Cracked engine case 1988 Paso
Posted: Thu Feb 24, 2022 8:23 pm
The party never ends. No sooner do I revel in the apparent success of getting my Paso's Weber sorted than I discover something of a disaster. I'd noted some oil leaking, apparently from the timing layshaft seal. Forum searches suggested this is fairly common so I wasn't too worried. With the Weber now working I decided to remove the cam belts and the layshaft timing gears to inspect the seal.
It wasn't the seal leaking. I'd been told that Owner #1 was a hot-head with a penchant for wheel-lifting antics and the like, behavior that resulted in his supposedly blowing up 2nd gear. That happened when the bike was new and at around 1,000 miles. Owner #2, with whom I'm in contact and who told me the tale, put around 6,000 miles on the bike. What he - and I - didn't know is that the damage from the gear-blowing episode extended to the case. The case was cracked, and the crack was patched with epoxy. Some 30-plus years later, the epoxy was lifting, hence the leak.
As the pic shows, it's a pretty good crack. What I don't get is, if someone had to pull the engine apart to fix the tranny, why in the world wouldn't they get the crack properly welded? I'm sure I'll never know. But what I do know is the case is cracked. So my question is, do I tear it down and get it welded? Find used cases? Given that the previous "repair" lasted 6,000 miles I'm almost tempted to try sealing/patching it again. It's not a high-stress area, but then, I have no idea how big the crack was to begin with and whether the crack has been spreading. Input welcome.
And I have no idea why the image is displaying upside down. Tried multiple times to modify it to make it display properly with no luck. Just stand on your head.
It wasn't the seal leaking. I'd been told that Owner #1 was a hot-head with a penchant for wheel-lifting antics and the like, behavior that resulted in his supposedly blowing up 2nd gear. That happened when the bike was new and at around 1,000 miles. Owner #2, with whom I'm in contact and who told me the tale, put around 6,000 miles on the bike. What he - and I - didn't know is that the damage from the gear-blowing episode extended to the case. The case was cracked, and the crack was patched with epoxy. Some 30-plus years later, the epoxy was lifting, hence the leak.
As the pic shows, it's a pretty good crack. What I don't get is, if someone had to pull the engine apart to fix the tranny, why in the world wouldn't they get the crack properly welded? I'm sure I'll never know. But what I do know is the case is cracked. So my question is, do I tear it down and get it welded? Find used cases? Given that the previous "repair" lasted 6,000 miles I'm almost tempted to try sealing/patching it again. It's not a high-stress area, but then, I have no idea how big the crack was to begin with and whether the crack has been spreading. Input welcome.
And I have no idea why the image is displaying upside down. Tried multiple times to modify it to make it display properly with no luck. Just stand on your head.