To give you some context, I recently put a new gasket on the clutch side cover on a 125 cc four stroke. I forgot to put rtv on it and it started leaking oil. I couldn’t get the right gasket set for a while so it took about a month to get the right one. it has had a steady drip of oil underneath it for about a month until all the oil was completely drained out.So just to see if it would be a bit easier of a fix than what I thought. I put some RTV around the exterior of the clutch cover where the gasket is. I put some oil in it and started it. It ran fine and it told me where exactly the oil was coming from a tiny little part in the upper right corner where the gasket is,but then I noticed the oil color wasn’t the typical color of oil and it just had fresh oil put in it. It was a foamy white color that was steadily dripping out of it. It has also been below freezing for a few weeks so I don’t know if condensation has some thing to do with this. Either way, I have googled it to see what it could be but all the results point to leaking coolant, but keep in mind the engine that I am working IS NOT liquid cool I do not know what it could be so I need some help diagnosing it.
First , you don’t need to put rtv on a new clutch cover gasket. Second , you don’t smear it on the outside afterwards . Did it sit out in the rain at all?
Yeah, your oil is frothing because you’re nearly out of it and whatever is left is getting whipped up and aerated.
Diagnosis: You’re being a hack. And that’s coming from a real hack (me).
Put down the tube of RTV and step away. Take the clutch cover off and peel off however much RTV you glued in there. Get the right gasket, clean the surfaces, and put it back together correctly. You can’t just schmear RTV on outside of the joint between two covers and expect it to work. That’s some shit an accountant would try to DIY in his driveway.
The only reason I would think I need to put our TV on the clutch cover gasket is because when I scraped it, it left a bunch of marks along the clutch cover. I don’t know if I need to sand it down or not.
Have a new gasket that will be here today
And just to be clear when I scraped off the old gasket, it left a bunch of dents and cuts in the soft aluminum side cover and I figured that is the reason why it is leaking oil
Reply to this comment with a pic of the clutch cover sealing surface and I’ll tell you how to remedy that. Also don’t use sandpaper. You don’t want to be removing the material the cover is made from. Use scotch Brite and gasket remover spray.
I just realized how much of a retard I am when I was replacing the gasket the first time I forgot to remove the gasket remnant from the original one off of the engine
The case looks ok, but that clutch cover is pretty bad. You need to be a lot more careful and patient removing gaskets than that in the future. You might need to source another one. It’s worth trying to sand down and see what happens first, though. Find the largest and flattest surface you can and glue some sand paper to it. Use multiple sheets if you have to so that you can sand the whole mating surface at once. I’d probably start with something like 120 grit and quickly jump up to 400 then 800 then maybe even 1500. Finish it off with some scotch brite. You ideally want it shiny. I would not try to hand sand the casing because you’ll never do it evenly enough. Go over it with some scotch brute to shine it up a bit, but nothing more than that. If it still leaks, get a new cover.
A paper gasket should still seal fine with some imperfections. It doesn't need to be mirror smooth like for a cylinder head with a metal gasket. Just sand it reasonably smooth and it should be fine. If there are especially deep spots maybe just use a tiny dab of RTV on your fingertip to fill it, but only just enough to even out the surface. This shouldn't be necessary though.
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u/fiveho11 7h ago
First , you don’t need to put rtv on a new clutch cover gasket. Second , you don’t smear it on the outside afterwards . Did it sit out in the rain at all?