Oil leak from camshaft end

[Dig these feet]

Hi. I'm losing oil from the right hand camshaft seal. Despite my prayers, it's not fixed itself. In fact it's got worse. I'm not much of a mechanic but thought I'd have a crack at fixing it myself. There's some good advice and a few photos elsewhere on this forum. So I got a seal, o-ring and gasket. My problem is that what I'm looking at doesn't seem the same as the photos I've seen or my Haynes manual. Sorry if this is a really silly question, but what's the threaded rod with the 13mm nut? If I take off the nut, the threaded rod (or whatever it is!) can be jiggled back and forth a bit. Any advice appreciated. Blessed are the helpless.

 

[DogBunny]

Ignore the rod. You do not to remove it to remove the camshaft end housing or to replace the seal. I can't tell for sure without seeing the other side, but I don't think the rod is doing anything anyway, so you could discard it if you want, but it's not hurting anything, so don't sweat it.
The hex sockets on the 3 screws holding the housing on look buggered. I would not attempt to loosen those screws without buying a $10 hand impact screwdriver availavble at any auto parts store.

(That rod has a nut on each end, remove the other cover, remove either nut and withdraw the rod from the opposite side.)

 

[Dig these feet]

Phew. Thanks. I'll stop sweating it. Yeah, you're right, definitely need an impact driver. I tried a hex key with an extension but couldn't budge the thing. Thanks again.

 

[fredintoon]

Hi dig and welcome,
Y'know, it really helps us to help you if you said what year and model of XS650 you were asking about and that info can be built into a signature line.
Your profile sez XS650 hardtail chopper so I suspect that besides sawing the rear suspension off the dreaded PO swapped out the stock ignition for an aftermarket one and left the advance to points connecting rod in place.
That, or if the bike was a 1980 or later, he put a shaft in there for some reason.
One good thing though, he swapped in Allen head fasteners to hold the cover on.
The stockers were crosspoints, try getting those bastards out.

 

[5twins]

I think a Boyer ignition uses a threaded rod to hold its rotor on. You'll know if that's what you have by looking under the other cover. When you do remove the housing, buff the end of the cam shaft clean and shiny with a Scotchbrite pad. They get all crusty and rusty, and that often contributes to the seal leak. A clean shaft will give the new seal a fresh surface to act upon. If the leak is minor, sometimes this cleaning will cure the leak without replacing the seal.

Note how deep the seal is mounted into the housing. It has to be inset like that for the seal lip to get on the end of the cam. Basically, you set the back of the seal even with the back of the housing.

 

[Dig these feet]

Thanks gents. You're right it has a Boyer electronic ignition. That explains it. The engine is a 1980. It doesn't really have any Yam parts apart from the engine. It's a proper hardtail frame, not a bolt on, made by a company over here in the UK called Route 66 many years ago. The previous owner put it together pretty well. But I've had it for few years now and a lot of things have being going wrong recently.

 

[Dig these feet]

Today it wouldn't start. I was huffing and puffing and the bike was popping and sighing but wouldn't even get close to starting. Of course, in fiddling round with the threaded rod sticking out the right hand side of the camshaft, I'd put the little magnets on the electronic ignition on the left hand side in exactly the wrong position. Doh! I told you I was no mechanic! Put them back I the right place and it fired right up. I'll take it for a run tomorrow and see if the leak is cured.

 

[5twins]

I was going to mention that timing thing, lol.