The New And Improved Unofficial R65 Forum V2

Technical Discussion => BMW Technical Q&A, Primarily R65 => Topic started by: Julio A. on January 03, 2018, 07:55:45 AM

Title: Oil leak at kickstarter
Post by: Julio A. on January 03, 2018, 07:55:45 AM

Hey guys, my R65 just developed an oil leak where the kick starter enters the transmission. Does replacement of the oil seal require the removal of the transmission from the bike, or is it accessible from the outside?

Thanks

Title: Re: Oil leak at kickstarter
Post by: Barry on January 03, 2018, 08:53:47 AM

I guess you know they are rare so there won't be many who could answer that question. How does it look on the parts fiche. Is it anything like the gear shift seal which can be done from the oustside.

Title: Re: Oil leak at kickstarter
Post by: georgesgiralt on January 03, 2018, 11:29:54 AM

I don't know if you can change the seal from outside because §i couldn't remove the kick starter pedal on mine ....
Expect some difficulties. Ask a bicycle shop as how to remove the lock...

Title: Re: Oil leak at kickstarter
Post by: Tony Smith on January 03, 2018, 03:54:17 PM

I have no definitive knowledge as the only kick start BMW I have is my R100 which is effectively a /7 and I do know that the kick-start arrangements differ (in ways I can no longer recall)between "round" and "ribbed" gearboxes.

That said, I would remove the kick lever and have a look, BMW were once pretty good and making arrangements for minimal structural disturbance for service items, so I would strongly suspect that the seal will be removable from outside.

My main reason for this post is that the kick-start oil seal does not normally get enough of a workout to ever leak, if you have been using the kick start a lot I would suspect that the kick start shaft has worn the alloy in the cover plate which in turn has allowed enough lateral movement to do the seal a mischief - if so, merely replacing the seal will only provide temporary relief, the cure will be to have the shaft bore bred out and a bronze bushing inserted, a simple task well within the capabilities of any machine shop worthy of the name, the problem is of course that in order to remove the cover plate, the gearbox has to come out.

Title: Re: Oil leak at kickstarter
Post by: Burt on January 10, 2018, 03:56:00 AM

As the four speed then five speed gearboxes were fairly standard over the airhead range for quite a few years (both with & without kick start levers), I would suggest perusing other BMW Airhead forums for a definitive answer.  I hope this helps.