Yamaha SRX600 : Big end failure or something else ? Part 5 : Clutch cover, Check valve and startup 

hi Jim, Sorry for my late response. I do not monitor RU-vid every day. Thanks for the kind words and i'm glad the videos are helpful. Not sure if you are on facebook. I am one of the admins of the international SRX600 group with over 3000 members worlwide. We have a pretty large group of US members and it's perhaps worth to connect. Who knows maybe there is a member close by. I'm from the Netherlands, the other side of the pond. Let me know if you are interested i can let you in. If there are no oil leaks ( which you will notice) and the bike consumes little to no oil while riding, a dry dipstick usually means a failing Check valve. It's not the end of the world, you can ride with it but gauging oil levels becomes problematic and overfilling is a risk indeed. The dirty oil can have multiple reasons. Oil over time reacts with moist or fuel/exhaust gases and creates dirty oil. This could happen if you havent changed oil for a long time. You could flush the crankcase it with substance meant for cleaning crankcases. not sure what brands there are in US. The SRX is a dry sump system. Meaning oil will be pumped from the tank to crankcases and ultimately pumped back into the tank. It's therefore no surprise dirty oil ends up in the tank. Kicking 20 times is about normal before you see some oil pressure. It doesn't sound like you've got a oil pressure problem from what you are telling me. You can also start the engine, usually you will see oil apprearing in seconds, provided there is no airlock in the system. The oilpump is quite robust. The most common failure on teh oilpump is because of defective 5tg gear. 5th gear fragments end up in the oilstream and will ruin the oilpump rotors leading to poor pressure. You will have to remove the clutch before you can get to the oilpump. I have not seen a way to remove the pump with the clutch on. You definitely need a clutch holder to take of the clutchbasket. Don't put force on the studs. these break off real easy. Filter and check teh drained oil for metal particles, if you do see small metal particles it could be an indication 5th is going bad and also the oilpump can go bad. If you do not see anything of that and 5th gear doesn't make a loud noice, Just replaces the Check valve. See also my video on 5th gear replacement. Again let me know if you want to join on the facebook group. more than happy to let you in. good luck !

Thanks Nico for your thorough reply. Haven't seen any metal in the oil. I think I'm going to ride and see how it goes and then change the check valve this winter.. If 5th gear or the pump goes I'll probably sell the bike.

Thanks Bruno, i'm glad the video is useful to you.

@@U2pSandman Yes. The oil check valve!! This is why the tank is always really difficult to misure!!! And I put too much oil inside....TILL NOW!!

@@brunolini A bad check valve can indeed trick you into thinking the oil level is too low and therefore risk overfilling. Always check oil on a warm engine and not on a cold engine. this is the only way to get a reliable reading of the oil level.

@@U2pSandman thanks!! So the best way to check the oil level is to warm the engine well, then stop the engine and wait 5/10 minutes to check. ...right? (with a check valve in good conditions.:)

@@brunolini Yes. You can check oil after you stopped the engine. No need to wait for 5 -10 Minutes. Just ride the bike for 5 minutes or so and then check right away. This will get the oil circulation going and the oil levels in the sump and tank to balance out. Btw we do have a lively and active facebook group for SRX. Lots of expertise there. You can join us if you want to. i'm one of the admins and can let you in.

That is sad to hear. i hope you get well soon. I used Athena gasket set because they're good quality and there is good availability where i live. That said i'm not married to a specific brand. There are other good brands too. Yamaha in general is more expensive for a full gasket set. I use marston or equivalent on one side as a glue. The reason why i do it like that is that it helps a bit preventing gasket remains sticking to the crankcase the next time i have to take the covers off. So saving time and less chance off gasket remains entering the engine. I have an engineering background ( not in motorcycles ) and i think i'm a curious person in general. I read a lot, i listen a lot to others and i like to try things out and experiment (In an educated way). I learned quite a bit from people who used to race classic bikes over here. A generation of people that could do amazing things with a minimum of tools. it's a bit of everything i guess.

In my personal experience i always regretted the times i didn't replace an oilseal, Soon or later they started to leak and i had to take the engine apart to replace it anyway. Perhaps you can get away with not replacing the kickstarter oilseal. It's a shaft that's not rotating that much. So who knows you're lucky. However Luck is not a tool in my toolbox. Maybe i am overdoing things at the same time my SRX'es are still reliable leakfree companions.

Hi. if you click on my name you will end up on my channel and you should see the other videos. you will have to remove the clutchcover to access the check valve. It's not a big deal though. It's on and off in a breeze. You will have to drain the oil from the bike and you will need a new gasket and a torquewrench to bolt the allen bolts to the correct torque. Replacing the check valve isn't difficult either and a new valve isn't expensive.

Thanks Nico! Big help.

It's not the end of the world. The oil is in the sump and check valves always leak a little bit. As soon as you start the engine the scavenge pump will level the oil in a matter of minutes. That's why you need to check oil on a warmed up engine. Just try an you will see the oil returns at the right level

@@U2pSandman Not a little bit. The upper tank drains completely in about 2 hours. I am of course very disappointed. I went through a fair amount of expense here in the states to get the parts, and worked for HOURS scraping the old glued on gasket off without damaging the case and clutch cover. I also sweat bullets cutting the old oil seal (kick starter) out of the clutch cover. And the work didn't seem to accomplish anything. I'm not blaming anyone. I just wish I hadn't bothered to do any of the work.

This bike has 52.000km. The engine has been worked on by a previous owner as i noticed. I think the root cause of the problem was that the tabwashers on the primary drive and clutch were not properly folded into place by a previous owner, causing the primary drive and clutchboss nut to come loose over time.

No, they are Assembled at the factory with roughly machined bits which settle in and loosen. Pretty common occurrance on different bikes. On the SRX, there is a huge amount of torque too. My TTR needs doing. 12000km, never been apart.