'86 VF500F, What is this in my oil pan?

Hey Everyone,

I recently bought an '86 VF500F, it runs really well, no out of the ordinary valvetrain noise, in good shape expect for a dent in the tank/fairing where the PO dropped it in the garage, but I did notice it has quite the oil leak. Oil leaks steadily while the bike is parked. It looks like the leak is coming from the oil pan gasket, the pan is wet and caked with grime, and almost nothing above it is wet/dirty.

I removed the oil pan to replace the gasket and found what you see in the pictures below.







No metal bits (yay!) but quite a few small pieces of rubber, and what looks to be an entire oil seal of some sort intact. It looks very much like the shifter shaft seal on my cb750, but I'm not missing that on the VF.

Any ideas where this is from? From looking at the parts diagram and oil pump assembly I couldn't see anything missing there, so I'm gonna go ahead and replace the oil pan with the new gasket, but still it would be nice to know why this was floating around in the pan.

Thanks,
Josh

 

can you clean it up ?it looks like it has a part number on it... could it be from the oil plug?
maybe it was laying in the oilpan when it was previously removed and the PO didn't realize it

 

By oil plug do you mean the drain bolt?

I did clean it up, it has B 2 50 12 29 7 - 1 HS written on it, along with what looks like the company logo, Acs? I tried searching for that p/n in google, as well as bike bandit, but no luck.

 

Clutch push rod seal?

 

It does look an awful lot like the clutch push rod seal, but I think that's what he meant by "shifter shaft seal."

Maybe the PO tried to replace it, couldn't get it out (common problem since there's a lip sealing it in) so he pushed it in and said 'hell with it?

 

Code:

 ACS Rubber Division Akron, Ohio
5/4/2009 - 5/6/2009 
Product Line: Rubber Carbon Blacks
Country: United States
Location: Akron, Ohio
Contact: David Novakoski

Code:

15: 
OIL SEAL (8X25X8)
(8X25X8)	7362182-001 	  
$3.11

ACS is the manufacturer of the rubber oil wipe seals for Honda. They are called ACS Rubber Division. They are in Akron, Ohio. They produce a large line of Carbon Black Rubbers.

The Seal you found and the subsequent “grime” in your engine are common, when there is a large oil leak.

The “grime” in your oil is from road dirt, sand, dust, wood, small bits of paper, and some gasket material, im sure. The majority of your “grime” appears to be grease. I’d have to test it to be 100% certain, but I have seen this before, and I am 98% sure it is. Given you have the main oil seal for your clutch rod, (the one mounted in the crank case), I would stand to believe the old one was damaged... and this further supports the grease from your chain.

I’d also agree, the person performing this maintenance had most likely pushed the replacement seal into the crank case, went “oh shit, ah well fuck it” and got another one. The seal would have settled on the bottom, and with the standard crank clearance, there should have been sufficient room to allow this to sit at the bottom undisturbed.

Summary:
You're fine. Clean out the "grime" best you can. remove the extra part. ensure your new gasket is clean, and lightly re-lube it with your new oil and your finger, and put your bike back together.