waylap Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 Please tell me this isn't my FD bleeding on the rear wheel. I've been seeing this after long rides after the bike sits on the center stand...OR maybe it weeped from the FD drain plug while on the side stand? That would be better right??..right? Link to comment
Tony_K Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 Looks like cat piss and brake dust... Get involved, take your wheel off. Then get back to us... or not. Link to comment
T__ Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 waylap, sure is possible.. Do you have any rear wheel looseness or movement when trying to move it at 3-9 o’clock & 12-6 o’clock while on the center stand? Probably worth pulling the wheel & looking at the L/H F/D seal then making sure the vent isn’t plugged.. No big deal to replace the rear seal if the bearing is still tight.. Twisty Link to comment
flars Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 Looks like brake dust with a touch of morning dew. Mine look like that a LOT! Link to comment
waylap Posted December 4, 2008 Author Share Posted December 4, 2008 It doesn't taste like brake dust...... No, no noticeable movement. I'll remove the rear wheel and see what I see. Link to comment
philbytx Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 Definitely pull the wheel and check just for peace of mind. Anything around the FD vent? Is it definitely oil? Brake fluid? Link to comment
Bud Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 It doesn't taste like brake dust...... No, no noticeable movement. I'll remove the rear wheel and see what I see. WTF, you know what brake dust tastes like?????? You gotta change your diet. Link to comment
waylap Posted December 4, 2008 Author Share Posted December 4, 2008 Where is the FD vent and what would it look like? Link to comment
T__ Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 Where is the FD vent and what would it look like? waylap, you might also look (or actually use your finger & feel) for signs of gear oil seeping from the bottom of the rubber boot where it attaches to the front of the final drive.. The gear oil can seep down from the boot along the bottom of the final drive case & fall from the bottom near where a seal leak would come from.. Rub your finger across the bottom of the final drive to see if any oil residue present.. Twisty Link to comment
NoHeat Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 WTF, you know what brake dust tastes like?????? It's better than brake fluid, I've heard. Link to comment
flars Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 Unless you have cleaned your wheel, spill a couple of drops on water on your wheel. I think you will see the same thing appear. There is entirely too much brake dust on your wheel. You should do more riding, and less stopping. Link to comment
Unhofliche_Gesundheit Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 in order to diagnose a leak normally a clean area is a good starting point.... (hint hint ) action plan A: so clean it up and ride and do frequent checks... dont embark on any long trips, till you are sure... maybe consider bringing wrench for filler plug and extra lube along on the ride. based on the history of the Failure Drive (oops Freudian slip - i mean Final Drive) you might want to consider the bearing is 'taking out' the seal is a more likely scenario than the seal just going on its own. Action plan B for a guy with some time on his hands might be to check for flecks on the drain plug.Action plan C for a guy with even more time would take the FD apart and check the bearing - need a heat gun for this. viel gluck. Link to comment
honest Bob Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 Twisty; You mentioned the vent not being plugged. How do you tell if it is plugged? Waylap; Clean the wheel off, and everything above it, ride it (the bike), park it inside. If the leak shows up again, and it is high viscosity you are looking for an oil leak. If it is low viscosity, you are looking for break fluid leak. That trace that you have there looks low viscosity. There is a very big difference between the feel of oil 75W90, and brake fluid (about 5W). That trace definitely looks like it is dripping straight down from dirrectly above the point on the wheel where it shows up. If it was oil dripping slowly while the bike was running you would have many small drops all around the wheel. Link to comment
Jerry Duke Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 It shouldn't be there. With all the concern with FD's, I'd pull the wheel and find the leak. Both of my oilheads started like this and got progressively worse. I sent the FD on my R1100S to Anton and had him rebuild it. Anton found out the pinion seal was going and the gear mesh was too tight. Probably saved my FD. Link to comment
upflying Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 I occasionally see the same thing on my wheel. It's from a male cat marking his territory. Dab a bit of the residue with a damp Kleenex and take a sniff test. Link to comment
Traveler Posted December 5, 2008 Share Posted December 5, 2008 Sniff? Hell, he already said he TASTED it! Link to comment
Dave in Doodah Posted December 5, 2008 Share Posted December 5, 2008 I'm sorry, but I've seen bigger 'stains' from bug splats or beer spills... I am an airhead rider, so this kinda stuff would not normally get my attention... I hope the new oilheads are not that finicky.... I have 3 dogs but no cats... and that looks like cat piss to me. Link to comment
Jerry Duke Posted December 5, 2008 Share Posted December 5, 2008 With the history of oil/hexhead FD failures, I would take the time to check for play in the wheel, and pull the wheel off and find the source of the leak. Hell of a lot cheaper and easier to to in your garage than on the side of the road. Link to comment
moshe_levy Posted December 5, 2008 Share Posted December 5, 2008 I had a similar weep around 46,000 miles on my '04 RT. The pinion seal had started to fail - it was my first repair on the motorcycle, which I consider to be incredibly reliable. Anyway, I replaced: 33-12-1-450-497 Nut (Qty 1) 33-11-7-701-691 Compression Ring (Qty 1) 33-11-7-665-838 Shaft Seal (Qty 1) 33-17-2-335-139 Cable Strap and was done. I think it cost like $40-50 in parts and about an hour to do it. Not bad! -MKL Link to comment
Mark K Posted December 5, 2008 Share Posted December 5, 2008 I don't think that is oil. Gear oil is too heavy to drop on the middle of the rim and run down in those narrow, way rivulets. Link to comment
Unhofliche_Gesundheit Posted December 5, 2008 Share Posted December 5, 2008 Mark K - CSI ! "this rivulet'd splatter indicates the victim (FD) was traveling sideways at the top end of the speed limit at the time of discharge.. Better send it it to 'trace' - i got a hit in 'codis' " etc etc Link to comment
Mark K Posted December 6, 2008 Share Posted December 6, 2008 You put that way better than I could! Link to comment
Ken H. Posted December 6, 2008 Share Posted December 6, 2008 Twisty; You mentioned the vent not being plugged. How do you tell if it is plugged? The cap pops off. Link to comment
Trullion Posted December 9, 2008 Share Posted December 9, 2008 Just a thought:if the FD isn't leaking and it isn't brake fluid,could it be engine oil? I say this because the rear wheel on my '96 1100RS became splattered with oil. It turned out to be the head gaskets leaking a bit. Oddly enough there was little oil anywhere else; I guess that it was blown in the slipstream. Looking at the pictures, however, I would say that the fluid/oil is dripping rather than blown. In my case the oil was all round the rim, though there wasn't a lot of it. I mention this only in case you can't find anything amiss with the FD. Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.