Big Red Oil Leak

[Olympus]

Hey everybody. I'm a new member here and wanted to get some advice. Last weekend, my grandpa gave me his 1984 Honda 200ES Big Red. He hadn't rode in 15 years and it sat inside his barn. I took it home and cleaned it up, I mean really cleaned it, and the trike looks like a brand new one! He even has the original owners manual with it. So I figured I should probably change the oil since grandpa said he didn't remember ever changing it before. I got the oil changed last weekend and now I'm noticing a very slow oil leak. I made sure that the drain plug wasn't crossthreaded and made sure that it's nice and snug, but it still keeps leaking. It never leaked before this, so I'm concerned about why it would be leaking now. It's a very small leak, one little drop every hour or so, but that's more than it did before and kind of a pain the rear. I was hoping that maybe someone where would have some words of wisdom as to how to fix this instead of taking it to a dealer.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[motordude]

Do you have any idea where it is leaking from? Can you take a pic? Is it leaking from the drain plug?

[motordude]

If it is coming from the oil drain cap, where the screen and spring is, you could have a torn/ripped o-ring!

Thanks to arc2005200 for this, and the other guys that supplied it:
Download your service manual here:

http://3wheelermanuals.22web.net/

[Olympus]

Should have been more specific. The leak is dripping from the bottom of the drain plug.

[tri again]

Hi and welcome.
There are manuals for free in the world class help section btw.

I'd start by putting a clean piece of cardboard under it or brown paper bag
to pinpoint where it's coming from.
Whatever you do, don't tighten stuff any more than it states in the manual.

There might be a copper (crush) washer on the drainplug that fell off.
I've used aluminum washers that have some sort of blue silicone already on them.
Any auto parts supply has them.
Then I'd try some regular teflon pipe thread tape

but you have to make sure of what the prob is exactly.

Bad drain plugs can cause headaches forever.

I gave up on drainplugs long ago and just tip the trikes to pour oil out the dipstick hole.

Congrats on the new trike.
Gramps will love you for taking care of it.

There are owners manuals around here too and are fun to read
the maintenance items

[tri again]

Should have been more specific. The leak is dripping from the bottom of the drain plug.

I think motordude is describing the great big cap on the bottom/side of the engine that has a spring and a screen in it.

There is also a regular drain plug on the very bottom of the engine too.

[motordude]

See that, I learned something new here too. Did not know that, then again, I dont have that machine. Thanks Doc........

[tri again]

See that, I learned something new here too. Did not know that, then again, I dont have that machine. Thanks Doc........

Yeah, I gave all my 84 models to a marine that just got back to the states.
He has some sort of asparagus farm he needed them for.

I haven't seen one in a couple years either.

They also like to leak from a 2 dollar shift shaft seal
and that oil can run down the side of the engine and wind up dripping off the bottom center plug.

[dougspcs]

I picked up a 200es for cheap last summer from a local kid, changed the oil and mine started to blow oil right after...a LOT!! But my leak was coming from inside the left side over on the engine. Wasn't any where near there..

Looked like a schit job to fix and I wasn't that in love with the 200es hard tail..so I sold it for what I had into it.

Oil leaks seem to be a theme with this model??

[Olympus]

I think motordude is describing the great big cap on the bottom/side of the engine that has a spring and a screen in it.

There is also a regular drain plug on the very bottom of the engine too.


That's the one I'm talking about too, the big one on the bottom/side of the motor by the shifter. That's the plug that the manual said to remove to drain the oil. And that's where the oil is leaking from, the bottom of that plug.

[Olympus]

If it is coming from the oil drain cap, where the screen and spring is, you could have a torn/ripped o-ring!

Thanks to arc2005200 for this, and the other guys that supplied it:
Download your service manual here:

http://3wheelermanuals.22web.net/

The file for the service manual for the 200ES is not functioning.

[motordude]

I tried it as well, sorry but it does not seem to work. I have one in PDF format but I think it will be too large to send in an email. Do a search for it, you might find a link that works but from the sounds of it, I would make sure the spring is seated properly within the screen and the o-ring on the cap is not torn.

[motordude]

Try this link:
http://www.oscarmayer.net/atc/manuals/

Please give credit to Oscar as I had nothing to do with this!

[Olympus]

Try this link:
http://www.oscarmayer.net/atc/manuals/

Please give credit to Oscar as I had nothing to do with this!

That one worked! Thanks!