Leaking rear seal after 600 mile maintenance

Slotheadslim

Slotheadslim

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I found a small puddle under the rear a few inches across this afternoon on my garage floor. I took a 50 mile ride this morning and I’ve put about 200 miles on the bike since the 600 mile service. I guess that kills my ride tomorrow (Sunday) and I’ll be calling the dealer next week.

Anyone else have a problem with the rear seal? I’ve got a Classic if that makes a difference.
 
I wonder if you have a sloppy Mechanic? I did....
When I changed my oil at 2500 miles after my 600 mile service/oil change at the dealer. I found a small amount of oil just sitting on the bevel below the filler cap when I pulled the Right cover off to put the oil in.
Maybe clean it & see if it is really leaking after a short ride.Funny how a little liquid can look to be more than there actually is.
 
Also you could check the drain plug.Becareful using a torque wrench unless you have a good one but maybe he did not tighten the drain plug.
 
I appreciate the feedback. It's not motor oil that's leaking. The oil is some type of gear oil, clear and had a strong smell. It reminds me of the smell of differential oil from a car. I can see that the right side of the tire and rim has been sprayed, the left side of the tire is dry. On the right side of the tire I am also getting the oil on my finger when I run it along the bottom of the black round area where it meets the center of the tire. When I ran my hand up by the drain plug it didn't seem wet. I also took a socket head and by hand tried to see if the drain plug seemed loose and it wasn't. I'll grab a socket wrench to see if it seems loose. In any case they dealer gets a call Tuesday and they better take care of it because there wasn't a problem for the 2 months before they "fixed" it.
 
Slotheadslim said:
I appreciate the feedback. It's not motor oil that's leaking. The oil is some type of gear oil, clear and had a strong smell. It reminds me of the smell of differential oil from a car. I can see that the right side of the tire and rim has been sprayed, the left side of the tire is dry. On the right side of the tire I am also getting the oil on my finger when I run it along the bottom of the black round area where it meets the center of the tire. When I ran my hand up by the drain plug it didn't seem wet. I also took a socket head and by hand tried to see if the drain plug seemed loose and it wasn't. I'll grab a socket wrench to see if it seems loose. In any case they dealer gets a call Tuesday and they better take care of it because there wasn't a problem for the 2 months before they "fixed" it.
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Yes,I understood it is gear oil.I was just telling you about my experience with my 600 mile service.Sorry for the confusion.
Good luck and let me know what you find.I appreciate the information and I will keep a eye on mine.
 
I figured it out. I had seen the drain plug and the bottom of the wheel and I checked it with a socket and it’s tight. What I didn’t realize was where the fill plug is located and now I see it is around 10 O’Clock on the wheel. The fill plug was almost entirely backed out. Had I gone for another hour ride today it would have probably fallen out. It’s nice and tight now. The question is how much fluid did I lose and is it safe to ride? I didn’t hear any noise but I’ll have them check it out.
 
Slotheadslim said:
I figured it out. I had seen the drain plug and the bottom of the wheel and I checked it with a socket and it’s tight. What I didn’t realize was where the fill plug is located and now I see it is around 10 O’Clock on the wheel. The fill plug was almost entirely backed out. Had I gone for another hour ride today it would have probably fallen out. It’s nice and tight now. The question is how much fluid did I lose and is it safe to ride? I didn’t hear any noise but I’ll have them check it out.
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Glad you found it!
 
ponch said:
Who did the service?
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At this point I don’t feel giving out a dealer’s name for having a bad service incident for this type of issue is productive. I’ve had this dealer take care of several bikes over the years and this is the first issue I’ve had with them. I’m fairly confident they’ll make it right. While I’m not happy about it, the time I’ve had to spend on it and the time I’m going to have to take off from work to get it right I know everyone makes mistakes and I wouldn’t hold it against them.

The most serious car service repair problem I had was much worse. About 20 years ago I had a local garage do a front brake job where they replaced the rotors and the pads. The shop was a father and son team. The old man was probably in his 80s. I picked up the car and I almost drove home on the highway and at the last minute I decided to see a friend which involved back road travel. That decision probably saved my life. I’m driving down the road and I drive past a kid on a bike who starts staring at me. While I’m wondering why he’s staring the front of the car immediately begins to shake. A minute later the front left tire falls off and the car crashes down on a brand new rotor. The son did the brakes but the old man forgot to tighten the lug nuts. The car was never the same and I traded it in for a new car a short time later. I think the frame got bent.
 
Slotheadslim said:
At this point I don’t feel giving out a dealer’s name for having a bad service incident for this type of issue is productive. I’ve had this dealer take care of several bikes over the years and this is the first issue I’ve had with them. I’m fairly confident they’ll make it right. While I’m not happy about it, the time I’ve had to spend on it and the time I’m going to have to take off from work to get it right I know everyone makes mistakes and I wouldn’t hold it against them.

The most serious car service repair problem I had was much worse. About 20 years ago I had a local garage do a front brake job where they replaced the rotors and the pads. The shop was a father and son team. The old man was probably in his 80s. I picked up the car and I almost drove home on the highway and at the last minute I decided to see a friend which involved back road travel. That decision probably saved my life. I’m driving down the road and I drive past a kid on a bike who starts staring at me. While I’m wondering why he’s staring the front of the car immediately begins to shake. A minute later the front left tire falls off and the car crashes down on a brand new rotor. The son did the brakes but the old man forgot to tighten the lug nuts. The car was never the same and I traded it in for a new car a short time later. I think the frame got bent.
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Wasn't looking for the name really, just wondered if you did it yourself, the dealer did it or an independent I guess is a possibility. I would take it back and have them drain and fill the right amount. There's no other way to know.
 
ponch said:
Wasn't looking for the name really, just wondered if you did it yourself, the dealer did it or an independent I guess is a possibility. I would take it back and have them drain and fill the right amount. There's no other way to know.
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It was a dealer. Agreed about the solution. There is no way to tell how much fluid I lost and there is also the possibility (though slight since I’m a fair weather rider most of the time) of moisture being introduced into the fluid that’s left.

I didn’t take out the fill plug but at the very least it will need a new crush washer since I didn’t replace it when I tightened it. Considering how easy it is for them to redo the fluid change I’m not expecting any trouble.
 
I'm not sure if anyone here knows the answer since there's no service manual, but is the fill hole also a "fill with gear oil to the bottom of the threads" hole? That really takes the guesswork out of things if there's a leak. Part 2 of my comments, would there be any harm (say if hundreds of miles from a shop) if one were to fill the rear drive to the bottom of the threads of the fill hole?
 
I don’t know about part 2 but from watching this video there is a recommended amount for the fill
. It doesn’t sound like filling to the bottom of the fill plug threads was the approach.

Tomorrow I bring the bike into the dealer first thing to have them replace the final drive fluid the right way. When I called them Tuesday there was no problem getting an appointment setup ASAP.
 
The service manager had initially said they'd top it off but they ended up draining the old fluid and replacing it because the service instructions specified an exact amount. I got the impression from the mechanic that this approach was something unique to the R18 compared to other bikes.
 
Slotheadslim said:
The service manager had initially said they'd top it off but they ended up draining the old fluid and replacing it because the service instructions specified an exact amount. I got the impression from the mechanic that this approach was something unique to the R18 compared to other bikes.
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That doesn't sound right.I would check the engine oil with that line of thinking.Even the manual has a spec for the capacity.
 
I think you might have misunderstood me. The mechanic said there is an exact amount of fluid in the final drive that should be present as specified by BMW. Unlike the engine oil there is no site window on the final drive so you can't easily check the level of fluid present to add in more to reach a certain level if you are low (that was the case for me since some amount leaked out). Either you replace it entirely with the correct amount or you are guessing.
 
Slotheadslim said:
I think you might have misunderstood me. The mechanic said there is an exact amount of fluid in the final drive that should be present as specified by BMW. Unlike the engine oil there is no site window on the final drive so you can't easily check the level of fluid present to add in more to reach a certain level if you are low (that was the case for me since some amount leaked out). Either you replace it entirely with the correct amount or you are guessing.
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Oh,gotcha (y)
 
Slotheadslim said:
I think you might have misunderstood me. The mechanic said there is an exact amount of fluid in the final drive that should be present as specified by BMW. Unlike the engine oil there is no site window on the final drive so you can't easily check the level of fluid present to add in more to reach a certain level if you are low (that was the case for me since some amount leaked out). Either you replace it entirely with the correct amount or you are guessing.
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If you’re still concerned, drain it, refill with 215 ml
 
"they ended up draining the old fluid and replacing it because the service instructions specified an exact amount."- The dealer did it already. Once is enough for me.
 
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