06/27/2010, 206 miles
We set out in light rain but it cleared up quickly. There was a gravel stretch after Williams Lake but nothing we couldn't handle at this point. Our plan was to ride to Yale, BC and camp in the same campground where we stayed on Day Two.
At the Chevron station in 100 Mile House we noticed a pool of oil under the SV650 which gave me a sinking feeling.
Looking under the bike I noticed the drain plug and filter were still in place and not oily, which gave me a worse sinking feeling. There was oil all over the back of the bike, including the rear shock, wheel rim, tire, swingarm, saddlebags, etc. and not much left at all in the engine where it was supposed to be. Quite a dangerous riding condition for any number of reasons.
We pushed it to a parking space and it was still dripping all over the place. Janna went into the station to ask for phone numbers and I bought a couple of litres of oil. After adding it and starting the engine it looked like the oil was leaking from behind the front sprocket. I wasn't too hopeful that this was going to be something fixable in the parking lot, and it was Sunday so none of the places we called were open anyway. I pulled the front sprocket cover and noticed the front sprocket nut was loose enough to turn with my fingers.
We got a room at the Imperial Hotel across the street which had Internet, and Janna posted on advrider for help. One of the suggestions was that the front sprocket on the SV650 holds an oil seal in place which may have walked out. I applied threadlocker to the front sprocket countershaft and tightened the front sprocket nut as much as I could, then cleaned off the underside of the bike and started the engine. There didn't appear to be any leaks so I went for a 20-mile test ride and again observed no oil on the ground. By this time is was almost 8pm. We went to the pub for a bite and didn't sleep much.
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