Leak, but from where?

[coyotedude]

'08 1300a w/2500 miles. Noticed some light oily streaking on the rear wheel, left side of inner rim only, perfect landing zone

from the rear drive , or so it appears. This is the 3rd time, previous 2 I wiped it clean, hoping it was something road

based, but alas it appears now for the perfect trifecta. I've decided there is a problem of some sort. So I begin the process of elimination.

All fasteners on the drive housing, ... plug, fill hole and breather cap .. clean, so I move on. Now, on the underside of the rectangular housing for the drive shaft, there are a serious of 6 punched and plugged holes, however today i notice one plug is missing. Weird place and wrong direction for a breather hole I think, so it must have fallen out, could be the culprit? I suppose

fluid could by gravity and/or suction could draft down and right on to the rim, but there is very little evidence here.

Or my last best guess, the inner seal from the drive where it meets the hub, this also would be a near perfect drop onto the

rim.

Or I could just say, F-it and let the dealer worry about it under warranty. But curiosity and sense of manly self sufficiency

says to figure it out first before wailing into the dealer.

Thoughts? Thanks in advance.

 

[FJRBluesman]

OK. is the bike used? Did you just get it serviced? Have you ever greased the wheel gears that mate to the pumpkin?

If it's oil that's real bad and check your rear end drain plug and upper filler plug, etc. Maybe replace gaskets if necessary.

More then likely it's grease, check your rear wheel where it mates to the pumpkin (you'll have to remove the rear wheel). Too much grease more then likely. It's spinning out making a mess on your rim.

Good luck.

 

[coyotedude]

Checked all the likely sources, including drain, fill and breather, clean as can be. I like the suggestion of too much

grease, but the substance is too viscous. It does spin out and makes a nice piece of 60's art on the left side of wheel.

Hoping for feedback on the shaft housing/punched and plugged holes.. except for the one, can anybody confirm?

thanks.

 

[FJRBluesman]

Checked all the likely sources, including drain, fill and breather, clean as can be. I like the suggestion of too muchgrease, but the substance is too viscous. It does spin out and makes a nice piece of 60's art on the left side of wheel.

Hoping for feedback on the shaft housing/punched and plugged holes.. except for the one, can anybody confirm?

thanks.

Mine also did this, made cool art work, but stuck well and didn't really run, just looked runny. It definitely was grease. The previous owner way over lubed it. Took two times of removing the rear wheel and grease to get it to the point of greased, but not flying out. You could have some thin or light grease on it.
Removing the rear wheel is relatively easy. I would do this and check it out. You'll see grease all over the place from the gear out (see pic below), past the little black shroud, then it goes over the edge and pollutes your rim. If it's a seal, all the more to check it. I doubt seal but could be.

Let us know.

May look like this....

 

[FJRMGM]

^^^^ WOW - another example of "if a little is good then A LOT must be much better, right?"

WRONG....

 

[canucklehead-biker]

I'd say an over-greased rear spline as well. I learned from experience how much was enough and how much was too much. The pattern on the left side of the rear wheel was from the grease being forced out of the pumpkin by centrifugal force at speed.

Nice picture of the 'spiral galaxy' pattern... mine wasn't nearly that spectacular: how much grease did you have to use to get it to look like that?

Griff

 

[FJRBluesman]

.... how much grease did you have to use to get it to look like that? Griff

...... The previous owner way over lubed it. ....

I'd use about a pint more just to make sure.

 

[madmike2]

Nice picture of the 'spiral galaxy' pattern... mine wasn't nearly that spectacular: how much grease did you have to use to get it to look like that?
Griff

Wellllll...yuh jist slather all kinds uh thet stuff on them splines en goe runner up tuh a hunderd er soes, jist tuh make shure.

BTDT, waaaaay overlubed my splines the first time. One learns!

However, if his IS differential lube then I'd take it to the dealer and have it repaired under warranty.

 

[dcarver]

MadMike said it best.

 

[Bustanut joker]

MadMike said it best.

Anybody else find it rather disturbing that Carver agrees with one of questionable mental health? Who also agrees with a known short bus pilot?

This place is going to hell in'a hand basket.. :blink:

:jester:

 

[FJRBluesman]

MadMike said it best.

This place is going to hell in'a hand basket.. :blink: :jester:

Or in your case, a hand purse.... :blink:

 

[SkooterG]

As far as I am concerned, it's more likely you have a seal issue in the final drive rather than over-lubed splines. Weaping, or bad seals on the FJR are not completely uncommon.

I could be a seal on the 'hub' side of the final drive like radman had to fix, but more than likely its the seal in the 'coupler' on the driveshaft side of the final drive. I had mine replaced at 110k. I give some info IN THIS THREAD. Look for the tell-tale signs of oil coming out the weephole on the bottom of the swingarm.

Well, after 75,000 mile of no leakage, it started again a few weeks back. I'll post photos later, but I had horrible leakage on my final drive and wheel after the trip to NAFO. Freaked me out. I am 99% sure it's the same seal. My 'guru' agreed that it's almost always the one to give problems.

It's a cheap part, and relatively simple to fix if you have the right tools. I don't, so I will be taking him my removed final drive next week for a seal replacement.

It's not something to be too concerned about. My first one leaked sporadically for 50,000 miles before I had it fixed. This one is worse, but still no noticeable reduction of the final drive oil level. A little oil goes a long way in making a mess.

 

[coyotedude]

Seems pretty weird that it would just start up out of nowhere... 2500 miles, not a speck, then boom, it starts

up and continues. AFAIK, nothing was done by the dealer that included regreasing the splines, etc, when

oil/rear fluids changed (dealer threw in a couple of these at purchase). I appreciate all the input, I'm leaning

towards the seal. Still don't know why one of the plugs appears to be missing from the underside of the arm

housing.

 

[dsmack]

Seems pretty weird that it would just start up out of nowhere... 2500 miles, not a speck, then boom, it startsup and continues. AFAIK, nothing was done by the dealer that included regreasing the splines, etc, when

oil/rear fluids changed (dealer threw in a couple of these at purchase). I appreciate all the input, I'm leaning

towards the seal. Still don't know why one of the plugs appears to be missing from the underside of the arm

housing.

'yotedude ~ It may well be the weep hole mentioned in the post just above yours. I would be happy to go out into the garage and see if my 06 has a similar "missing plug", but where MamaYama makes subtle little changes over the years, probably wouldn't be particularly definitive as answer.

Perhaps one of the folks on here with the same year as your bike would take a look?

I'm thinking this is a good time to take advantage of your warranty, and let the dealer look it over!

Don

 

[RadioHowie]

MadMike said it best.

Anybody else find it rather disturbing that Carver agrees with one of questionable mental health? Who also agrees with a known short bus pilot?

This place is going to hell in'a hand basket.. :blink:

:jester:

I COMPLETELY agree with Barry on this one. :thumbsup: :fuck:

 

[FJRBluesman]

If it's still under warranty or Y.E.S., stop fretting and take it in.

 

[Bustanut joker]

If it's still under warranty or Y.E.S., stop fretting and take it in.

If you keep up posting logical responses were gonna ban yer ass pisswistle..

:jester:

 

[Bustanut joker]

I COMPLETELY agree with Barry on this one. :thumbsup: :fuck:

Well fuk that seals it! I'm changing my stance on this one! :blink:

:jester:

 

[madmike2]

MadMike said it best.

Anybody else find it rather disturbing that Carver agrees with one of questionable mental health? Who also agrees with a known short bus pilot?

This place is going to hell in'a hand basket.. :blink:

:jester:

I COMPLETELY agree with Barry on this one. :thumbsup: :fuck:

Like, we're so totally shocked......like it'd be a gigantic mystery that one of the twins (Barry + Howie=bookends) agrees with the other....like...we're sooooo amazed.