Oh No! After the extreme cold weather my V Star 650 is pretending to be a Harley Davidson again! (Its just a joke people jeez, bikers are so sensitive. I know HD’s quality is not anywhere near as bad as the AMF days anymore)
Sooner or later if you have a xsv650 variant you will get this annoying leak by the kickstand. Not to fear this is a very easy fix that even the most non-mechanically inclined can fix. For me this problem seems to happen most often in the cold of winter, I think it is due to the plastic switch being set into the aluminum engine and the different materials expanding at different rates, or it could just be the cold O ring not sealing as good. Who knows, but eventually all bikes seem to get this leak.
- Pull the fake Transmission cover off. There are only 4 bolts holding it on, they will be the ones with the washer and rubber behind it. The other bolts on the Classic cover are fake and for show only, they don’t go to anything. Your guess is as good as mine why they put fake screws on there, maybe its supposed to make the cover look cool and less like a fake tranny or as we would say “lipstick on a pig.”
- Remove the crescent moon shaped cover, just 2 bolts here.
- Check your stator wires grommet for leaks. Another leak can happen from here that is much more difficult to fix. These look good and seem to be holding since the Stator Replacement.
- As you can see my leak this time is from the plastic neutral switch. 9 times out of 10 this will be the source of your oil leak from the kickstand area.
- Use some degreaser first to clean up the mess as best you can. This will make it easier to check for new leaks after you repair it.
- First loosen the small phillips screw holding the wire clip on. See previous picture.
- Next remove the 3 torx screws and pull the plastic switch out. You will need a T20 screwdriver for this.
- You can see a small amount of oil dribbles out, not much. A rag or paper towel is all you need to catch any spillage, you do not need to drain the oil.
- These are the two parts you need. The plastic neutral switch 1L9-82540-00 and O ring 93210-29196
- Make sure you put the new Switch back in the correct position. The most difficult part of this whole procedure is getting the first one of those screws to thread in while being in an awkward position better suited for a Chinese Acrobat.
- Replace the covers and you are finished! See that wasn’t so hard.
Alternative Fixes:
If the plastic on your Neutral Switch is not cracked near the screw holes you can clean it up and reuse it. You can also take the O ring to NAPA or another car parts store with a good O ring selection and find one of the same size to save money. I prefer to just buy a new one from Yamaha because they aren’t that much.
Others have told me that cleaning up the engine with degreaser, tightening the Torx bolts and coating all the edges of the switch with RTV sealer will work also without having to replace anything.
Oh WOW! That’s alot of work to do on the Yamaha bike.
I just bought a 2000 V Star 650. It was dented and rough, but running fine. Rode it a few times in the cold clear January and noticed the oil leak. I was worried that I’d overlooked a major issue when I bought the bike. My friends told me just to “take it to the dealer.” I did research instead, found your blog and fixed the whole thing myself for about $10. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience online!
THANKS! this is xactly what I needed… keep it up!
Great Post! Had persistant leak near the kickstand when the bike sat for a few days. Thought it was the oil strainer cover or gasket. Ugh!
The only thing I did differently is to put the bike upright in a front wheel chock, and loosened the front kickstand bolt and removed the rear kickstand bolt and let the kickstand swing down to get a little more room. No more leaks.
Thanks for the pictures and the post. Solved my mystery leak.
Followed your instructions – thanks! didn’t realise thats where the oil leak was coming from, my plastic bit was snapped off on one edge and cracked on the other two, I’ve owned the bike from new (1999) and never visited this bit, it cost me £14 (less than $20). Excellent fix.
I just did the switch and I had to finally give up on the third freaking torx bolt (the one in front). I hope that two hold.
Lee
Hey awesome tutorial! Thanks a million.
One thing to notice. I’m not sure if it’s the Canadian bikes but my 2004 has T-25 screws as opposed to T-20… who knows.
e.
Thanks for the info I will be doing my switch here pretty soon. I have a question as to where you go the temperature gauge oil fill cap from? we don’s have a lot of heat issues in the Northwest but I can travel to the hot spots we do have in eastern side of the state.
Temp gauge comes from Shane @SS Custom Cycle. Kind of spendy but I was ordering a bunch of stuff from him after our close encounter with a Ford Excursion and insurance was paying for everything so why not. It measures the air temp in the crankcase not really the oil, but does give you a good heads up should the temp change beyond its normal range.