Oil inside stator housing

Sorry to take up so much bandwidth the last few days. I took the stator cover off today to polish and buff it and found that there is some oil in the bottom of the housing. My suspicion would be that it has mostly come from outside when one float was hanging open (at the time I test drove the bike before buying it). However, I'm not sure if there might be a seal in behind where the rotor bolts on?

So, should I disassemble it and clean it out? If so, how? Any tricks to getting it out and back in again correctly? Thanks.

 

I use a regular "Crows-Foot" Harmonic Balancer & Pulley Tool to remove the Rotor.

You will have to supplement the collection of Bolts which come with the Tool and acquire several Metric Sized Bolts to match the Threaded Holed on the Rotor.

Using the correct Bolts, ...
Attach the Puller to the Rotor.
Take-up the slack and tighten the Tools Center Threaded Rod.
When the Slack is completely out of the Tool you Tighten it an additional 1/2 Turn, ... then, apply a Hammer Blow the Head of the Tools Center Threaded Rod to Pull the Rotor off the Taper.

Keep tightening andn tapping until it breaks loose.

 

Personally, if you're not even sure it's oil from the seal behind the rotor, I wouldn't pull it. Not just to clean it. I would slide the stator coil assembly out (making careful note of EXACTLY how it goes back in,) lay a couple of shop towels in the bottom of the housing, and flush it out real good with Brake cleaner or contact cleaner.

I would only pull the rotor if I was sure I needed to get to the seal or to replace it, not just to clean.

 

Thanks, Rick and Fitz. The stator feels fairly tight in there although I haven't really made any genuine attempt to pull it out. Loosening method? Tools?

 

Just be sure to wrap the rotor with a towel, plastic baggie, etc. as some types of carb or brake cleaner withh attack and strip the electical "lacquer" insulation off of the rotor windings, and then, it's goodbye rotor!

 

Um, well, ...I didn't read this in time so I didn't wrap anything before spraying. I used electrical contact cleaner, however. When I took it out tonight for a ride it seemed OK. I suppose time will tell though, charging, etc.

I will say that I didn't really see anything inside that suggested that the seal was leaking behind the rotor, so that's good. Thanks.

 

You should be fine.

Electrical contact cleaner was design for just the purosed you used it. In, and around electrical components. Stay away from using any parts cleaner that contains clorine. I have yet to find a good reason for sterilizing, and disinfecting mechanical parts.

Ghost

 

+1. I owned and operated an auxilary generator repair shop for 15 years (the type of gens used in RVs). And I couldn't begin to tell you how many rotor/stator sets we cleaned out using dielectric cleaners such as what you used. It should be fine ...



Dunno why you have oil in your charging gen. My 1984 Honda Magna does the same thing though ... jsyk. Usually about a teaspoon or so in there when I pull the cover off. From what I've been made to understand this is sorta normal with many Japanese bike engines.

Sorry I couldn't have been more help other than being Captain Obvious.

 

Thanks for your replies, guys. Glad to know I didn't do something stupid... Although that would not be unprecedented. It will be interesting to see if the oil reappears. I probably won't be pulling the cover any time soon.

 

There is a weep hole in the stator cover on the bottom. If you see oil dripping out of there you will need to replace the rotor seal. I hate to say it but that is most likely where your oil is coming from if its inside your cover.

 

Yes, I'll watch for that. If it weeps, I shall also weep. Thanks!