NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

[Flying banana]

Somebody out there, please tell me that oil weeping from the front edge of the rubber gaiter between the drive shaft housing and the final drive housing is NOT a problem??!!!!

A month or so ago I noticed that there was an amount of gunge there, but I thought (hoped) that it was just road muck because I keep the bike well layered with WD 40.
Today, I noticed that there was definately oil leaking, not a great deal, but deffo not right.

I need serious replies pls, 'cos if it turns out to be an oil seal gone oiin the final drive unit, I am goona be going balistic at BMW, bearing in mind the problems of I have with the clutch, and possible oil contamination there.

Cheers guys..


This is really getting stupid

 

[Rob Farmer]

A bit of oil there is quite common but not a huge amount, pull the cover off and see how much comes out if it's loads then check the oil level in the gearbox and see how much it takes to top it up. If it is the seal then the gearbox is going to have to come out

 

[Tsiklonaut]

What's your mileage?

The smaller seal to the shaft housing from bevel box has so called "self oiling" characteristics, so small amount constantly flows though there on most machines, a rather "they all do that sir" problem, so i guess maybe just quite much has leaked outside so it now penetrates through rubber.

Remove the ruber from one side, ot even better take the bevel box off see how much oil has leaked outside and clean it and shaft drive housing.

If there's bad leak - more than some 100 millilitres and you see constant loss from FD oil level, then maybe replacing the seal is an good idea.

This is how much mine had oil leaked into final drive housing about after 30Kkm:

A relatively small gulp of oil. People sayed it's normal.

Margus

 

[Big Lad]

I have a small leak there too. It seems to be that the pinion oil seal has leaked ( ? ) and I've got it booked in soon to be done. When I bought the bike I checked the bevel oil level and when I un-screwed the filler cap, oil flowed out and the level was up to the TOP of the threads. I syringed the oil level back down to the bottom thread. It may be that over-filling has caused the seal to blow ( ? ). I'm getting the bearings replaced as well whilst it's in bits. Good luck !

 

[Flying banana]

Checked it tonight, took the gaiter partly off, its definately got oil in there whihc has emulsified. I tell you, I am gonna be speaking with the dealer next week, and the fecking thing may well be dumped on their forecourt. If it does tunr out out to be a leaky seal, then its highly likely the sodding thing is going. I am really really pissed off about the whole thing.
This frigging bike is turning into an expensive pile of shite.

And yes I have suffered a massive sens of humour failure.

 

[Rob Farmer]

If it's emulsified then it could be the water making it seem worse than it is, if emulsified oil's leaking out then the seal wasn't tight enough to stop water getting in in the first place. It could just appear far worse than it is...I hope so anyway.

 

[Flying banana]

Rob, I think that the oil may be coming from the final drive seal, and it has emulsified because a certain amount of moisture is able to get into the rubber gaiter. This is only held in place by cable ties, and AFAIK is there merely to keep crap out of the area,
I am going to see the dealer tomorrow to get it booked in for this to be checked out, and also to get teh clutch done.
When its done, dependant on the outcome, and whether BMW play ball as far as coughing up some goodwill payment is concerned, I will be seriously considering whether I want to continue BMW ownership, period. I am so fed up with this, I cannot afford to keep chucking money at it, not that I should have to. Fer christs sake, this is the 21 century, with 21 century manufacturing. ANd BMW have the cheek to call this a quality product, 'made from the highest quality materials available' BOLLOCKS.

 

[nleader]

<snip>When I bought the bike I checked the bevel oil level and when I un-screwed the filler cap, oil flowed out and the level was up to the TOP of the threads. I syringed the oil level back down to the bottom thread. It may be that over-filling has caused the seal to blow ( ? ). <snip>

That's what Les at SLM told me when I took mine in with the same symptom. Overfilling causes too much pressure and the seal goes, he said. OK, I said, but it was your team that serviced it two months ago. What are we going to do about it now?

We came to an arrangement that I was happy about....

Norman

 

[boxer]

The oil is either traveling down the swing arm from the gearbox output shaft seal or is moving up from the final drive input shaft seal.

Chances are it's the final drive seal [usually is] and to be honest unless the level in either box is dropping it can be left until such time as is convenient for you. I left mine for 2 or 3 years.

If BMW won't cough for the cost of seal replacement remove the final drive yourself. There's plenty of info here concerning it's removal. When it's off post it to Sherlocks who'll replace the seal for about 25GBP excluding P+P in about 3 days.

 

[Flying banana]

I changed the oil in the final drive a couple of months ago, and I know for certain that I did not overfill. it was done EXACTLY to the book, so that is not it.
It may be that I get, 'they all do that sir'. If so, ce la vie. However, I wil not be impressed. With that logic, I might as well own a 1970's Triumph!!

 

[adamski49]

Phil

Sounds like the pinion oil seal to me. Less than a fiver in parts but £125 with labour for it to be repaired at the dealers.

Mine was replaced at 18k (with the service) and again at 26k (I didn't pay for this one as it was so soon after the other) when the paralever bearing was done.

The way I see it as long as the shaft drive repairs don't exceed the cost of chain and sprocket replacement on a similar bike then I'm happy.

Obviously your clutch problem screws this theory.

Adam

 

[MikeP]

Mine started pushing out oil while in France/Germany last week.

Just seen the affected part today.

The oil seal has a threaded outer and according to my dealer it is loctite'd at assembly but the BMW advised replacement procedure is to use a silicone sealer.

They said that in high temperature situations the oil can thin enough to be forced past the threaded outer.

When mine started weeping the air temp was 38 deg C and we'd just done some bumping along fire trails for quite a while.

BTW if over-filled, shouldn't the excess be blown out of the breather?

 

[Flying banana]

Update, the problem has been sorted. The dealer has replaced both the final drive pinion seal, and the gearbox output seal as a precaution, as it was a bit unclear which one had failed. And they didn't charge me for it, which was a right result.