Final Drive oil blow-by?

Here's another first for me. Last time, the seal came out of my pumpkin, no problem, I popped it back in. Today after our Big Bear ride, I noticed at home all this oil all over my rear drive, really it's mostly dirt on the oil. It looks like it's coming form the breather up top and dripping down to the drain bold and onto the rim and spidering out. I don't believe it's coming out of the tire side of the rear end as there was no leakage on the plastic ring etc. I did not notice this, and I didn't really look, while I've been commuting to work for the last few weeks.

Now when I had my other thread issue with the seal coming out, The rear drive did tip over and oil came out the breather. I cleaned it all up, and topped 'er off.

I just pulled the fill plug on the rear end to check the fluid level, and it's fine, right at the top. I'll definitely be keeping an eye on this one. Looking forward to a SkooterG comment since he's Obiwan of the final drive unit….

So, what do you think?

BTDT, if you over fill the oil level it will leak like this. You can actually easily over fill the oil level in the pumpkin by slowly spinning the rear wheel while topping up the oil since turning the wheel will "suck" up the oil level...

Looks to me like you've been parking too close to Beemers... JamesK hit it on the head with overfilling, clean it up and check for obvious leaks. Shouldn't happen if the level is correct.

--G

Thanks JamesK and escapefjrtist. I have done the old tire spin and fill before with no issue, maybe I let it sit longer for the oil to settle.

My logic to spin the rear wheel was to make sure there were no air pockets anywhere after draining and refilling. I must have been in a hurry and didn't wait for it to settle, not thinking about that there's a bunch of oil all over that still needs to come back and pool up.

I'll keep an eye on this, hopefully all that needs to come out, has come out.

FJRBluesman said:

I'll keep an eye on this, hopefully all that needs to come out, has come out.

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If not, I guess you'll have an excuse to go out and wipe rub "her" rear end.

madmike2 said:

FJRBluesman said:

I'll keep an eye on this, hopefully all that needs to come out, has come out.

Click to expand...

If not, I guess you'll have an excuse to go out and wipe rub "her" rear end.

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I like that!

JamesK said:

BTDT, if you over fill the oil level it will leak like this. You can actually easily over fill the oil level in the pumpkin by slowly spinning the rear wheel while topping up the oil since turning the wheel will "suck" up the oil level...

Click to expand...

Yup, been there done that........ don't spin the rear wheel. You won't get air if you're pouring slowly or have a container with a hose. Anyway, it will stop weeping eventually............... then your oil level is now correct.

That looks like a very light, very low flow rate. The sort of thing a slight overfill could cause. Clean it and watch it. i suspect it won't bother you again if it's just overflow.

Cheers,

W2

BTW - Sorry for this late update, but seeing how Rick J. is having an issue with his rear end, I went back to this old thing for Rick's reference and thought I should close the loop.

The problem was I over filled it. Case closed!

FJRBluesman said:

BTW - Sorry for this late update, but seeing how Rick J. is having an issue with his rear end, I went back to this old thing for Rick's reference and thought I should close the loop.

The problem was I over filled it. Case closed!

Click to expand...

How did you fix it? Remove some oil? Or did it just stop leaking?

SkooterG said:

FJRBluesman said:

BTW - Sorry for this late update, but seeing how Rick J. is having an issue with his rear end, I went back to this old thing for Rick's reference and thought I should close the loop.

The problem was I over filled it. Case closed!

Click to expand...

How did you fix it? Remove some oil? Or did it just stop leaking?

Click to expand...

I just cleaned it all up on the outside and watched for any new splooges. Nothing after this. I guess it blew out what it needed and settled down.
As I said earlier in the thread, I was spinning the rear wheel to make sure the fluid got all over and no air pockets. My problem was not letting it sit for a good 5-10 minutes before checking the fluid level. I waited maybe a minute and topped 'er off, so I'd guess I only over filled it by a couple table spoons. Never had any issues after I cleaned it all up.