1994 Vulcan 1500 w/Tow-Pac.....oil leak

[jmk865]

My baby has sprung an oil leak. Near as I can tell it may be the uppermost gasket on the rear cylinder. I plan on taking it in to my local mechanic to see exactly where the problem is and how much is involved in repairing it.
I was wondering if anyone else has had this problem and what they might have found out is involved in repairing it and what expense is involved. The bike had 19,000 miles on it when I got it a year and a half ago and has 27,000 on it now.
Thanks for any thoughts and advice anyone might have.

[FuzzyWuzHe]

Good luck ... I can't help as I don't know anything about vulcans .... but sometimes moral support help's

[jmk865]

Trike's been in shop since tuesday. Rear cylinder upper gasket bad, reed valve also bad....waiting on parts. Should be on road next Weds. or so. Getting oil, plugs, general maintenance done too.....
Wouldn't ya know suns out nice and bright today..

[FuzzyWuzHe]

Wouldn't ya know suns out nice and bright today..

It's always like that ... the nicest days to ride are the ones when the trike is down or you have to work

[jmk865]

The Vulcan is still in shop. They finally lookes at it and determined if the leak is loose bolds etc, it will be fine. If gaskets are at fault; they would have to pull the motor to repair. If price gets out of line, trike will be in my back yard with flowers planted in the saddle bags. It's too old to spend a lot of money on.

[Rmitchell55]

JMK

If the reed valves are bad, there are no replacements available according to the Kawi website. The first thing that most Vulcan owners do when they get a new bike is rip the reed valves and the associated plumbing off. The bike will run much cooler without the secondary ignition in the exhaust ports. Just make a plate the from 1/8 inch steel the same as the reed valves and bolt them on. If you need any information on the Vulcan go here and ask. About 38,000 owners have been here.

www.vroc.org (Vulcan Riders Owners Club)

[jmk865]

Thanks for the info.

[jmk865]

Vulcan repaired and back on the road. Cam cover gaskets replaced, fluids changed, new plugs.....ready and rollin again !

[FuzzyWuzHe]

The Vulcan is still in shop. They finally lookes at it and determined if the leak is loose bolds etc, it will be fine. If gaskets are at fault; they would have to pull the motor to repair. If price gets out of line, trike will be in my back yard with flowers planted in the saddle bags. It's too old to spend a lot of money on.

say it isn't so

- - - Updated - - -

Wheeew .. that was close ... glad your back in the wind

[jmk865]

Fuzzy
I'm really happy my ride could be repaired at a reasonable cost ($570). Considering the motor had to be pulled to replace the gaskets, and all the fluids were changed and a tune up; I felt like I got off pretty cheap. Running great and not leaking was what I hoped for and got. At "only" 72 years old, I ain't near ready to give riding up. Put a bit over 200 miles on it this week and enjoying every minute !

[pcombe]

Im glad your problem had a relatively cheap outcome!

Here's a little old and a little new school thinking for you!

One allot of us used to do was add a little marvel mystery oil to the fuel and oil sump to soften gaskets and seals and sometimes it worked, some times not!

The other thing I seen last fall was a friend of mine cleaned under the jug gasket on his 80" evo with the spray tube on a can of throttle body cleaner ( carb cleaner) and injected some super glue in there.

I scoffed at his fix but ill be darned if it isn't still holding.

me? I would resign myself to pulling the jugs and replacing the seals! as this is not unusual on an 80" evo with tall mileage.

At least I would have done it over the off season?

My old 80" had 91,000 miles before it began leaking under the cylinder heads and I found a brand new, never used engine made in 1994 that I picked up much cheaper than I could rebuild my old one.

The owner of A Harley dealer bought it new to build a chopper and never got around to it. (thank you E-bay)

I just bet if I tried his trick it would never hold? perhaps it was because the crack in his gasket had not fully developed?

Or maybe that's just my luck?

You bet I'm gonna try it if I ever need too?