I recently purchased this 1990 fzr250r (3ln1 i believe) and I took the fairings off to give it a good clean down and noticed an oil leak a few days later. As you can see in the big circle it looks like the bike has previously been dropped and scraped along this thing, and its hard to tell but I think its leaking around that bolt to the left and running down and dripping over that hose... a friend who seemed to know something said that he believe the gasket on that thing is gone and I will need to replace, he warned me not to tighten that bolt as it may shear the thread or worse yet, crack the thing its in. so my question is, what is that thing, do I need a gasket for it, and if I do, do i need special tools to put it back together. any help is much appreciated.
Its the crankcase/starter cover Even if the gasket isnt damaged it will be soaked in oil .... I would remove the cover gently and clean up and inspect the gasket I think from memory the cooling pipe might have to be removed to get the cover off. Watch out for the metal dowels (#3 ) You will need allen key or allen socket Clean the bolts after removal and put WD40 or similar on the threads so they dont bind when screwed in .... and yes be very careful when tightening .... dont overtighten Gasket part # 1HX-15451
If u have to empty the coolant then just undo that lower (long) hose thats attached to the water pump (the cover with the pipe , below the crank cover u are removing) And the metal cooling pipe above has o rings in it .... so tread warily there too ... they may need replacing also.
I'm not sure it comes off without pulling off the cooling pipe that goes to the water pump... if you pull that out you'll have to get a couple of new o-rings as well (pretty easy to find at your dealer, grey's is off in that photo). As for the gasket rather than pay through the nose I use oil rated gasket paper from an auto parts store. Get quite a bit for $15-$20. Use a whiteboard marker or cheap water based paint and paint the edge around the cover, then press it neatly onto the gasket paper - scissors to cut out and you're done. Good luck
so I pulled off the crank case cover and maybe ripped the water pipe out draining all my coolant onto the floor. anyway the gasket has several breaks in it. I don't think i caused them pulling it off. also my cogs look absolutely shiny with no visible oil on them whatsoever, there was a bit pooled at the bottom of the crank cover. so i'm going to head off to supercrap auto to grab some gasket paper a whiteboard marker and some coolant.
Just make sure you get the oil/fuel resistant stuff. The other stuff will leak, supercrap may not have what you need I usually buy from Burson's (not sure if they are in NZ). Replace the o rings on that cooling pipe too, trust me on that, for the sake of $10 worth of orings...
I bought the "oil gasket" paper stuff its brown and has **** printed on one side, looks to be about 1mm thick. if you say its not the good stuff. I will go hunting before replacing. after a bit of googling I've come across endless mixed opinions and not really the info i was looking for... so my question is do i need to get off all of those little tiny fragments of gasket that are stuck on it? (also stuck on the bike side of it). and if so what is an easy way because they are stuborn as hell! googling says don't use steal blades and chisels due to risk of taking a nick out of the ally...
I used steel wool and hot soapy water on mine. Yes you should get it all off or you risk leakage. Don't know what you bought but so far I've had nothing but success with the stuff I get from Bursons.
With the cover , pull out the locating dowels so u have a complete flat surface I tape a sheet of wet and dry to a piece of glass (perfect flat surface) ... bit of water and rub the surface in circular motions Obviously u cant do that on the engine side but I just use a small piece of wet and dry and do the same bit by bit. I also use a window scraper if its stuck on solid .... obviously u just need to be careful...... slow and gently and keep it square to the surface
cheers guys i have replaced the crank case gasket no worries seems to be oil tight _b i also took off the exhaust and replaced the oil filter then topped up the oil, put the exhaust back on. its currently half way in the view glass when the bike is stood upright. turn the key exup valve still working XD as i said earlier the steel pipe that went over the crank case pissed out a lot of my coolant when i took it off, so once I put everything back together I went to top the coolant up, I figured i would just use the overflow tank in the back. but i was a bit confused when i opened it because there was brown water still left in the thing, whereas the coolant i lost was green so i was thinking there might be a lack of exchange between the radiator and the overflow. nevertheless i filled it to max and let the bike idle. but after 10 minutes of idle and squeezing the rubber hose connecting the pump to the radiator there was no change in the overflow level and the temperature gauge did not move at all. so I've turned it off just in case. so I'm back asking for help from you knowledgeable folk. any advice appreciated.
Ok with the coolant you need to remember the overflow bottle is just that - overflow. You need to fill up the radiator first and get all the air out of the system. I do this by filling it up at the radiator cap (under the fuel tank, a spout that is near the thermostat) until it is full just short of the cap's depth then start up the bike to circulate it through. If there is air somewhere else the coolant level in the spout will go down, then you turn the bike off and top it up. After all the air is clear the level should stay constant so throw the cap back on. If there is too much it will push it out into the overflow tank. Now you can fill that tank up to between the two lines. The system will either push some out or draw some in provided you've got all the air out of the rest of the system first (this will happen automatically depending on need). The overflow level should remain pretty constant most of the time and may require some topping up at regular service intervals.
Yeh it's a pain to access, but it could be worse. Hint: with the fuel tap unscrew it from the mount and turn it off, then you can disconnect it from the fuel line and move it with the tank instead of pulling all the fuel hoses off. Getting the air out is pretty important, it's a simple enough job just do it when you have 30 mins up your sleeve. You should only need to do it the once and every time you completely replace the coolant, not every time you need a top up.
With my old fzr I had dramas with air lock when doing on side stand Make sure u stand bike upright when filling will stop any issues
I usually squeeze the hose going from the radiator to water pump, gets all the air out, even when on a rear stand
took the tank off and filled the radiator up. took 1.5 litres . gave the bike a 5min test ride. radiator got hot and the temperature gauge moved as little. parked her up, no leaks. fingers crossed it stays that way. cheers for the help boys pics
