cam chain adjuster plug

[jamak]

I know I saw a post about this on here, but I couldn't find it. Pardon the repetition.
What is the deal with this plug? What is it made out of? What I have appears to be metal, with some sort of hole in the middle. I can't make out an allen or torx head on it, and there is always a drop of oil hanging in the AM when I go to start it. It's hard to tell if it leaks all the time because of all the gunk on the motor, but you have to guess that it is.
I can't see this as being the source of my oil mystery, but it's making a mess of my pipes.
I tried to goop it with Permatex after I cleaned it off, but no go on that.
What's my best bet? Thanks.

[1100enthusiest]

feel ur pain

I have a 1980 mns 1100 and i have been faceing that same problem to a poit where it would cover my pant leg during rides. i tried everything before i knew what it was new gasket seals, new cam plugs have cleaned off the entire engine and i'm ready to try gorrilla glue at this point.

[bikerphil]

The P/N fot the correct plug is 90338-14004-00. Yamaha dealer carries them for a couple of bucks. Don't forget that the o-ring and base gasket can leak also. Try the plug first.

[oldyam80sg]

I took the plug and replaced the gasket and then put high temp RTV(orange stuff) and have been leak free since i did it.I think i bought several plugs as a spare.

[jamak]

cam chain adjuster plug

Thanks for the responses gentlemen.
Phil, I was hoping you'd chime in. My Clymers doesn't say diddly about this item, beyond loosening the lock nut and adjuster nut to tighten the chain. Even there, nothing about any 'click' to know it's hit the mark.
The piece I'm talking about faces forward off the adjuster, toward the front wheel. Hard to tell what it's made of, and the hole in the middle is also a tough read.
'Course part of that is I'm too old and fat to get real close to it
Anyway, is the o-ring behind it, and is that an allen hole I'm trying to scope?
The body of the adjuster seems clean and tight, it's just this little drip.
Naturally, when I put some aluminum foil under it today to see just how much drips out when I start it-nada.
Here's another head scratcher. Swapped out my rear tire, and when I checked out the 'collar' that goes up against the torque arm near the rear caliper, it was all banged up. Looked like someone took a punch and hammer to the outside of it. The inside where it rides the axle was clean, and both outer faces where it meets the arm and frame were OK; just that outer face that should mean nothing. So back on it went.
No problems for a couple hundred miles over 2 days, then the rear disc starts making a scraping noise after I've been riding 40-50 miles. Thought I picked up a rock or something, so I pulled over, looked it over, backed the bike up about 10 feet, thinking to clear whatever it was out, and it's gone. Ride it home and it's fine. Today, just off a 75 mph highway ride, same deal. This time I do the same pullover number, minus the reverse, and it went away again. Only does it when it's been ridden for a while, then disappears.
Could this collar/spacer have anything to do with it? The only other thing, that I wrote off as 'normal' on this bike; no screws holding the pads in the rear either, and the top part of the caliper looks cocked on the portion that holds the pads. The brakes have always worked fine; stop well and no squealies like the front. Another XS anamoly?
'

[MrOzz]

Mine leak at the front also. I used some JB weld water weld. so far so good.

Ozz

[bikerphil]

Ok, here's the front view of the cam chain tensioner, with the plug removed sitting off to the side.



Here's where the o ring is, under the lock nut on the side.



If you just clean out the front part of the tensioner, you can either get the correct cap for it, or put a glob of RTV over it to keep it from dripping.

[Montreux_Blue]

I just pulled the cap out, cleaned inside there with a couple q-tips and filled the end with rtv, put it back in while it was wet and let it set a couple days. It hasn't leaked since.

[jamak]

cam chain adjuster plug

Thanks for the pictorial and your patience Phil. I guess you could literally say
'I get the picture'.
When I have more time, I'll hunt down that post about the correct way to adjust the chain. I'm sure somebody has run into the disc scraping problem too. I've read most of the titles and a lot of the posts, but like this one, some go off on different tangents. Thanks again.