differential breather leaking

[stefano]

    differential breather has started leaking, '02 V11,oil running down & starting to drip after a short ride.

  it's right up to the level plug, not overfull. the breather is not clogged.

  i've done a short search of forum, can't find any info.

  i suspect this is a red herring, but i'd just washed engine, trans & diff. and was careful.

  after checking level & cleaning breather, washed again, short ride, oil running down again. not overfull.

  there's always been moist from breather, but not like this.

  breather is only place it leaks.

   any ideas would be helpful.

   thanks, steven

[docc]

Steven,

 

When was the last oil change on the rear drive? Type of oil?

 

A recent thread here on Final Drive Seep

 

And an older one here: Rear Drive Seal

 

I've always been one to keep oil levels at their tippy-top. With the V11 bevel drive, I am comfortable letting it down a bit to reduce pressures. If I remember correctly, the previous generation spine frames had a bevel drive capacity of 250 ml and the V11 is 370 ml. I'm inclined to let the volume down 20 ml and run the capacity at 95%.

 

YMMV ! !

[stefano]

  docc, thx for the hints.

 i just got home from a 20 mi ride. thought i'd ride easy 'til the oil warmed up this time, checked diff every few miles. no oil. last 5 miles were at 80 or so, no oil leaking from breather. could it be that cool thick diff oil will fling up & run out the breather??? whereas hot thinner will not fling around as much?

  odd, as in 5 yrs, many, many miles i've never had this happen.

  anyway, no harm, no foul.

  after the Deep Forest rally next weekend i'll be changing diff & trans oil with redline shockproof after i change the shift pawl spring (i bought 2) i suspect i'm on borrowed time with this.

   steve

[docc]

I just found the diff was really easy to overfill especially with RedLine Heavy (pink) since it clings so famously to all those intricate surfaces. No telling how much it retains after draining - 20ml? 50ml?

 

With the sudden onset of your breather drip and, apparently, no recent oil change on the rear drive, I would suspect maybe moisture accumulation. Definitely time for a (hot) oil drain and refill. Just beware the high oil levels. I like to let the refilled differential/rear drive drain out the the level plug overnight with the front tire elevated about an inch and a half (38 mm).

[stefano]

 ya know..that's sure what it sounds like, but the oil is not milky nor running out when it's hot, it's a mystery??

  but i was caught in a HUGE downpour 2 wks ago...

[docc]

It'll be interesting to see what comes out when it's hot and you pull the drain plug. Water is at the bottom.

 

When was the last oil change? (on the rear drive)

[stefano]

  yeah...it's been awhile, already have the redline i'll change it tomorrow. i'll let you know.

[docc]

Best of luck with this.

 

"Don't drive like my brother."

[stefano]

  still a mystery  got oil hot, drained, 350 ml. still green, although darker, doesn't appear to be water in oil. 

added 350 ml, just a tad under the full plug.

  as of now no weeping, a few drops of oil make a huge mess at speed, eh? sorry about the panic... my baby & all......

  oh yeah old & new redline 80w gear oil with shockproof

  steve

[docc]

We'll hope for the best!

 

RedLine makes a number of different gear oil products. I'm not sure I recall a green ShockProof. (Heavywieght: pink, lightwieght: blue, and not sure about the "Superlight" color)

 

 What does it say on the bottle? GL-4? GL-5?  (I don't have any ShockProof here right now to reference)

[stefano]

docc. it's kinda light green pastel looking.

 just says redline motorcycle 80w gear oil with shockproof.

  haven't seen the pink & blue. with all these colors, kinda like the gay pride gear lube (not that there's anything wrong with that) good stuff.

[docc]

I remember a discussion that quoted RedLine as saying "ShockProof" is a synthetic moly. My impression is that the RedLIne ShockProof products not only contain this, but are designed to act like lower viscosity oils in the gearbox. What I recall is that ShockProof Heavyweight (pink) behaves like 90, but spins like 30.

 

Is there a GL-4 or GL-5 API designation?

[stefano]

no GL API designation.   just motorcycle 80W gear oil with shockproof