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I know there are a lot of chain cleaners avaliable but could a steam cleaner be used to clean an o ring chain without doing any damage

what kind of steam cleaner? It all depends. We use a steam cleaner on our chains at work as they get nasty/sticky/gooey product all over them. steam cleaner cleans it up just fine then we relubricate them. How hot does the steam cleaner you plan on using get?

The steam cleaner is just your normal household type nothing special I was wondering if there were precautions when cleaning around the o rings if the steam could some how penetrate and do more harm than good

As posted above, be sure to relube the cahin very well. Are you using a steam cleaner or just a regular pressure cleaner? Steam could damage the "o"-rings if it gets too hot. Hot water will be OK, but steam may damage them.

I would err on the side of caution and forget the steam cleaning idea and just use some 409 or similar cleaner and a brush which isn't too stiff to prevent damage to the O rings.
As for lubing an O ring chain, the purpose of the O rings is to retain the lubricant inside the rollers. Lubing is just redundant and the cause of your original problem. The only benefit of lubing the O ring chain would be to prevent rust on the side plates if that is a problem where you are. If you must use a chain lube use Chain Wax by Maxima which won't sling off and leaves no greasy residue to attract dirt. I used it for years on dirt bikes after trying many other brands.

hot_shoe_cv wrote:I would err on the side of caution and forget the steam cleaning idea and just use some 409 or similar cleaner and a brush which isn't too stiff to prevent damage to the O rings.
As for lubing an O ring chain, the purpose of the O rings is to retain the lubricant inside the rollers. Lubing is just redundant and the cause of your original problem. The only benefit of lubing the O ring chain would be to prevent rust on the side plates if that is a problem where you are. If you must use a chain lube use Chain Wax by Maxima which won't sling off and leaves no greasy residue to attract dirt. I used it for years on dirt bikes after trying many other brands.

I've been using DuPont Teflon Multi-Use Dry Wax Lubricant on my bike chain (in Australia this same DuPont product is labeled as "Motorcycle Chain Lubricant"). Easy to put on. No slinging off. Dries quickly.

hot_shoe_cv wrote:I would err on the side of caution and forget the steam cleaning idea and just use some 409 or similar cleaner and a brush which isn't too stiff to prevent damage to the O rings.
As for lubing an O ring chain, the purpose of the O rings is to retain the lubricant inside the rollers. Lubing is just redundant and the cause of your original problem. The only benefit of lubing the O ring chain would be to prevent rust on the side plates if that is a problem where you are. If you must use a chain lube use Chain Wax by Maxima which won't sling off and leaves no greasy residue to attract dirt. I used it for years on dirt bikes after trying many other brands.

Lubing the outside helps keep dirt from working its way into the o-rings.