Sudden Oil Leak At Crank Sensor
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Road Warrior
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 1,476
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From: Summit, Mississippi
Sudden Oil Leak At Crank Sensor
All of a sudden I have developed a pretty serious leak at my crank position sensor (98 RK EFI). It started leaking after an oil and filer change and I don't know what could be the culprit. I live around 100 miles from a dealer so I used one of the filters several others seem to run....it's all I could find in a tight. Fram PH3614. Could this filter be causing the all-of-a-sudden problem?
I pulled the sensor and there is no gasket or sealant under the stand-off block or the sensor plate. Is there suppose to be a gasket under that block. It WAS NOT leaking B4 the filter change and I see no evidence of any excessive case pressure elsewhere....like base gaskets, etc. Is the PH3614 "acceptable"? It's a cross for the WIX 51438 which I have ran before.
I pulled the sensor and there is no gasket or sealant under the stand-off block or the sensor plate. Is there suppose to be a gasket under that block. It WAS NOT leaking B4 the filter change and I see no evidence of any excessive case pressure elsewhere....like base gaskets, etc. Is the PH3614 "acceptable"? It's a cross for the WIX 51438 which I have ran before.
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Dec 2010
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From: Coromandel Peninsula New Zealand
Others will disagree but I will never use a generic filter on an Evo...it has specific requirements so get a proper one and don't be cheapass...I am not sure about the sensor but it would be usual for it to have a gasket or O ring I would have thought...I don't mess with MM injection so couldn't say for sure.
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Road Warrior
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 1,476
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From: Summit, Mississippi
To clarify....it was not the "cam position sensor"....it was the "crank position sensor". Two different animals. Anyway...I found the problem. I don't see how, but I must have bumped the sensor hard enough to slightly break the seal. 99 and newer use the same anchoring method as the speedo sensor...an o-ring around the sensor mounted to the block with one screw. 98 and older used an altogether different attachment method. Two screws hold the sensor in place over a stand-off block that inserts into the engine block. No o-ring was used and two screws hold the sensor and the stand-off block in place. A hard enough bump obviously will move this connection enough to cause a leak. There seemed to be no sealer of any kind between the block and the sensor. I applied a slight amount of Permatex gasket maker and reinstalled the sensor-n-block. Problem solved and leak gone. One has to be careful with a filter wrench anyway around the EFI models as the crank position sensor sits right there near the end of the filter where it can get bumped. One needs to be doubly careful with the MM pre-99 models I suppose. The two mounting screws were tight...that's the first thing I checked. If you ever bump the rascal enough...it will break that seal.
I normally don't run aftermarket filters either, but you do what you have to do. I found what I could locally as opposed to a 200-mile round-trip to a dealer for a Genuine HD (Champion) filter.
Hope this helps or alerts others still riding on the pre-99 MM EFI's.
I normally don't run aftermarket filters either, but you do what you have to do. I found what I could locally as opposed to a 200-mile round-trip to a dealer for a Genuine HD (Champion) filter.
Hope this helps or alerts others still riding on the pre-99 MM EFI's.
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Road Warrior
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 1,476
Likes: 23
From: Summit, Mississippi
'Bout time I got lucky....
.
Seriously though....it would be a piece-of-cake to remove/install the crank position sensor on the 99 and newer and not risk a leak. I had a 99 that had the "one screw" attachment and the o-ring. However, on this 98 RK (and I assume anything EFI earlier), they used the two-screw mounting and no o-ring. Each time this style is removed/installed you'd have to clean the surfaces and reapply some gasket sealer. Now that I know that, I'll simply try to be more careful. I don't even see how I could have bumped it out of position as firmly as it was screwed down. I'll lean toward the being careful side now that I know what happened as opposed to removing it each time. I have a nylon loop strap-filter wrench and it will be more gentle in that area. I tend to think the mounting block had never been fully seated when it was first installed. I can't even remember how many filters I've replaced on EFI bikes over the years and never have had this happen.
.Seriously though....it would be a piece-of-cake to remove/install the crank position sensor on the 99 and newer and not risk a leak. I had a 99 that had the "one screw" attachment and the o-ring. However, on this 98 RK (and I assume anything EFI earlier), they used the two-screw mounting and no o-ring. Each time this style is removed/installed you'd have to clean the surfaces and reapply some gasket sealer. Now that I know that, I'll simply try to be more careful. I don't even see how I could have bumped it out of position as firmly as it was screwed down. I'll lean toward the being careful side now that I know what happened as opposed to removing it each time. I have a nylon loop strap-filter wrench and it will be more gentle in that area. I tend to think the mounting block had never been fully seated when it was first installed. I can't even remember how many filters I've replaced on EFI bikes over the years and never have had this happen.
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