Motor Leaking Oil from PTO Cylinder (99 Venture 700)

sdahm

sdahm

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I will try and make this as least confusing as possible....I went out riding with my dad last night (he has a 1999 Venture 700, 3400mi i think) and noticed his sled was using a considerable about of oil. We put on 135 miles and he used right around 2 quarts. (btw, I cleaned the carbs before we ran it this season) I think I may have found the problem...

First, correct me if i'm wrong. He would have used even more than 2 quarts in 135 miles if the oil pump failed and was wide open? Also, at the end of the season last year while we were putting it away for the year, when he started it, it backfired. It blew the exhaust doughnut so we fixed that and it hasn't been riden since. When I took a closer look today I saw the PTO cylinder from the lower part of the cylinder down was covered in fresh oil. The other cylinders were oil free on the entire front of the engine. Could that backfire have blown the gasket on the lower end (or exhaust gasket?) causing it to leak?

I also snapped a photo of the oily area and the pluggs which were new before the 135 miles. They are pretty black and the PTO cylinder had fresh oil on it, the others were black but had almost tiny oil splats or chunks. Anyone ever have this happen to them? I'm not a genius when it comes to engines but I know a decent amount (not familiar with the lower end on snowmobiles). If i'd have to replace a gasket would I be able to pull the top end off myself? If thats the problem. Or am I completely wrong?! Any help/suggestions are appreciated. Thanks guys!

Photos of the cylinder.
www.reflectivemediaproductions.com/venture/cylinder_photo1.JPG

www.reflectivemediaproductions.com/venture/cylinder_photo2.JPG

Photo of the plugs (PTO cylinder on the left)
www.reflectivemediaproductions.com/venture/plugs.JPG
 
pics arent that clear but looks like exhaust oil to me. as for plugs there is a diff between ends and center
 
It does look like it in that pic... But the center one is actually just as dark as the others. Would the exhaust leak explain using 2 quarts of oil in 135 miles?
 
The exhaust leak is not the cause of the oil consumption. Did you check the PTO manifold bolts to see if they were loose? For some reason the PTO maifold bolts on my 700 loosen up once in a while. If the oil pump was wide open, you'd use more than 2 quarts in 135 miles. For comparison, my SX700 uses a quart of oil per 100 miles. I'd check the oil cable since you said the carbs were removed for cleaning.
 
Just took the exhaust pipes off. That hopefully was half the problem. The PTO manifold bolts were loose! Weird. One of them wasn't even finger tight. I cleaned the carbs and i know the oil cable was set the same as it always has been. I made the gap smaller by 2mm so i'll see how it runs. Hopefully it'll run a quart for around 100 mi.
 
Check to make sure the cable is seated together at all the splices firmly, (Kinda hard to explain), the cable might not be seated all the way and causing it to run rich, could have bumped it when servicing the carbs or other pre/post-season maintenance.
 
sdahm said:
Just took the exhaust pipes off. That hopefully was half the problem. The PTO manifold bolts were loose! Weird. One of them wasn't even finger tight. I cleaned the carbs and i know the oil cable was set the same as it always has been. I made the gap smaller by 2mm so i'll see how it runs. Hopefully it'll run a quart for around 100 mi.
Click to expand...
You need to make the gap longer to use less oil!
 
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