Engine case cracked or is it a casting anomally?

[thebbbusa]

I finally got around to cleaning behind the ol' sprocket cover today, man that was nasty.  Anyhow, I wanted to clean back there because I have a super slow oil (I think) leak from somewhere and this area was so dirty, there was no tellin' if it was there or not.  So I cleaned the area up real good, and we'll see how it goes.

Here are a couple pics of the mess before:

And here's the cleaned up version:

Now if you look in the next pictures closely you can see what appears to be a crack or possibly a casting defect (hopefully) behind and to the right of the bolt in the picture.  I can't imagine how a chain breaking would get way up there, but who knows.  So my question is does anyone remember if their casting looks like this in this area?  Maybe I don't have anything to worry about?  The leak that I do have is only a drop or two per oil change, no noticible drop in oil levels.  Basically every once in a while I'll see a drop of oil hanging from the drain plug.  Hell, maybe the leak is right there.  Oh well, the biked needed this TLC behind the sprocket cover.

I am the second owner of the bike...chain never busted on me.

Thoughts?

 

[Mr Bogus]

looks like a casting parting line to me... the original sand casting may have had a slight shift.. it it was a real crack, there would have likely been no dirt or buildup of dirt around it (detergents in the oil clean the crud very well)

if you look to the "dirty" images, there is only a light covering of dirt and so unlikely it is leaking..

nice cleanup job

 

[runeight]

Man what did you use for cleaning and can you stop by tomorrow and do mine.

r8

 

[thebbbusa]

Man what did you use for cleaning and can you stop by tomorrow and do mine.

r8

haha no.

 

[thebbbusa]

Seriously though, it took me about 1.5 hrs to get it that clean. Used a small flat screw driver to get the big gunk off. Followed that up with WD-40 soaked shop towels. Got in the nooks and crannies by jamming the soaked towels in to the tight spots with the screw driver.

Was a lot of work, but it came out well.

 

[runeight]

Yeah, but you could ride afterwards here.

r8

 

[thebbbusa]

Yeah, but you could ride afterwards here.

r8

Don't make me hate you.

 

[runeight]

Your choice in bikes.

r8

 

[thebbbusa]

 

[Aquaman]

I could get you some fluid penetrant to send to you. You would then need a black light and a dark place to look at it. Basically, you would be looking for the bright green fluid to be "oozing out". Ya have to remember though, that FPI/NDT people got training to read the results...

 

[Mr Bogus]

if it was a leaking crack, there would have been no dirt around it....

 

[thebbbusa]

I could get you some fluid penetrant to send to you. You would then need a black light and a dark place to look at it. Basically, you would be looking for the bright green fluid to be "oozing out".  Ya have to remember though, that FPI/NDT people got training to read the results...

I'll keep that in mind in case I decide to go all NCIS on it!

Posted this thread on 4 of the busa boards.  Got a reply from another member somewhere that has the same casting defect!

I'm happy now.

So now I just gotta track down this leak.

 

[thebbbusa]

I love these boards!

 

[Mr Bogus]

small leak can be found (porous casting, seals, cracks) by cleaning like you did and then shoot it with a little bit of spray foot powder (We did it like this at GM) the oil will wet the foot powder..

will shut up now..

 

[Aquaman]

That could be from the airbox?

 

[cobravenom39]

Dude, that's F'd up!!! I was cleaning under my sproket today and I noticed the same kind of hairline "seams." I saw them in more than one place, too. It took me 3hrs to clean it , along with some of the area around it. I'm not worried about it, as I assume Suzuki didn't place emphasis on making sure unseen areas around the engine are pretty.

 

[Wag]

You'll see those kinds of surface defects at various points on the bike. Irritating, actually. But not problematic.

If you see a drop of oil on your drain plug, I'd start there. Does it seem to have been cross-threaded? Do you change the crush washer every time you do an oil change? Are you torquing it down to proper specs?

Mr. Bogus' powder idea is a good one. Wish I'd've thought of it!

--Wag--

 

[RYC1966]

Do you have to change the crush washer each time? Is there such a thing as a o-ring plug...rtv...or just re-use plug with a new crush washer?

 

[Wag]

I nearly always change the crush washer on every oil change. The torque on that drain bolt is very low and the crush washer is cheap insurance.

It it's brand new, that is. I'm sure you could use the same one a couple times but eventually, it's going to start leaking on you.

--Wag--

 

[Don Hardcastle]

I change my crush washer every other oil change, never had a problem.

Don