08' GSA Gearbox Oil Seal (?)

[nevil.jackson]

Bike booked in 18th June for 2yr/ 12k service and warranty expires 24th June so any warranty issues should be identified and resolved. However, thought I'd give the bike the once over to check for any of the inherant problems reported by the collective and found clean oil over the bottom rear engine / gearbox. As it's clean/yellow(ish) I can only think this is gear oil. No signs of where it's comming from and it seems to be restricted to the underside. Will check the levels tonight but no patches on the garage floor and no slipping clutch, so I'm thinking I've caught it early. Question for those in the know: Is this where the dreaded gear box oil seal begins to fail?

 

[GSmonkey]

If it's yellowish and doesn't stink it'll be engine oil. Could well be the engine output seal. Despite catching it early, it'll still be a bike in half job.

 

[nevil.jackson]

... but the engine oil is black?

 

[Ash]

If it's yellowish and doesn't stink it'll be engine oil. Could well be the engine output seal. Despite catching it early, it'll still be a bike in half job.

And £500 if you are out of warranty when she blows
Best you renew the BMW warranty

 

[nevil.jackson]

And £500 if you are out of warranty when she blows
Best you renew the BMW warranty

If it's a case of being 'forced' to purchase extended warranties to protect me from known faults which are purely down to manufacturers defects and no fault of my own, I think this 8th BMW motorcycle is going to be my last and I'll need to start looking at alternatives. It's a real shame that another quality brand now seems to be taking the route of maximum price/ minimum quality.

 

[xjrjason]

I've not had my '08 GSA very long, 7 months-ish. Low miles, 8.5k.

I must admit to being surprised as to what has gone wrong in such a short space of time. Since I've owned it, I've had a new fog light switch, tick over/ stalling/hunting/ dodgey fueling one way or another, new clutch, due to leaking gearbox oil seal, and some how the oil pressure switch blew up and leaked engine oil every where.

I have taken out the extended warranty, and fingers crossed nothing has gone wrong since, but I do wonder what will go wrong next.

Any one know if the new oil seals etc, last longer than the old ones?

 

[nevil.jackson]

I've not had my '08 GSA very long, 7 months-ish. Low miles, 8.5k.

I must admit to being surprised as to what has gone wrong in such a short space of time. Since I've owned it, I've had a new fog light switch, tick over/ stalling/hunting/ dodgey fueling one way or another, new clutch, due to leaking gearbox oil seal, and some how the oil pressure switch blew up and leaked engine oil every where.

I have taken out the extended warranty, and fingers crossed nothing has gone wrong since, but I do wonder what will go wrong next.

Any one know if the new oil seals etc, last longer than the old ones?

These seals... are they proper seals or do they use liquid gaskets? My 2008 Ford had a leaking sump gasket which incidently, Ford do not consider a valid warranty claim. Anyway, took the sump off and the amount of gasket sealant was absolutely bare minimal and most certianly not enough to make a sealing gasket. Could this be why they are failing???

 

[MattW]

These seals... are they proper seals or do they use liquid gaskets? My 2008 Ford had a leaking sump gasket which incidently, Ford do not consider a valid warranty claim. Anyway, took the sump off and the amount of gasket sealant was absolutely bare minimal and most certianly not enough to make a sealing gasket. Could this be why they are failing???

If it's the crankshaft seal or the gearbox input seal (either could be causing the problem), they're both shaft seals and are standard 'lip' seals, like this (although without the holes I made in the reinforcing ring to extract it):

<a href="http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/lh/photo/qErS-DY_IX1FunCgxwEniQ?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_SSn2CtCOKnU/Se4vFhOBMZI/AAAAAAAABn0/ybm6vJkB4Jc/s800/seal3.jpg" /></a>

As previously posted, you should be able to tell if it's gear oil as it has a very distinctive smell but as you're under warranty it doesn't matter - throw it back at the dealer and tell them to fix it (and take out an extended warranty)

 

[nevil.jackson]

Thanks for that!

The oil thats leaking appears clean, translucent and yellow (ish) in colour. It doesn't have a strong odour that I can smell and if it's not gear oil, what else could it be? The engine oil is 12mths old, with exception to top ups and is black from the normal course of events of combustion. Any engine oil leak would surely be black too?

 

[MattW]

Thanks for that!

The oil thats leaking appears clean, translucent and yellow (ish) in colour. It doesn't have a strong odour that I can smell and if it's not gear oil, what else could it be? The engine oil is 12mths old, with exception to top ups and is black from the normal course of events of combustion. Any engine oil leak would surely be black too?

Small quantities of engine oil can often appear quite clean even if it looks dark in the sight glass. The way to tell will be to check your gearbox oil level (although a little oil can go a long way and the level might not appear to have dropped). Have you checked your clutch fluid level?

 

[nevil.jackson]

Will be checking the gear oil level this evening.

The clutch fluid level appears OK in the reservoir on the handlebars and the clutch operates fine too, as do the gears.

A little oil goes a long way, as you say, so could be either I guess

 

[GSmonkey]

I'd have thought if it'd been the clutch slave cylinder you'd have seen it running down from that direction. I must admit, I didn't think 1200's had dodgy clutch slaves.

Give it a good clean, degrease it with Gunk or something similar, then go for a ride. May give you a better indication of where its coming from if you're interested.

 

[nevil.jackson]

Now thats a catch 22/Murphey's law situation I don't want to be in...

If I clean it all up and it doesn't leak anymore, the dealer will say no problem there, then the warranty runs out and surprise, surprise, it starts leaking again!

As it's under warranty until 24th June and it's booked in for it's service 18th June, I think I'll leave it for the service guy's. At least they'll be evidence of a leak when they look at it.

Thanks for the suggestion though :0)

 

[xjrjason]

Brake fluid?

I don't know where the lines run, as I've not started to pull my GSA apart, but there is a recall regarding 'weeping' micro fractures.

I must admit, it's more likely oil but where are you finding the fluid?, and has anyone got any experience of this brake line fracture, and where the fluid is deposited?