Stinky Drippy Smoky

[peels]

no those aren't the missing three dwarves.

Oil leak upon my catayltic converter. smells RICHLY of gear oil.

THis is after replacing slave cylinder. (it does not appear to be leaking) I cant see where its coming from, and its a very trace amount after long rides, then sitting. Noticed TINY amount of smoke the other day. It left a quarter sized puddle of gear oil(apparently) after sitting for 5 days. drips from left side on side stand.

which orifice or seal could this be? seems to be NEAR the slave. Where should I be looking? web surfing now.... EDIT: guessing input shaft seal? behind the slave... actually thought of that when doing the slave... oh well.



Its not got me terribly concerned enough to park it, but I want to get it handled asap.

thank you!

[kirby]

First...figure out if its engine oil or gear oil.
BTW have you drained the airbox recently? or at all?

[towerworker]

My guess would be the tranny output shaft(drive shaft) and of course that makes it gear oil. I had what sounds like an identical problem on my '03 R at about 20K (after switching to synthetic gear oil). At first I didn't see a leak, just a strange odor much like burning toast. After a couple weeks of that odor I saw a small drip drip on the cat and it would run off the side when parked on the side stand. It was fixed under warranty (bike was two yrs old) and I switched back to conventional oil and have stayed that way.

[peels]

yep it's 100% gear oil. :/ rear left corner of cat is slightly brown from cooking oil.

I use conventional. looks pretty straightfoward. and by that, i mean "pain in the ***!" lol

[kirby]

In the back left side of the airbox(bottom) is the plug to the airbox drain, if it is dripping/leaking it would go on to the cat. check that before you do anything else.

[CycleRob]

peels, Your bike and it's weeping rear input shaft seal is 13 years old, so it can happen.

Before you have the bike torn down to replace the seal, I would do what you have to so you can access the transmission air vent to make sure something as common as 13 years of accumulated road grime or a mud wasp has not clogged it up solid. Storage in an outdoor shed would also make the wasp theory more likely. My R1150R was stored in an attached garage and I found remnants of a mud wasp larval nest inside the rear FD gearbox's plastic top vent hole, but the FD NEVER leaked any oil. Here is the tranny vent directly above the slave chamber:



Edit: To change photo provider.

[peels]

thanks for the photo! was looking for one just like that.

interesting theory. I just washed two mud wasp nests off my garage.

[peels]

hey all. Im curious.

my leak seems to come and go. its VERY slow weep. waiting for cold weather to dig into it. its the rear input seal behind the slave.

is it doable like I did the slave trying to visualize. Or more exactly:

how would you folks prefer to go about it? pull the whole back off drive and all?

thanks, im sure Ill figure it out. just thinking i through.

[kirby]

Did you check the airbox drain?

[peels]

Did you check the airbox drain?

yep, negligible amount of oil there. ring was wet. it dripped maybe 5 times and that was all

back of trans is oily. I'm quite positive its gear oil, too. very slow leak, not terribly worried- it just stinks at stop signs when it's hot lol. going to tackle over winter. was looking for the best way to do it. FAIRLY certain(by process of elimination) that is the input seal on the BACK of the trans. where that clutch pushrod enters the trans. I WAS able to swap the slave without removing anything but the preload adjuster. not so sure I can do that here.

what Im most curious about...if i Have to remove everything like subframe and all that. wondering what else I should do while in there, as I still haven't ever done that.

[kirby]

Well if you do have a seal that is leaking then there are two choices in my mind. One is add some kind of stop leak compound found at any auto parts store which may not work but run it for a while and see if it works. doubt there would be any harm to try for a few miles.
Second is crab the frame and replace the seal. The only other thing would be to go further and pull the trans and inspect the shaft and clutch.
Its really not that hard to do if you take your time as the first time is a bit confusing.
Basically you will raise the rear (sub frame) so as to give you access to the transmission, takes a couple of hours to carb the frame and the trans is light enough for one man to handle.
At least it will put your mind at rest as to the condition of the shaft and clutch.

I guess the third choice would be to take it to a shop but if you do they will keep it for a while and charge you a bunch of money and worse you will not learn anything about your machine.
Keep us posted if you decide to pull it down and run into a problem.

mike

[peels]

Well if you do have a seal that is leaking then there are two choices in my mind. One is add some kind of stop leak compound found at any auto parts store which may not work but run it for a while and see if it works. doubt there would be any harm to try for a few miles.
Second is crab the frame and replace the seal. The only other thing would be to go further and pull the trans and inspect the shaft and clutch.
Its really not that hard to do if you take your time as the first time is a bit confusing.
Basically you will raise the rear (sub frame) so as to give you access to the transmission, takes a couple of hours to carb the frame and the trans is light enough for one man to handle.
At least it will put your mind at rest as to the condition of the shaft and clutch.

I guess the third choice would be to take it to a shop but if you do they will keep it for a while and charge you a bunch of money and worse you will not learn anything about your machine.
Keep us posted if you decide to pull it down and run into a problem.

mike

no shops. I'd like to send my kids to college someday.

Leaning towards choice #2. "just do it"

[peels]

Well. time to revisit my thread...

life has had me by the ____ as of late, and ive had NO time to even touch this. but it got warm last weekend, so I went for a short ride, happily, she fired right up,. SO I filled the trans oil, and I then rode to work. at work, for 3 hrs, there was a 2" diameter spot beneath the bike when I came out. left side of bike. oil trail from below the drive, so I suspect is the OUTPUT seal.... as towerworker had suggested. not the input, like behind the slave....Rode home, and parked in garage, it was SMOKE CITY like I burned the toast.

regardless of which it is.....

HOPEfully get to take it apart weekend after next. I got a manual for xmas....

cross your fingers it goes well for me, and as always, if anyone has any advice, I'm more than grateful.

[peels]

Got the bike apart for the first time. I've been dreading it. But, now I know....

My splines are fine!! I smiled quite big.




Question though. Cycle rob had Mentioned the vent above the trans, which I assumed was NOT the problem. But after taking apart, there's a large puddle of clean gear oil on top, next to said vent. With a trail down the back next to the slave. With the "drip" coming from the bottom bolt on the slave. And , very little inside the tube behind the slave(input seal) And it didn't smell of gear oil, but brake fluid. I think it's fluid from the slave failure last year, I didn't get in there and clean very well. See photos obviously i think i should do the seals, regardless but I'm wondering what's up with that? There were no wasp nests in the vent. Lol Thoughts? Thanks all for your help

[peels]

what a fiddly job this is....



But, I should be riding again by the weeks end.

[peels]

well. I'm back.

and it still leaks. if not more. half dollar sized spot in 2 days or so... more if get it really hot and ride awhile. Its been doing it since day two after repair. BUt ive been too sad to deal with it. LOL

So. it's either the output shaft (drive) seal as I originally thought, and was advised on... then talked myself out of because of drip pattern i saw, but I think was because I actually overfilled.

or I buggered up theseal, the clutch pushrod itself and/or tube? I REALLY hope not... and at the rate it leaks, rather quickly, i think its the former, since it sits lower in the trans.. Oddly, I removed that FD drive boot and looked up to see NO gear oil. Which I thought was the major symptom of the output seal going...

I say output, because closer look saw a drip from front of swingarm, directly in front of shock mount.... on RIGHT side while on side stand. Again, ill just have to take it apart(happily not as invasively this time) and investigate. Probably go ahead and order that seal.... time to dig in...



NOTE: I did not separate drive from trans when I did the input seals. Can you remove that Parelever in one piece without taking final drive off?

no, I'm not upset because I took it apart for naught either. It was something I wanted to do for a LONG time, and was relieved to have completed(spline inspection/lube)

[pandabearjohnson]

Hi Peels - any further progress? Where are you in SE Iowa? I grew up in Ottumwa. I've got a 2001 R1150R in France now.

Happy ridding!
Tony

[peels]

Hi Peels - any further progress? Where are you in SE Iowa? I grew up in Ottumwa. I've got a 2001 R1150R in France now.

Happy ridding!
Tony

FUNNY, I am 55 minutes east, IN New London, and work in Mt Pleasant.

I THINK my problem is I read the manual wrong, and drove the rear input seal in too far. so, just left it in. added a second. LOL I replaced the shift indicator seal as well. (HUGE pain to get out)

also drilled the weep hole in the tunnel, and stuck a tube with a hose in it, so if it drips again, no smoke.

putting it all back together this evening i think. been busy

[racurley]

Wasn't Radar O' Reilly from Ottumwa? Not sure I knew it was a real place.

[peels]

Wasn't Radar O' Reilly from Ottumwa? Not sure I knew it was a real place.

haha yep!

and Capt Kirk is from Riverside, which is 20 minutes north.

also, finsihed up last night, went for a nice long ride to heat it up...bike no leaky this morning.

so far so good.