mystery air leak

[Eric B]

Hi All. I just assembled my 220 top after a refresh of rings, gaskets, & KIPS seals. Leak test shows a rapid leak somewhere but spraying soapy water at all the usual spots shows nothing. I am a bit baffled as to where the air is going. I even put plugs on the 2 coolant openings to see if it's leaking into the coolant jackets. No difference. The thread about the KIPS shaft seal has me wondering if that could be a culprit - viewtopic.php?t=26023
I will probably buy some of the recommended o-rings for that shaft and see if that helps.

Any suggestions? Am I missing something? I've done this procedure many times, but this is a 1st regarding the leak.
I did check to make sure my testing equipment is sound. All good.

Thanks for any help.

[kdxdazz]

If you think it is leaking from the sub shaft seal you can remove the cover and spray water in there to check
Remember if you replace it's a packing seal and not an o ring
Did you spray the crank seals as well?

[Eric B]

I did spray the crank seals. They are good(less than 100 hrs on them).
Sub shaft seal are new. I'll check them again.
On a different note - I saw your KIPS rattle videos, and fiddled with mine to reduce the noise. Will report back when I start it up.

[JimmyB]

Possibly between the case halves into the tranny, finger over the vent hose, spray the outer case joint halves also. There are 3 notches around the left crank bearing that were a common cause of leaks on the E series, not sure if the A and H series had the problem also.

[Eric B]

It’ll check that too, Jimmy B.
I think I found it.
The right KIPS shaft seal seems to be ineffective.
(It is the original seal. 600+ hrs)
Will order some o-rings per the other thread.

[Eric B]

Follow up - installed a 5 x 8 mm o-ring on the kips shaft, and that solved the air leak. Bike fired up and acted as it should. I ran only a minute or so. Will try to get out for a shakedown ride this weekend.

[billie_morini]

Follow up - installed a 5 x 8 mm o-ring on the kips shaft, and that solved the air leak. Bike fired up and acted as it should. I ran only a minute or so. Will try to get out for a shakedown ride this weekend.

This is very helpful to know. Thanks for sharing. It seems like our forum's X-ring / O-ring efforts are providing functional results.