Tell me how bad this is...

[bonio]

This afternoon, under grey skies and fine drizzle, I gave the DRZ its annual wash. It might get a quick sploosh down every now and then over the summer, but this one is a proper wash, with brushes and backache and all, to scrub off the grime of winter. And under the grime I found this:

 

 

which was disappointing. It looks to me as if the bike's been over on its side, and the gear lever has gone into the crank case giving it a good old dent. Not just a dent either, there 's a proper crack in there too.

To my mind, this is Something Very Bad and probably expensive, but tell me please, just how bad is it? Do I need to fix it? I must have ridden at least 70 miles it happened - so what will happen if I just go on riding it? And if it needs fixing, how? and who could do it? And - on a scale of ugly to unforgivingly painful - how expensive might it be?

It's all a bit sad, as I know the dent wasn't there I bought last August, and although it's there now, the bike has only ever been shiny side up when I've been there to see it. I would guess that it got knocked over in a car park somewhere and someone's picked it up before I returned.

[Mr Fro]

Is it leaking anything?

You've probably got some elicticky bits behind the cover so it's not a big deal aside from the aesthetics.

[Tiggie]

This might be useful to you, looks like someone else had the same issue

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9ICpSrKw3g

looks to me like you'll be ok, no oil leaks at least as its the stator cover

[Smithers]

Not sure about the cost of new cover, but the work replacing it looks fairly straight forward.

You beat me to it Tiggie

[Tiggie]

[mention]Smithers[/mention]

My google skills are strong

[bonio]

Google fail on my part

I don't know if it leaks or not - the bike was too mucky to tell. Now it's clean I'll keep an eye on it and if possible keep it going until the oil needs changing. It doesn't look that bad a job- a bit outside my (very small) comfort zone, but not impossible.

[Gerontious]

If it was leaking there would have been no doubt. As well as dust and grime, underneath there would have been an unholy mess.

When did this happen? Previous owner, cunningly disguised by not cleaning it. Or has the bike gone over and been stood up again so you didn't notice.

[fastbob]

Not bad at all . As long as it doesn't leak there's nothing to worry about. There's probably not much oil behind there anyway. You might want to have a look at the gear lever in case it's mounting point has been strained. Hopefully someone took it off to straighten it but you never know.

[TimR]

This afternoon, under grey skies and fine drizzle, I gave the DRZ its annual wash. It might get a quick sploosh down every now and then over the summer, but this one is a proper wash, with brushes and backache and all, to scrub off the grime of winter. And under the grime I found this:

dent.jpg

which was disappointing. It looks to me as if the bike's been over on its side, and the gear lever has gone into the crank case giving it a good old dent. Not just a dent either, there 's a proper crack in there too.

To my mind, this is Something Very Bad and probably expensive, but tell me please, just how bad is it? Do I need to fix it? I must have ridden at least 70 miles it happened - so what will happen if I just go on riding it? And if it needs fixing, how? and who could do it? And - on a scale of ugly to unforgivingly painful - how expensive might it be?

It's all a bit sad, as I know the dent wasn't there I bought last August, and although it's there now, the bike has only ever been shiny side up when I've been there to see it. I would guess that it got knocked over in a car park somewhere and someone's picked it up before I returned.

 

if someone had knocked it over i highly doubt they would have gone to the effort of pulling gear lever out .

[fastbob]

What you have highlighted is the importance of regularly cleaning your bike. It's the one time that you're most likely to notice things like this or more potentially dangerous defects.

[Justarn]

You will get a used cover on eBay for about £30, it's a 10 min job to change. Just check the gear levers ok then all good.

[fastbob]

You will get a used cover on eBay for about £30, it's a 10 min job to change. Just check the gear levers ok then all good.

 

Hmm, probably a little more than ten mins . I bet those Allen bolts holding the stator and pickup are thread locked in place .

[Joeman]

Battle scars..

[bonio]

If it was leaking there would have been no doubt. As well as dust and grime, underneath there would have been an unholy mess.

When did this happen? Previous owner, cunningly disguised by not cleaning it. Or has the bike gone over and been stood up again so you didn't notice.

 

There was a fair bit of gunk and mess on the underside of the bike at that point, but I had taken it for excess chain oil that was coming off at the drive sprocket. And, come to think of it, last time I took her out I was surprised to see that the oil needed topping up. But now the bike's clean, I can see it all clearly: it's leaking oil from the crack.

I don't know when it happened, but definitely not earlier than December (which is when I washed it last and ACF50ed it). And I think more likely in just the last month, or I'd have noticed the oil level going down before.

[TimR]

 

without seeming stalkerish ..

when you zoom into this picture there is a darker spot in the same place that says to me its been there a while

[bonio]

You will get a used cover on eBay for about £30, it's a 10 min job to change. Just check the gear levers ok then all good.

 

Got a link for that? Ta

[Snod Blatter]

Clean it up, preferably with brake cleaner or something that will evaporate completely, and thumb a little chemical metal into the crack. Job jobbed, no biggie.

I wouldn't faff about replacing it, you'll have all the old gasket to clean off along with all the stator gubbins to swap.. Nah.

[bonio]

20181128_191417.jpg

without seeming stalkerish ..

when you zoom into this picture there is a darker spot in the same place that says to me its been there a while

 

You're spot on: here 's the original, blown up:

That was taken on Nov 28th

And here's another shot taken soon after I bought it

and is there even back then.

So much for washing your bike as a good way to find out problems - it kind of assumes you've got your eyes open and you're bothering to pay attention to what you're seeing.

Dang it what an idiot I am.

The good news is that I've proved that the bike's completely ok to ride - I've done 2 or 3000 miles on it like that.

Reading around, you can use JB weld to stop the leak. But getting the cover off sounds like a bit of a pain.

[bonio]

Clean it up, preferably with brake cleaner or something that will evaporate completely, and thumb a little chemical metal into the crack. Job jobbed, no biggie.

I wouldn't faff about replacing it, you'll have all the old gasket to clean off along with all the stator gubbins to swap.. Nah.

 

This is a great idea. Thanks mate.

[Joeman]

Clean it up, preferably with brake cleaner or something that will evaporate completely, and thumb a little chemical metal into the crack. Job jobbed, no biggie.

I wouldn't faff about replacing it, you'll have all the old gasket to clean off along with all the stator gubbins to swap.. Nah.

 

This is a great idea. Thanks mate.

 

Invest in some "case savers" to cover it up and help prevent it happening again.

[Justarn]

It's not gonna leak because no oil is in the stator area. It's more.that water and mud could get in and cause a problem.

As above chemical metal or even better a little p40 (sticks like shiz to anything) will seal it up.

[Fozzie]

A little dent here or there adds character

If you ride a spotless bike, as in, not even a stone chip, and I think you've bought a pretty living room ornament rather than a machine to ride

[smallfrowne]

New bike time.

[bonio]

New bike time.

 

Naughty

[bonio]

Ok, so I did [mention]Snod Blatter[/mention]'s fix with the chemical metal. It was a bit tricky, as the crack is so small, it was hard to work much material in, so built it up sightly proud, let it set, and it worked a treat!

For about 400 miles. And now the leak is back again. So I guess I'll scrape it off and have another go, and when that fails, I'll look at replacing the crankcase cover.

Any tips out there for making a better of job of it second time round?