Gear Box Leak

[Guest jlburgess]

After leaving my bike parked for 10 days, I noticed a puddle of gear oil under the gear box. It looks like it's escaping though the rear cover area by the clutch slave cylinder. There's a gasket w/ orange silicone on it that looks suspiciously wet. I can't get to some of the bolts underneath due to clearance problems. Has anyone else had a leak there? My nearest dealer is 300 miles away, so it might be easier to fix myself.

'01 V11S

[Guest IanJ]

I just discovered yesterday that my Le Mans (with all of 98 miles on the odo at the time) is weeping ("shadowing?") oil out of what appears to be the transmission oil sightglass. I haven't tried tightening it down yet, because I don't know how much torque that special bolt requires or will take.

 

With any luck, this will be the worst problem I have to deal with. <_<

[Guest jprice@hlpnet.net]

I had a slight leak at the top of the left-hand cover of the transmission, which was fixed by my dealer (Pro Italia) under warranty. After that, I got the same leak you are describing from the rear cover. PI fixed this one as well, even though it required removal of the engine to get at the transmission.

 

Now, it's all good.

 

Ride well. Ride safe.

-Jack Price

Glendale, CA

02 V11 Le Mans

[exwtk]

I own a 2000 V11 sport naked bike.

Under the bike I noticed that an extra plate has been added to provide for lugs (mounting bolt holes). This plate goes over the my leaking gearbox end cover so that I can't reach the allen bolts to check for loosiness!

My gearbox seems to have no packing only fluid sealant. The oil drops on the hot crossover part of the exhaust and gives of a burning smell.

[Mike Stewart]

My 2000 V11 Sport started leaking bad at the same spot. At every stoplight, my bike smelled like a Harley (90 wt.). I took it into the shop after the Arizona Rally (saw two other V11S with the same leak) to have the problem repaired. (I had two leaks, one in the rear of the transmission like everyone else and I also had one above the starter on the sidecover leaking out of a shaft/pin. Well after it was in the shop for a week, I rode it home (70 miles) and guess what, it still leaks. I must admit, it leaks at a slower rate, but it still leaks. Time to make another apointment.

 

90 Wt. Mike

[Guest Chelmi Ryu]

Hi,

 

Last we my gearbox have a serious problem, she lost 5 speed, i have only the 2 ! after 8000km it's ! ! ! now with the summer holiday, Moto-Guzzi is closed, and i think i use again my Scura in september ...

 

Chelmi with Scura

[Guest v11eric]

Chelmi,

Sounds like youre returnspring is broken. There is a Topic on this forum, stuck in second gear it's all about youre problem.

The repaire ain't that much work, the gearbox can be opened behind the starterengine, so everything can stay in place. But there are people who have a problem to get the spring.

good dealers, bad dealers

 

hope youre bike is running soon againe

 

Eric

01 V11 Lemans

[Guest Hervé PHILIPPE France]

Bonjour,

 

My brand new 2002 2003 Le mans had a spring broken in the gear box the first week . Quickly repared by my local Guzzi Dealer "Avenir Moto" à Lille (F)

Second week a leak of oil is at the rear of the gear box. I wait the winter to show to my dealer to repair. I think its a big work to repair.

I begin to regret my two last bikes: Triumph Legend and Speed Triple, perfect bikes with absolutely no one problem .

The guzzi is a good bike, but oil leaks are amazing on a modern bike !

 

[al_roethlisberger]

I agree.... while I love my bike, as I've noted a couple times(at least) on this forum... I am very disappointed with:

 

- Q/A from the factory

- Fit/Finish

- Component Failures

- Warrantee Support

 

...on a 21st century bike?! I know it's a 20th century design, but come one guys!

 

 

Now, I went into this bike purchase with my "eyes open" after doing quite a bit of research, so I more-or-less knew what I was getting into. I'm still glad I bought my bike, but sometimes I feel like I'm getting nibbled to death by these little problems, not knowing when the next one will show up. Heck, I would have preferred one MAJOR issue, as opposed to the random little ones.

 

...right now, I too have developed a slow, very slow, but still noticeable(I can smell it, and see the burnt oil on top of the x-over) leak in the same region we are describing in this thread. Good grief, and I *just* had it in the shop for it's 1000 mile service a few weeks back! *thinking*... I wonder if they overfilled the oil.

 

Since my shop is about a 45 minute ride in heavy traffic away, I don't relish having to take the bike up there again, when I just was up there a few weeks ago for it's service, then again a week later to get it re-tuned as it wouldn't even idle.

 

And then there's the issue of waiting 3+ months, and counting, for warrantee parts.... UGH!

 

Sorry for the rant guys .... but Aprillia and Guzzi had better pull their head out of... well, you know... or no matter how snazzy a new "Technocustom" proto-bike looks at a fashion-show or how cool the colors are on "this years model" ... the rank & file riders out there will hear the reality on the grapevine and start to look elsewhere for reliable bikes. Character and panache will only get you so far... especially when that character breaks down or gives you a headache every few 100 miles.

 

...and that would be a shame, as I'd like to see Guzzi succeed.

 

I guess I'll have my leak addressed this Fall, when I do my next major "whatever" that needs the shop... unless the leak gets worse that is

 

 

al

[evoluzione]

this may or may not apply but have you looked at the rear shock? i also had what i thought was a rear gearbox leak that dripped on the exhaust but we finally traced it back to a small leak in the shock. feel around on the bottom of the spring and see if you can find any oil.

 

hope this helps.

 

 

regards,

 

ken zeller

[Guest JohnInNH]

Al,

 

I have the same leak. Drop of tranny oil hangs above the x-pipe. It's always there, I know it falls off some time, but every time I look there is one hanging there.

 

FYI Dyno today. 77.4 HP, 59.9 Torque. Just now heading out for my 1st ride with the custom PC-III map.

 

Just missed the magic #'s 80 HP 60 Torque. But not by much!

[Guest Hervé PHILIPPE from FRANCE]

Amazing !!!!!

 

Yesterday running at 100 km from my home with a hard raining time, the spring of the gearbox broke again !!!! I was stopped in the middle of a heavy traffic !!

They just change it last month !!!!!

They change a bad spring by an other bad spring !!

And of course, i continue to have the oil leak !

 

Definitively I promise to change my bike as soon as possible, and promise to never buy again a MOTO-GUCHEAT !!

 

PPHILI3014@AOL.COM

 

FRANCE

 

:finger:

[Janusz]

Now, for all it is worth let me just state the facts without any attempt to offer an opinion:

 

I had exactly the same transmission oil leak almost everybody is talking about, the sloooow drop by drop showing up under. It happened right after I allowed the dealer do the first service.

 

After the first check-up I am doing all the servicing of my bike myself so some time ago, at 10,000 km I switched to Redline Shockproof in transmission draining it as completely as possible and filling up with the corect amount of new oil. The level in the window afterwards was significantly lower then after the dealer's change.

 

Since that time my dreaded oil leak disappeared completely. The bottom of the tranny is dry and clean.

[al_roethlisberger]

Janus,

 

I've seen various posts in other forums about the "correct" amount of oil and tranny fluid for the V11s, versus what is stated in the shop manual, etc. That's why I suspect my leak was induced by the shop overfilling the bike.

 

Do you have any experience/tips on what you've found to be the correct volume for both since you've been changing them yourself?

 

BTW, I agree that this is almost certainly from the shop overfilling my bike, as it's just too much of a coincidence. I'm going to call them tomorrow to let them know my displeasure.... again....

 

It's too bad really... whether it's the bike itself, or the inaccurate manuals, etc... Guzzi is really shooting themselves in the foot if they keep this up.

 

I can only hope, as everyone has for the last year or so, that Aprilia and Guzzi sort this all out soon.

 

al

[profWacko]

Ok, so what IS the correct amount of oil for the transmission?

 

Inquiring minds want to KNOW!

 

Ride well. Ride safe.

-Jack Price

Glendale, CA

02 V11 Le Mans