A little milki-ness on dipstick

MissionMtnMax

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Jan 30, 2012
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St. Ignatius, MT
It's a '99 MM 700 that I recently purchased - I've put about 150 miles on it. Pulled drive dipstick tonite - milky on top....am I leaking from heads or just maybe from sitting out with no cover or.....??? Thanks in advance.
 

its a sign of moisture. could be as simple as condensation from conditions or a loose seal on the dipstick. no way for engine coolant to leak in.

change it out for fresh and keep an eye on it. chain case oil should be changed out annually.
 
^X2^ no way for engine coolant to mix with chain case lube. Pull the drain plug, pull cover off and give internals a look see. Look for any gouges,chipped gears or abnormal wear. If every thing looks good rinse it down with carb cleaner put cover on and refill
 
Okay, a couple questions. First, I looked in the online manual and then I tried feeling around and I'm not finding a drain plug for sure. Is it in the bottom of the cover or on the inside - I have big hands, so hard to get into tight places - but I felt what appeared to be an allen-head plug on inside of gear box, but still no room there it appears. Second, assuming I finally find the plug and get it drained - can I use something like a 75w-90 weight synthetic? I ask because have a full quart of it. Or does it have to be a straight 75 or 80 weight oil? And is synthetic okay?

Thirdly, I went to start it the other day, and on the first pull, I thought I was going to either rip my arm out of the socket or break the starter rope. I had to turn it over slowly before it would pull normally, but it took a couple tries of back and forth before it did finally start for me. It sounded fine and all that, but I've never had that happen where I thought I was going to break a body part or the rope. Any ideas what it did that? Thanks in advance.
 
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That 75-90 should be fine. if you need more make sure to get sam stuff. Some synthetics dont play well with conventional or other synthetics. Not sure about drain plug on your sled BUT it might be in tunnel on back side of chain case. If you cant find drain plug or access it you can just pull cover, it will be messy!
 
Oh and as far as hard to pull first pull....get used to it! especially when cold. I usually do a slow torquey pull or two then start pulling to start. More of loosen things up and start to build vacum in pulse line for fuel pump.
 
the drain plug is inside the tunnel directly behind the chaincase. you will need a 12mm socket to remove it, unless someone has altered it. its not that difficult to access.

as for the hard pull, i would disagree with the get used to it suggestion, thats not normal. i have 5 700 triples and have never experienced this issue. yes, a bit harder to pull in sub zero temps, but not to the point you describe.

couple things to consider. first being choice of pre-mix oil being used and second would be the condition of the needle seats. almost sounds like your overflowing fuel into the crankcase. next time its hard to pull like that remove all the spark plugs and see if fuel spews out. if not, look at your oil choice. that will lead you in the right direction.

you can run pretty much any lube in the chaincase if you change it frequently. synthetic is fine, even atf will work. only takes about 8oz.
 
snowdad4 said:
the drain plug is inside the tunnel directly behind the chaincase. you will need a 12mm socket to remove it, unless someone has altered it. its not that difficult to access.

as for the hard pull, i would disagree with the get used to it suggestion, thats not normal. i have 5 700 triples and have never experienced this issue. yes, a bit harder to pull in sub zero temps, but not to the point you describe.

couple things to consider. first being choice of pre-mix oil being used and second would be the condition of the needle seats. almost sounds like your overflowing fuel into the crankcase. next time its hard to pull like that remove all the spark plugs and see if fuel spews out. if not, look at your oil choice. that will lead you in the right direction.

you can run pretty much any lube in the chaincase if you change it frequently. synthetic is fine, even atf will work. only takes about 8oz.

Thanks, I'll feel around under there for that drain plug.

I'm running Yamaha 2S oil. Not sure about overflowing fuel into crankcase - wouldn't it flood if it does that? I'm thinking of my wife's MXZ 670 with the primer - when you flood it, you've got a mess. I've not had any issues with the MM flooding - even with the hard pull, I was able to get it started for first time in about 3 weeks by the fifth overall pull.
 
when your saying it's hard to pull, is this after it's been sitting outside in cold weather say below 20 deg.? If so, All the Yamaha triples I have had contact with will be be a little stiff on the first couple pulls. I always pull it slow the first two or three pulls and it frees up to normal, then I give it the normal jerks to get it running. When they are in warmer conditions or in the garage they pull normal from the beginning. Soc
 
same oil i use so you should be able to rule that out. hard to pull or not pulling would be 2 different scenarios. i took your description as not pulling, like being hydrolocked. if the situation is more like sockeye described, i have experienced similar in extremely cold temps. more a restrictive pull?
 
snowdad4 said:
same oil i use so you should be able to rule that out. hard to pull or not pulling would be 2 different scenarios. i took your description as not pulling, like being hydrolocked. if the situation is more like sockeye described, i have experienced similar in extremely cold temps. more a restrictive pull?

It would pull, but it was like I had to get pistons lined up so that it would "pull" normally - otherwise it was very tight and I just pulled slowly to turn engine over to get to the point it would pull normally. Reading this, it probably makes no sense. We may have had a few days below 20F the past few weeks, but we did prior to this issue as well.

On a different note, I did get drive case oil changed and did dump in about 8.5 oz. of 75w-90 synthetic. Hopefully, we'll find time to get the sleds out this weekend and see how things are. Thanks for you help.
 
Devilin AblueDress! said:
Oh and as far as hard to pull first pull....get used to it! especially when cold. I usually do a slow torquey pull or two then start pulling to start. More of loosen things up and start to build vacum in pulse line for fuel pump.

Apparently some one didnt like my verbage. If you walk up to any yammi tripple I have ever owned that has sat a day or two in the cold and yank it like you just shut if off its going to feel like your ripping your arm out of socket or break rope.
 
It's probably more the way I worded it that seems confusing. I have an '81 YZ 465 (widowmaker) that I occasionally still race. I've learned when kick starting, to kick slowly the first one or two times because it does the same type of thing I was noticing pulling the start rope - feels like its going break my leg or ankle. But a couple of slow strokes on kick starter, and it always fires up by the fourth overall kick.
 
Wasnt aimed at you. Just chapped my back side some one saying I was wrong per the 5 sleds they have and then when some one else agrees with me an "oh yeah I guess that is normal." It wouldnt have irritated me if he had worded what he said differently. If it ever pulls like that when warm I would look for a problem. When we stop for a cigarette break or to stretch the legs a bit I usually cant start them back up while sitting on sled.
 


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