Cracking Up Under The Strain

Engine torn down to fix suspected gasket bother – but far worse reveals itself (naturally)

What have I done now? When a lad at work announced he might sell his Honda CRM Mk1 I was all ears and suddenly loose of wallet, especially when he said he wanted around a grand for it. I’ve been promising myself a trailie for some winter green lane frolics for years now and the CRM was high on my list of potentials. There was of course a potential catch in the form of a mystery oil leak or, as it would transpire, more than one mystery oil leak.

Glen’s CRM had developed the anti-social and downright dangerous habit of chucking oil out of the gearbox breather and on to the back tyre. Trailies are for sliding around on, of course, but such antics are best saved for the more forgiving arena of green lanes rather than tarmac roads. The cure for this issue was simple and cheap. On the advice of off-road and more particularly CRM specialists, Leisure Trail – fast becoming my new best mates and  me theirs – I replaced a tiny seal in the oil pump. It is the function of said seal to stop two-stroke oil leaking into the gearbox and in this mission the old one had failed. The result was that two-stroke oil was raising the gearbox level which was then becoming pressurised and taking the only way out – through the breather.