Kickstarter Seal Leaks Oil

[Pete]

The kickstarter was leaking oil on my Mototrans 350 widecase when the oil was hot. I got a new o-ring and figured I would have to pull the sidecover to install it. However, once I removed the kickstarter, the o-ring came right out. The new one fits in not so tightly. Is that normal? Nothing really holds it in place as the kick start lever does not sit tight against it. Is it normal for some oil to leak out this area?

[Daniil]

No it is not normal. I have just "sweat" there, not leaks. The seal has to be snug, or it does not do anything. Try different source for the seal. Dan

[Pete]

It is just an o-ring. There is nothing holding it in place. If I double it up, the kick start lever will hold it in place. Or am I missing something obvious?

[DewCatTea-Bob]

"The kickstarter was leaking oil "

____ Well here's what usually causes a leak to be able to occur there.....
Riders leave the pet-cocks turned-on and the gasoline leaks down into the crankcase and raises the level of the oil-volume until it gets high enough to reach that area, while on the side stand. _ And that kickstart-shaft oil ring-seal set-up was not really made to have to cope with holding-back any fluid-oil, (after that overflow occurrence). _ That stock O-ring can't really do very much (under normal/expected conditions), anyway. _ So that O-ring is not really much required.
I suppose ya could double them up in hopes of exerting some added pressure within that point, (as you've mentioned), but while doing that may somewhat help make for a more oil-tight seal, it's not really an important point to stop any fluid-oil leakage (NORMALLY).
__ Instead of adding an extra stock O-ring,, I often preferred using a suitably sized but fairly thicker O-ring, along with an added thick-washer, (both found at local hardwares), to fit onto the shaft and be placed between the O-ring/primary-cover & the kickstart-lever. _ Not because I had any oil-leak near there, but rather because I had personally-found that it seemed like that was a set-up which would function better than stock. _ As the stock O-ring would at times fall-out from it's proper-place & into the vacant-space (next to the base of the kick-lever).
I recall having a hard time using a couple of large screw-drivers to try & force/press all sides of my chosen over-sized O-ring into the recess intended for the thinner/stock O-ring, just to later find that it had popped back out on one side or another. _ So I next found a suitably sized (extra thick) washer which just happened to fit nicely over the shaft & also fill-up the vacant (up to 4mm) space between the kick-lever & the location for the stock O-ring. _ That not only held-in the plumper O-ring into proper-place, but it also looked-right (as if my found [3/4ths" ID x 1&1/8th" OD x 5/32nds" thick] added washer actually belonged there). _ So I thereafter made sure that all my DUKEs had that very same seal & washer modification, (although the exact washer-dimensions varied a bit).
However, I later stopped going-to that added-touch/mod for some of my DUKEs (sometime by the '80s), cuz the motors would usually need to be washed-off for other reasons sooner than that particular area would actually need cleaned-up, anyway.

____ Another worth-while point to make in this area, is about the kickstart-lever's mounting-bolt ! ...
I very often see that Duke-owners don't pay much attention to the angle which they've chosen to mount the kick-lever at ! ... Because of the multi-splined shaft set-up, they seem to assume that they have a choice of what angle to install/mount the kick-lever at, however that's not really the actual case !
Ya see there's a slot in the starter-shaft which the 8mm mounting-bolt must properly pass through !
If ya don't get it quite right, the bolt will then get it's fine 1.0mm thread stripped-up !
So when ya choose one of the (two or three *) angles to mount the kick-lever at, (* which the bolt may still possibly be able to fit into & through), ya should first make sure that the bolt really actually has a clear-shot through, without possibly getting any of it's relatively soft threads carved-up by any of the corner-edges of the hardened shaft...
So after placing the lever on it's shaft, then just take a peek through it's bolt-hole (to see that it's well aligned), before next inserting it's retaining bolt, so as to make sure that the bolt will then have a straight/clear hole-way, all the way through,, before you choose to go-ahead with the lever-angle which you've first chosen to go with.
__ So you see then, that Ducati had purposely placed the slot where they did, so as to more than merely suggest the pre-intended point at which the lever ought to be set at,, and thus provide a proper starting-angle (for the lever), needed for kicking-through the engine most advantageously.
Finding that bolt with damaged threads was always my clue that the Duke had been worked-on by some uncaring/ignorant-type wrencher !
Just one of my nit-picks, I suppose.


DUCATIly,
DCT-Bob

[Pete]

Well, I will see how the leaking goes next spring. It would only leak a couple of drops when the oil was hot. Hopefully, the new o-ring will handle that. Bob, that is a good point about the angle of the kickstarter. I did notice that the threads were a little banged up.

[machten]

Hi all,

Can anyone tell me the id, od and thickness of the kickstart shaft o-ring. All I can find is GACO OR 123.

Kev

[Jordan]

Searching OR 123, I find several references to it, for example:
<http://www.gnuttibortolo.com/jsp/eng-splight.jsp?ID_MARCA=GB&ID_TIPO=CM27&ID_SOTTO_TIPO=CM74&ID_ART=45613>
The size indicated here and on other sites is: ID=17.86mm, width=2.62mm

[machten]

Nice one. Thanks Jordan.

Kev

[DewCatTea-Bob]

____ So Kev, why bother to go through such trouble to track-down a stock-type O-ring seal, when you could relatively easily find & install a more common 1/8th" thick O-ring with a 11/16ths" ID.?
If you're willing to go this alternate way, then note my old post, above.


Hopeful-Cheers,
-Bob

[Jordan]

It's nice to stay original, if possible.
If that doesn't work, Bob's idea sounds like a good plan.

Jordan