Neutral switch

[NCB]

If the neutral switch was leaking would it be gear oil or motor oil and where would it normal show up. I have oil in the bottom of the front pulley cover I have not pulled the pulley off yet, waiting on a new oil seal and o-ring for behind the pulley just in case that is where it is coming from. But the oil does not smell like gear oil to me?

[davej]

Is the pulley tight? If there is oil in there it should be engine oil and coming from either the pulley being loose or a bad seal/oring behind the pulley.

[NCB]

Dave, how could engine oil get behind the pulley.

[davej]

only about 1/2 qt of gear oil goes into the transfer case to lube the chain and bearings. That is all on the other side of the bike and separated from the pulley at the oil tank. Look at a parts diagram at the middle drive gear pic and you will see the separation.

[Bikerron]

Me no savy, Dave.

I’ve seen the lubrication chart of the transfer case. Both bearings, behind the belt pulley and the chain side, receive the same gear oil via the transfer pump through the cross shaft.

[NCB]

I thought that the gear oil on the right side of the bike was just a "gear oil bath" with no pump involved. I thought that if you had leaking behind the front pulley that it was the gear oil traveling somehow from the right side to the left by the shaft?

[NCB]

I believe Dave is correct!

[NCB]

Unless there is a tube that the shaft goes thru I don't see how it could be anything other than engine oil behind the pulley. That would explain why it does not have the gear oil smell? How does the gear oil and motor oil not mix? It only shows a bearing at the shaft on the right side, no oil seal? the only oil seal that I see is behind the pulley?

[Bikerron]

All I can say is keep researching.

What the diagrams you posted doesn’t show is, tho the engine oil tank and the transfer case are one casting, they still have separate compartments. Study the oil flow chart (again!) and you’ll see the cross shaft is hollow and the pump (#2 in the diagram) on the right side feeds oil, via that hollow shaft, to the bearing on the left (belt pulley side).

All bearings, sprockets and chain that resides in the transfer case are lubricated from one source and it is gear oil doing the duties.



Below is a typical Road Star engine oil tank with the top removed showing the ‘tube’ where the shaft passes through to the left side.

[NCB]

Thank you Ron, I really can't get a understanding of the oil flow chart. But the pic you posted of the oil tank explains it all. Thanks for clearing that up!

[davej]

Thanks for the pic Ron I always thought it was engine oil at that point. I guess you learn something new everyday.

[Bikerron]

You’re welcome, Dave. The oil flow diagram had me going crazy, after all the other comments, until I found the picture of the oil tank’s innards. Then it made sense.

[Bikerron]

You’re looking at a cross section of the assembly from the rear of the bike as if it was cut in half from top to bottom through the cross shaft. The shaded areas are passage ways for the oil. Starts at the bottom, up through the pump that is shaft driven with the splines on the hollow shaft. From there it travels to the left side and exits from a small hole in the cross shaft into the cavity and supplies oil to both bearings. The only way it can escape is through the right bearing where it is slung out to bathe the chain and eventually makes it back to the sump where it repeats the process.

Hollow shaft.





The small hole in the shaft (as depicted in the cross section drawing) where the oil exits to fill the cavity for the bearings.

[Bikerron]

So, to summarize, engine oil could be slobbering from the neutral switch from the other side and surface tension could direct it across the bottom of the engine to the pulley area while on the side stand.

Or, you’re seeing gear oil from the pulley shaft seal. Some synthetic gear oils have little odor. Mine doesn’t reek of sulfur like the vintage concoctions of olden times.

[NCB]

Ron, if it is coming from the neutral switch and the switch is not bad. If I removed the clutch cover could I just replace the o-ring at the neutral switch to fix the leak?

[Bikerron]

The neutral switch is on the other side.



First thing I would do is expose the pulley and look for an oily mess to determine if my leak was originating there.

The old adage about ‘the eye can identify, but the nose knows’ doesn’t apply here when trying to determine what oil you seem to be smelling.

[Pauli466]

If the neutral switch was leaking would it be gear oil or motor oil and where would it normal show up. I have oil in the bottom of the front pulley cover I have not pulled the pulley off yet, waiting on a new oil seal and o-ring for behind the pulley just in case that is where it is coming from. But the oil does not smell like gear oil to me?

Motor oil