Major Oil Leak whilst riding - ZX7R

OK, so I'm riding to work this morning, quite quickly 'cos I was running late.

I get to maybe 8 kms out from work, and find my rear brake is not working as it should be, take a quick peek behind me, can't see anything obvious.

Pedal pressure is good...

Another 3 kms down the road into a long bend, and I lose the rear, weird as I was'nt going mental.

I get to my parking spot, about 4 kms down the road from where I lost the rear, bike still runing fine, and park up.

I look down, and the entire rear of my bike is covered in oil, the tyre, shock, swingarm, and oil is dripping from the bottom of my fairings !!

Looks like I have had a pressurised oil blow out from the rear of the motor somewhere .....

Needless to say, I am getting NRMA to take me and the bike home tonight after work !!

Any ideas off the top of your heads guys, any areas on the rear of the ZX7 motor that can blow a seal in that spectacular fashion ??

Luckily the motor was still running fine when I turned off the ignition, no loss of power, no hideous grinding or knocking ....

First place to check would be the crank case breather, check to make sure the hose isn't blocked and is still contected. After that check your oil filter another club member had a oil filter seal blow at PI last year. Other than that start checking for holes in the block

If othing is obvious pull off the fairing and degrease everything, top up the oil to the level it should be and start the bike and start looking for where it may be coming from.

Good luck.

First place to check would be the crank case breather, check to make sure the hose isn't blocked and is still contected. After that check your oil filter another club member had a oil filter seal blow at PI last year. Other than that start checking for holes in the block

If othing is obvious pull off the fairing and degrease everything, top up the oil to the level it should be and start the bike and start looking for where it may be coming from.

Good luck.

Thx mate for the help on this - I took the panels off last night, looks like the leakage is concentrated around the lower left hand side, and the airflow when riding must have pushed the oil along the fairing belly until it exited onto the rear of the bike

Anyway, I degreased the motor and left the fairings off, tonight I will start her up and let her warm up, then place some white paper under the bike, and see what happens with it running stationary.

I reckon I would have lost around 1/2 litre of oil, the sight glass still shows heaps in there, so it must be a pressurised oil leak, not free flowing.

Let's see what tonight brings, I hope I can track down the problem fast, the 1 hour bus ride this morning was not fun .....

Clutch push rod seal........that's what i reckon it is.

Left hand side.....cheap fix if it is that as i had the same problem with my 7 several weeks back. It will appear you have lost a lot of oil but it is really bugger all just leaves a big mess though.
The seal comes out of its little slot it sits in when it gets older hence the oil leak. Replace it with a new seal add a little silicone to help it hold in better and your away.

If your not sure take it to a bike mechanic, seal will cost you about $7 and your in & out in 1/2 hr tops.


P.S - Leave your fairings off & make sure you wash down that back tyre. I just used some warm water + a bit of detergent then gave the whole rear of the bike a good blast.


Good luck with it.

Clutch push rod seal........that's what i reckon it is.

Left hand side.....cheap fix if it is that as i had the same problem with my 7 several weeks back. It will appear you have lost a lot of oil but it is really bugger all just leaves a big mess though.
The seal comes out of its little slot it sits in when it gets older hence the oil leak. Replace it with a new seal add a little silicone to help it hold in better and your away.

If your not sure take it to a bike mechanic, seal will cost you about $7 and your in & out in 1/2 hr tops.


P.S - Leave your fairings off & make sure you wash down that back tyre. I just used some warm water + a bit of detergent then gave the whole rear of the bike a good blast.


Good luck with it.

Mate you got it in one !

Took a look last night, started the bike after cleaning the engine, oil squirting out from the exact area you mentioned.

Removed the front sprocket cover, then the water pump, then the hydraulic piston / housing for the clutch, pulled the rod and the seal just came with it ...

I have turned the clutch push rod around, as I have heard that the metal is very soft and can wear as well as the seal.

Do you know what the part number is for the seal mate ?

I might try to reuse the seal with some good sealant to get me by for now if I can't find the replacement quickly.

Cheers !

PS: I am sooo glad it was'nt more serious, like base gasket seal or some crap like that

OK, I managed to get the seal ordered through Bikebiz in Granville.

For anyone wanting the same clutch rod seal for the ZX7R, the part number is: 92049 1017 (The bloke reeled off the number veeery quickly, but I am 99% sure it is correct).

Less than $7 !!

The part gets here on Monday, I am hoping I am back on the road very soon after that.....

The parts guy was very good, in case you need to contact them, here is Bikebiz's contact dets:

Bikebiz
Granville
02 9682 2900

I had a feeling it would be that .

Big relief cause when you see oil dripping out of your lowering fairings you go

Cheap fixes are good!

Good work Greenie

Good work Greenie

+1 Kuda for the Greenie !!

Good work Greenie

+1 Kuda for the Greenie !!

Thanks Bill & Kwakka kilt.

Nice work Glen ! picked it in one...

Good work GM !!

I think i have just suffered the same fate however i lost most of the oil in my engine as it happened not long before i got to work and i thought it was just a bit of oil on the road that i went sideways on. As the carpark at work is dirt it hid the oil on my back tyre so i thought nothing of it. Wasnt untill i was riding home that the rear end went out on me a couple times that i thought i better stop in at a servo and check it out. pulled up and saw that just about everything pegs back was coated in oil. and there was some oil dripping from the farings. I had no obvious noise coming from the engine so i didnt think it was low in oil.

after pulling my farings off and going over it with a torch to see where the leak may have originated it looks like it was come from the back of the slave cylinder. then run down the breather hoses and the trasmission case then with the wind to everywhere else.

So i am guessing that you just take off the clutch slave cylinder and the seal should be visable from that. I have looked through the workshop manual and it doesnt show to much on it so any help would be great.

Seems I have this job to do on my L1 soon as I'm having the same symptoms.
Already have the seal from BikeBiz so should be sorted soon.

Happen to me at the track a few months back. Had no choice but to smack it back into place. Funny thing is it hasnt shifted since.