Oil pan re-seal

[Delasangre]

So long story short my oil pan is leaking pretty bad. Left rear corner 3-4 bolts have actual drips of oil hanging from them and drip on the exhaust and smoke off. That corner of the lower block/pan is quite wet. I removed the sprocket cover already and the seal behind the sprocket is bone dry and I haven't used any chain moving a little while so it's not any of that.

It appears the oil pan bolts are one time use, torque then 90°. It's pretty obvious the exhaust has to come off. Besides that what do I have to do, I've never taken the header off so I don't know if the radiator can just be loosened or if I have to fully remove it and drain the coolant and how much of the body work has to come off.

[bazzer]

Are you sure its not the sprocket output shaft seal leaking?

Mine was and it looked a lot like that.

[Delasangre]

Originally Posted by bazzer

Are you sure its not the sprocket output shaft seal leaking?

Mine was and it looked a lot like that.

can you see the photo I posted of the sprocket? It's bone dry.

[bazzer]

Mine was on the front, it was leaking on the inner bit on the back.

Was there any oil on the bottom of the metal case saver bit around the chain? That was a wet with oil on mine as well as a bit flung around the edge of the sprocket. I had fitted a new chain so it was wall clean of lube so was easy to see it was oil.

Mind you I had a bit on the crank case to the right of the sprocket on your picture, yours is clean.

So I guess its not the same :-)

[smithy]

Yeah, your sprocket seal is fine, there would be oil everywhere behind the sprocket cover if it were leaking...

To get the sump off, yes the headers need to come off. Radiator can stay there but it's upper and lower supports need to come off and it then needs to be swung forward a bit so you can get at the exhaust nuts on the head, there's also a support rod which is bolted to the lower part of the engine and supports the bottom of the oil cooler, it goes between #2 & #3 cyl header pipes...disconnect it and you'll be good to go. When you get all the tupperware off, you'll understand. It's a bit of a faf but can be done without draining coolant etc...

The only reason I know is because I had to do all this when fitting my Arrow headers and Rapid Bike Evo etc...If you can, give the header nuts a spritz with WD-40 an hour or seven before attacking them, mine were a tad "tight" to remove IIRC, the nuts on the middle two cyls are a bit of a pig to get at too. Be sure to put a little anti-seize compound or copper-slip grease on the head studs when refitting...will save a lot of possible grief if you ever need to remove them in the future.

Smithy.

[Delasangre]

Originally Posted by smithy

Yeah...headers need to come off. Radiator can stay there but it's upper and lower supports need to come off and it then needs to be swung forward a bit so you can get at the header nuts on the head, there's a support rod which is bolted to the lower part of the engine and supports the bottom of the oil cooler, it goes between #2 & #3 cyl header pipes...disconnect it and you'll be good to go. When you get all the required tupperware off, you'll understand. It's a bit of a faf but can be done without draining coolant etc...

The only reason I know is because I had to do all this when fitting my Arrow headers and Rapid Bike Evo etc...If you can, give the header nuts a spritz with WD-40 an hour or seven before attacking them, mine were a tad "tight" to remove, the nuts on the middle two cyls are a bit of a pig to get at too. Be sure to put a little anti-seize compound or copper-slip grease on the head studs when refitting...will save a lot of grief if you ever need to remove them in the future.

Smithy.

Thank you so much, I feel alot better at attempting this myself. Are the header nuts just nuts or something stupid like E-torx or something?

[smithy]

Originally Posted by Delasangre

Thank you so much, I feel alot better at attempting this myself. Are the header nuts just nuts or something stupid like E-torx or something?

You're welcome Sir..

Nah..they're just normal 10mm nuts, they're double hex, (12 point), but nothing special.

As you mentioned, the 13 sump bolts are "single use" stretch bolts and should be replaced once removed as they're torqued to yield during factory installation. There's no gasket or O-ring, they just use sealant. I find the Honda "Threebond" is excellent for this purpose and just be sure to clean both surfaces well with brake cleaner or similar......and be sure go right "around" each of the bolt holes with the sealant....this will help stop the oil seeping down the bolt holes/threads.

https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showparts?id=0D03-EUR-02-2017-K49-BMW-S_1000_XR_0D03,_0D13_&diagId=11_5151

Screw part number is 11147724485 and they're M6 x 35 but you'll need a T25 Torx bit to remove and refit them. Torque for the screws is only 3nm + 90 degrees, this is quite important as too much and they'll snap, too little and the correct sealing pressure is not applied to the sump. There's a specific tightening sequence too which seems to go against "normal" tightening techniques, it goes around the sump instead of the normal alternate method...see attached.

Smithy.

[bazzer]

My exhaust studs came off with little issue. I did have the radiator off at the time though so access was good.

If you are going to remove it rather than just wiggle it out the way, I could not get it to come out with the bike on the centre stand. Once I put it on a paddock stand and off the centre stand it came out easily.


I know I am banging on about it :-) and I am sure you know what you are doing and where its leaking, but replying to Smithy there was no oil actually behind the sprocket cover. It was all on the back of the sprocket and flung from there (it was a small leak) mainly around the sight glass and down onto the gear lever and side stand. I can see on this though the right of the sprocket is clean so its different.

If you are taking the headers off surely it would be rude not to replace them with some Akra's :-)

I spent 2 hrs last night using a stud remover to remove the security bolts on mine to replace the ignition. Would have been easy if the tap wrench was not slipping on the easy out bit Grr :-) One down one to go :-)

[Delasangre]

Originally Posted by bazzer

My exhaust studs came off with little issue. I did have the radiator off at the time though so access was good.

If you are going to remove it rather than just wiggle it out the way, I could not get it to come out with the bike on the centre stand. Once I put it on a paddock stand and off the centre stand it came out easily.


I know I am banging on about it :-) and I am sure you know what you are doing and where its leaking, but replying to Smithy there was no oil actually behind the sprocket cover. It was all on the back of the sprocket and flung from there (it was a small leak) mainly around the sight glass and down onto the gear lever and side stand. I can see on this though the right of the sprocket is clean so its different.

If you are taking the headers off surely it would be rude not to replace them with some Akra's :-)

I spent 2 hrs last night using a stud remover to remove the security bolts on mine to replace the ignition. Would have been easy if the tap wrench was not slipping on the easy out bit Grr :-) One down one to go :-)

I just brake cleaned off the oil from the side of the motor and I'll ride to work tomorrow and see if I can pinpoint the leak. I think/hope it's a slow enough leak it'll hold till my next oil change.

As for the headers I'm worried how loud it'll be with them. Also they are very expensive and I'd need a tune too so the cost adds up.

[bazzer]

They are loud and anyone who says they are not is deaf. The performance and ride ability from them and a flash is great though. I am trying to sort out some way of making it quieter. The daft twin inlet might mean I have to modify them to take a more standard inlet into a bigger can.

Its great to have more people actually working on them on the forum though and not just me :-)

I have learnt so much about them over the last year.

I am going to rebuild my spare engine at some point soon. I am tempted to fit an RR head just to see what its like, it might ruin it but I love a good project :-)