearing apart old seal careful not damaging the metal surfaces.. but this is being optimistic.

...soon we shall see more educated advise.

[Sykesweld]

Thanks for getting back. The former owner drove the seal in the picture in but my heart tells me it’s wrong. There was may 6 ozs max of oil in the generator cover and the stator was bone dry. There seems to be a oil return hole which is on the right hand side of the first picture,the left hand side is capped off with a metal plug. I ordered the seal. There is enough of a machine lip to accompany another seal , maybe on top of the one. I don’t however see any lip on collar to inhibit the new seal from going in.