[Lonster]

Anyone else have oil leaking from their cam chain tensioner? I do. I pointed it out at the dealership before my break in service, and they thought they fixed it, but when I got home, it was leaking again.
I tried to attach an mp4 video, but the site won't accept it.

 

[J D]

Can you post fotos of the leak?

 

[watarski]

Try and post a picture if you can. I took the sprocket cover and chain guard cover off and cleaned ALL the grease/gunk off, degreased the chain, etc. Cleaned everything up real well. Took a ride yesterday (40 miles) and today (140 miles). Was there after both rides, worse after the 140 miles today. Still have some oil leaking from out of the sprocket cover. I have a drip that shows up on the upper right of the filter cover, a drip under the filter cover, a drip under the screen bolt, and a noticeable sheen/slight drip from right under the sprocket cover. Not sure what's going on. I was hoping it was chain grease/wax/gunk...but apparently not. Tech at the dealer said wait until I change the oil at 620 miles and if it's still doing it, bring it in. Not sure what changing the oil will do, I'm expecting a trip to the dealer.
I'm at 521 miles BTW.

 

[Mayhem]

Not sure what changing the oil will do..

Because an 890 is a living, breathing, organism? It may self-diagnose and cure it'self?

Kidding aside, it's prolly not different than the leaks most have experienced here with their 790D's, minor, and fixable under warranty.

 

[Guest]

watarski-

Best of luck with the bike and I'm sure it will get sorted.

I tend to agree with the tech if it has to go in for service anyway at 620 mi or so, no sense in not waiting (since the leak does not appear catastrophic). You are so close to the break-in service, why not wait and see what may correct itself naturally or any new issues surface and then take care of them all at once.

 

[Lonster]

Can you post fotos of the leak?

I finally got it to take a picture. The motor is covered with flower so I can see where the oil leak started. I'm glad it is not a head gasket or a cracked block. There is no repair manual for the 890's yet, but the 790 manual shows 2 o-rings inside the tensioner, so my guess is that one of them got pinched or cut, and is now leaking past the adjuster. My dealer will call me tomorrow with info on how we are going to handle the repair. His shop is 140 miles/2.5 hours away.

 

[J D]

Good idea with the flour! Now go make a pizza.

 

[Guest]

Lonster-

Intriging method, never seen it before. So, what is the technique-

-Ride, go home, wipe off motor, then apply flour and wait for results?

 

[Rick]

That's definitely from the tensioner. We use baby powder to find difficult leaks in our shop, you can squeeze the container and puff just a tiny bit out so you're not making a huge mess. If you've ever done tubes (even bicycle) or had rugrats you should have some handy. I've had a junky Suzuki car with a leak where a headgasket and EGR+coolant flange share a seam, have to be lightning quick to have a chance to see what gets damp first with the powder.

Clean, puff some powder, run it and watch.

 

[Lonster]

I don't really clean it. I wipe the excess so the flour or baby powder has something to stick to, then run it and look for the leak. After the leak is found, soap and water cleaning.

 

[Lonster]

So, I spoke with my dealer today, and he looked at the service manual for the 790 to check out the tensioner. He ordered me all 3 o-rings, and suggested I try and un-screw the plug on the end, and check out that o-ring. It comes out easily with an allen socket. It DID have a very thin 10mm o-ring on it, and it looked smashed to me. I replaced it with a thicker o-ring that I had in my set, and re-installed it. No more leaking. Time to go tear it up some more!