Right side crank seal...

[XJOK2PLAY]

Psycoreefer,

Have you tried ordering a seal from Yamaha?

That's the route I recently took for mine. Had the same problems... both sides.

The Yamaha's are 2 different seals & part #'s for each side. LH side (advance) has a case lip... RH side, (Alt.) doesn't.

I ground the outer lip down & placed a film of Yamabond around it... tapped it in on the LH one.

Had the same oil leak thing going on w/ mine on the RH side... replaced the O-ring on the galley plug... helped, but didn't solve it. Ordered and installed the Yamaha seal... problem solved.

If you do a search on 'Galley Plug', you'll find a thread where Trbig was goin' through this a few years back, and found a tap and a plug to replace the galley plug with. That way he could run his w/ the cover removed... and he permanantly fixed the O ring oil leak he kept having. There's pics & details in that thread how he did it.

Perhaps it's just because of the aftermarket seal?

Understand why you're going that route... Yamaha's $12 per seal sucks! But... how much trouble has the $3 one cost? $9 worth yet?

Could be way off here, and it's something else wrong... but I'd order one from Yamaha and try it one more time.
If it doesn't do the trick, you may have to go the speedy sleeve route.
JAT. Hope ya get it figured out soon.
Bob

[3Phase]

Ouch. I agree with Bob, try the Yamaha seal before you get too much further into it. I looked at the picture of the crankshaft end and I couldn't see a groove on it. You might not need the repair sleeve but take a good look before you put in another seal.

[psycoreefer]

I didn't order the yamaha seal because it was my understanding that the cases have to be split to install it, the old one for sure had a lip on it, and had to be mangled to be removed...

I already replaced the o-ring, and ran the motor with the cover off and could see the oil leaking around the shaft so I know the galley plug isn't my leak...

I did look at the shaft and I can't see any imperfections in it, but I can't think of any other reason that two different new seals (and the original) would leak. Of course you can't fit a finger in there to "feel" so you have to trust your eyes.

just really frustrating when you "fix" something and the problem gets worse instead of better! Guess I'll swing by the yamaha shop and see if the seal does or doesn't have a lip, I really don't want to have to pull the engine and split the cases.

[3Phase]

You don't have to split the case to replace the seal. Even if it does have the outer ridge you can trim it off with a razor blade and use [$favorite_sealer] to hold it in the case.

Clean, degrease and dry the case where the seal will fit.
Don't use too much sealer because it can plug the oil drainback hole.
Allow enough time for [$favorite_sealer] to cure before you run the engine or it might spit out the seal when the engine gets hot and you'll have a leak, again.

[XJOK2PLAY]

Psycoreefer,
If you're only dealing w/ the RH side (Alt.) seal, there is no lip on that one, (on the Yamaha seal.) Only the LH side has the lip.

On the LH side seal, there is hard metal that forms the lip which is covered w/ the outer rubberrized material. I had to take that seal over to the bench grinder and lightly grind the lip off 'til it was flush. No big deal. 5 minutes... tops.
John had posted a while back that the LH side seal can actually be reversed w/o grinding the lip down. I wasn't sure it would go up in there far enough, so I ground mine down.

I applied a light film of oil to the sealing surface and the crank.

I then applied a light coat of Yamabond around the outside surface where the lip used to be, and tapped it into place. I then let it set up a while before running the engine. No case splitting is required, and I haven't had any more issues or leaks. No worries about it popping out of the case, either.

RH side was straight forward once the rotor's out of the way.
Toughest part of this procedure's finding the proper 16 mm bolt to pull the rotor. Once I had that bolt, a couple of quick triggers from an impact, and popped right off. Thing of ease & beauty.

I really think once you get the Yamaha seals installed, that will end your leaks in those areas. It sure has for mine.
Regards,
Bob

[psycoreefer]

Ok, just wanted to post an update, I may have condemned the 2nd napa seal prematurely. After riding the bike for a week I have had no more oil drips, and no apparent oil residue near the right side cover. I'm thinking that first drip was maybe residual oil residue draining off the stator coils...

When I installed the second seal I used clean oil on the lip, and a thin coat of RTV around the outside of the seal. I inserted the seal until it was just proud of the engine case (to ensure clearance on the oil passage).

Not sure if the first seal failed because of installation, because it was double lipped, or because that passage was being partially blocked but this second, single lip seal seems to be working. It was napa part number NOS-12710, 32x45x7, single lipped.

[3Phase]

Right on, Brian! You've fought that thing enough for one year, now just ride it for a while!