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Life with a Royal Enfield Bullet 500: Fixing a leaky oil seal

14th January 2023, 15:50 by Ananth Iyer

I was also informed that the Fuel pump O-ring has become hard and needs to be replaced.

BHPian Majumdarda recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Amun-Ra came back from the year's pilgrimage (Rider Mania 2022). We had started from Pune on the 17th and were back in Pune by the 21st. More on this has been updated in the Rider Mania 2022 pages. A few worthy mentions would be as follows:

Amun-Ra is still very much capable of managing and maintaining speeds in excess of 100Kmph. Though this is not something advisable and I had to take the entire 18th off my bullet to ease up my hand. Obviously, riding with the 650CCs with 47BHPs, Amun-Ra with its massive 26BHP, seemed a tad subtle.

The road toward Goa was BAU and it has not changed a bit. While returning, interacting with the locals helped us with a new single road with an excellent surface, where one can maintain a decent speed. This road goes through a few villages and jungles and was a pleasant experience to drive through.

Vibrations caused one of the Horn metal plates to break off from the joint. I did check with the RE servicing at Goa and was advised that I need to take the entire set of two as the metal plates come attached to the horn (Said that it has something to do with the right level of resonance).

While performing the servicing before the trip, I observed oil drops. I was informed that this was because of the excessive chain oiling. Something I did not buy but could not reject as well. Coming back I understand that oil is indeed dropping off and I now need someone to check and advise from where are the drips happening. The drain bolt might be the culprit, but somehow I think that the oil is seeping from some other place and then dripping from the drain bolt surface.

I have a bash plate attached and therefore cannot clean the entire bottom properly. The bash plate though can be removed at home but then the fact that one of the support mounts is at a very odd position, I will have to have this removed (for closer inspection) at my technician's.

On the 27th, After I noticed the oil drops, I cleaned up the bottom pushing in the cloth to the extent possible.

On the 28th, I observed oil drops and on inspection from bottom, I observed a reverse mountain forming up.

Though the initial suspicion is of a loose bolt, but this morning I observed that the drops are forming at the sides of the bolt. Also when I wriggled my finger around, they touched clean oil from surfaces away from the bolt.

This makes me suspect that the oil leak is happening from some other point. Might be from the section where the strainer is located as it was removed and then reattached or from the other bolt up north, from where around 150ML had come out. A complete flush of the engine oil had been performed before filling up with the Semi-synthetic, which is now dripping merrily. Good that I have around 600ML still with me, something which I intend to top up before taking Amun-Ra to the hermit

Just Noticed that Amun-Ra had a sweet rub on its bottom too

Source of oil leak identified and it's the O ring which needs to be replaced.

Below is an image of the O-ring that remains connected to the Kick shaft. Notice the wear and tear on this piece.

I was not expecting that these rubber O-rings have a metal underlying layer. Quite a design aspect I must say. Obviously, this is used to increase strength.

The machine parts with all their cuts and grooves are serious works of art and synchronization. So many intricacies to achieving the tandem

I was also informed that the Fuel pump O-ring has become hard and needs to be replaced. But since I did not get a piece from a sealed pack, I have postponed the work for the next visit, and keeping my fingers crossed.