Another leaky FD and DS

[79beem]

My FD leaks from the weep hole below the axle, I assume via the oil sleeve sitting between the axle sleeve and the needle bearing of the FD. The Clymer manual states that leaking at the FD weep hole is due to the "ring gear seal " leaking but the diagram doesn't label any part as such. Is this the oil sleeve on the axle sleeve?

Oil level is down 5mm below the bottom tread after 3000km, enough to leave a mess on the housing,tyre and rim.

The drive shaft looses its oil I believe into the gear box via the faulty oil seal which sits behind the FD coupling hub splines and inside the threaded ring.Then along the DS via the output shaft oil seal behind the output flange at the transmission housing.

I say this because when I first noticed the DS oil loss I assumed it was into the FD. But, when I next did a full lube change after many DS top ups, the gear box was heavily over-full. I Stopped topping up the DS to full and the gear box levels stopped rising. The gear box oil was not diluted or discoloured in any way, or smell of petrol.

I just checked the swing arm boot and it has clean gear oil in it. The DS had just 50mm in it. Gear box approx 50mm over full.

 So, am I way off track with the DS idea or can this happen?

And can anyone confirm my identification of the oil sleeves as being the ring gear seals causing the weep hole leak?

Phew! [smiley=dizzy2.gif]

  

[79beem]

Ok, so I think I may have got this a little wrong?

The Pinion oil seal? Between clutch hub and threaded ring,seals between the FD and DS.

Correct?

And therefore leaks into the FD if faulty.

Correct?

The DS oil enters the tranny via a "vent" hole in the tranny housing when over filled.

Correct?

So I need to order pinion gear oil seal,ring gear oil seal and FD housing (cardan) cover gasket and a FD to swingarm gasket.

Part 5 on 1st dia,2+2 on the 2nd + 3rd.

Correct?

Mine is a 248 R65 on the oem site.

Have I missed anything?

[Barry]

I've never had a problem with the final drive leaking but this is my understanding. The little weep hole you refer to is designed to drain oil that gets past the seal before it contaminates the brakes so it's a good tell tale that there is a problem with the seal. As far as I can make out you just need a new seal and gasket to do the job. In the mean time I wouldn't have thought running 5mm below the correct level on the FD would do any harm at all.  

Before assuming there are problems with the pinion shaft seal causing oil migration from the drive shaft I would make sure it's not over filled by draining and adding a measured 100cc . My oil migration disappeared when I started filling the drive shaft this way. Forget trying to measure the level as I believe that method doesn't work well and may be an incorrect translation or at least it gets misunderstood to mean 2mm above the shaft when it should be 2mm above the housing underneath the shaft. That's hard to measure with the shaft in the way.

[79beem]

Thanks Barry,
It appears from what your saying I was previously overfilling the DS with the clymer rec amount of 150mm. But that doesn't explain why I only got 50mm back when drained. Unless the swingarm boot is holding +-50mm ? So how do you check the DS level + whats the safest min. amount? Thanks again for help here + with my gremlins.

[Barry]

150cc does seem to be the official figure but When I first got my bike I found if I put 150 in I got 100 out. Whether that's because 50 stays in there and doesn't drain I don't know for sure but if I now put 100 in I get approx. 100 out and the FD level now stays put out so I settled on that figure. Some 0f the Guru's reckon as little as 50cc would be OK for the final drive so I'm not worried about using less than the prescribed amount.

If you put 150 in and get 50 out then maybe that is some cause for concern and while you are doing the FD seal you might as well do the input seal as well.

As far as checking the level is concerned I find the instructions so confusing that there is a strong case for doing this by measured volume. An accurate level measurement would depend on the bike being level. Should it sit on the front wheel or rear wheel ? I don't know.  If you peer down the filler hole there is a fixed boss on the left side (is that what they mean by the bell housing ?) and the actual drive shaft on the right. To measure the level I believe you would have to poke a thin screwdriver around the side of the shaft which I don't find at all satisfactory. I just spin the rear wheel and if the revolving shaft picks up oil that I can see then I'm happy there is enough in.

Edit: Although 150cc is widely reported as the correct volume I just checked in an 81 - riders handbook which said 100cc. Perversely a 78 -80 riders handbook said 150cc but the description of how to measure the level is such utter nonsense that something definitely got lost in the translation.