Final drive oil leak.

bazman

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Just back from a trip to Applecross and just noticed this oil leak on garage floor!! Bikes been sitting couple of hours or so. Will it be a seal fecked or something more sinister ?
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Depends looks like its the sensor side, could be the abs sensor o ring. Easy fix Or its one of the casing seals. Bit more to fix

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Depends looks like its the sensor side, could be the abs sensor o ring. Easy fix Or its one of the casing seals. Bit more to fix

Sent from my HTC Desire 530 using Tapatalk

Will get it into the dealers for them to sort as have taken warranty out , was curious to see if a recurring fault as heard they can be problematic (final drives).
 
"UPDATE"
Well the main shaft seal is gone in final drive according to technician.
What my concern is they are saying we'll just bang another seal in and see how it goes. When they drained oil no particles or swarf evident, but not a lot of oil was there, was some in bottom but not in top (whatever that means?) I did roughly 650miles over that weekend and was not aware of leak until I returned to my garage.

Now my concern is could I have damaged the drive with lack of oil and what is the best course of action?
Any tips or advise please.
 
"UPDATE"
Well the main shaft seal is gone in final drive according to technician.
What my concern is they are saying we'll just bang another seal in and see how it goes. When they drained oil no particles or swarf evident, but not a lot of oil was there, was some in bottom but not in top (whatever that means?) I did roughly 650miles over that weekend and was not aware of leak until I returned to my garage.

Now my concern is could I have damaged the drive with lack of oil and what is the best course of action?
Any tips or advise please.

Which seal? inner or outer ...

The FD only holds 180-220ml of oil, that aint a lot ;)

How old & how many miles on the bike?

Mart
 
Which seal? inner or outer ...

The FD only holds 180-220ml of oil, that aint a lot ;)

How old & how many miles on the bike?

Mart

Hi Mart, not sure of what seal, they just said the shaft seal? Yeah was aware they don't hold much oil. Bikes 08GSA and just shy of 21k miles.
 
Has the FD got a drain plug in the pic?
Thought they only appeared on the TC from 2010 on. Have you owned from new or could the FD have been replaced with a later one at some point?
 
Has the FD got a drain plug in the pic?
Thought they only appeared on the TC from 2010 on. Have you owned from new or could the FD have been replaced with a later one at some point?

Pretty sure it has the drain plug, was unaware of that re the 2010 models. Only bought last November, and was a 1 owner from new up to then.
 
Pretty sure it has the drain plug, was unaware of that re the 2010 models. Only bought last November, and was a 1 owner from new up to then.

The 2007 RT I bought in 2011 had already needed a final drive replacement before I bought it - it's not that uncommon
 
I think that the earlier FD without the drain plug, wasn't as good a design internally, as the latter type with the drain plug and rubber breather on the top of the FD.
My outer seal failed at 28k miles, followed by the main seal, two weeks later. Could've had the seal replaced at around £300 but picked up a low mileage, RnineT FD for similar money from Holland.
Bottom line is that you may well get away with just a seal replacement as it looks like the later, better designed internally, FD.
The earlier FD's needed a full rebuild after not too many miles. Maybe that's what happened to your original unit.
 
I think that the earlier FD without the drain plug, wasn't as good a design internally, as the latter type with the drain plug and rubber breather on the top of the FD.
My outer seal failed at 28k miles, followed by the main seal, two weeks later. Could've had the seal replaced at around £300 but picked up a low mileage, RnineT FD for similar money from Holland.
Bottom line is that you may well get away with just a seal replacement as it looks like the later, better designed internally, FD.
The earlier FD's needed a full rebuild after not too many miles. Maybe that's what happened to your original unit.

Cheers I'm still worried and shall take up with Bmw Carlisle as running low on oil can't do it any good and what caused the seal failure will be my other question.
 
My 2008 has a drain plug. Rebuilt at 50K miles.
Up to 2007 had a smaller internal bearing noted for wearing out. If that fails the whole FD is toast.
A properly done rebuild will be about £400. A replacement later model FD should be less money. Get the correct gear ratio.
 
I've just been through your dilemma. I drained the oil myself so was able to measure how much was still in there and despite riding it with a leak for over 1k miles it had only lost 20ml.
Looking at the FD from the outside there is no way to tell if there has been damage inside. To change the large seal the case has to be split, TBH if you're going to have to go to that trouble you might as well change the bearings whilst you're there.
Mikeyboy reckoned grit had got inside my rubber and caused it to fail.
If I were you I'd bite the bullet and get it rebuilt, if only for your piece of mind.
 
My 2008 has a drain plug. Rebuilt at 50K miles.
Up to 2007 had a smaller internal bearing noted for wearing out. If that fails the whole FD is toast.
A properly done rebuild will be about £400. A replacement later model FD should be less money. Get the correct gear ratio.

Food for thought , thanks.
 
I've just been through your dilemma. I drained the oil myself so was able to measure how much was still in there and despite riding it with a leak for over 1k miles it had only lost 20ml.
Looking at the FD from the outside there is no way to tell if there has been damage inside. To change the large seal the case has to be split, TBH if you're going to have to go to that trouble you might as well change the bearings whilst you're there.
Mikeyboy reckoned grit had got inside my rubber and caused it to fail.
If I were you I'd bite the bullet and get it rebuilt, if only for your piece of mind.

Again food for thought, thanks .
 
Well it's the outer seal and was still a fair amount of oil drained out which was pretty clear with a golden tinge. So settled my worries on that count. They are stripping rest of shaft out to check all is ok as well. Thanks for the replies and help guys 😎
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The wheel side bearing and oil seal can be replaced without opening the FD case.
Depending on mileage and type of FD it's then a decision whether to go for a total rebuild.
Patzx12 thread from some years ago shows the earlier type can wear its internal needle roller very quickly.
 


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