Multiple oils leaks thread with a twist

[Midle Age Warrior]

Hello guys

I am back looking for the wisdom of the fine people of this forum.

I was just visiting this forum once in a while because my 2001 V11 Greeny had seen low miles in the odometer and not problems but an gear oil leak.

A couple of month ago I was doing a short ride and suddenly a rattle noise comes up and I said to my self well the inspection time is here, after some disassembled I found the pipes crossover had a piece of perforated metal loose inside, I am planning a surgery procedure cutting the crossover take the piece of metal out and weld it back.

At this point I decided to look were the gear oil comes from but with the bike full dress up I could not see a thing, I started them to clear up a little in order to have a better vision. Short  history is half of the bike is resting on my garage floor and finally I can see no one leak but at least three one from where the shaft meets the rear wheel drive, second (not sure yet) coming from the top of the gear box near of the bolt that hold the gearbox and last but not least I took the starter out and I found some oil in the bell house engine side.

My guess bad oil seals, I am not in the states and I do not trust in the Guzzi mechanics in the area (if I can call them that way, mechanics I meant) so my first question is suggestion on what to do from here, I would like to take the gearbox out clean an inspect everything, do I need special tools to perform this task?.

I have bee reading all I can do in the archives but I am not sure how difficult this could be.

Sadly I stop the bike and disassembled so clean up put some baby power run and look for leaks can not be do at this point.

I am ears open to ideas and suggestion on how to going from here, the bike as I said is a 2001 V11 Sport with 35k miles on the odo, no modifications (as far I can say) running strong before stop to repair.

 

Thanks in advance to you all guys

 

 

 

 

 

[MartyNZ]

I've seen oil inside the bellhousing caused by tiny cracks and splits in the crankcase ventilation hose which runs from the top of the bellhousing to the frame. A new hose fixed that leak.

I've had oil on my rear drive from a bad job I did replacing the valve cover gasket. Oil was also on the pork chop and my foot. I've not see a bevel box leak unless it is removed and laid on it's side.

I read somewhere on this forum of a crack in the gearbox housing causing an oil leak near the gearbox mount.

Have you tried sniffing the leaking oil at the three locations? Engine oil smells different from gbox & rear drive oil.

[Scud]

Bell Housing. I agree with Marty that oil there is almost certainly due to the breather hose - cracks or the hose clamp is not tight. Once you replace the hose, the remaining oil in there will take a little while to exit, then the leak should stop.

 

Final drive. I would just clean, lube, change the oil, and reassamble. If the problem shows up again, it's easy enough to remove the final drive. Transmissions... not so easy.

 

Transmission. That's a tough one. Some special tools are needed to get the transmission apart. I did this recently in the thread about my Scura. If the breather hose is making a mess, it's possible that turbulence will deposit engine oil elsewhere (like on top of the transmission). The advice to smell the oils is good. If it's stinky gear oil on top, then you may have a problem.

 

How far apart is the bike now?

[Midle Age Warrior]

Scud the actual state

 

[docc]

Scud the actual state

 

 

Looks like you and Scud are brothers!

[Chuck]

The pictures are so small, my old eyes don't see much. You *may* be overly worried, though..

[Scud]

My Venezuelan brother from another mother... 

 

So... wow. The whole upper rear subframe and wiring harness are off. You're not just chasing a leak, are you?

 

It's not much more work to pull the motor, then you can clean up the inside of the bell housing. I can't tell exactly how you are supporting the bike, but you might need a new way to hold up the rear end if you want to remove the transmission.

 

How is the condition of the breather hose from the frame under the steering head to the top rear of the engine case?

 

To Chuck's comment about being overly worried - I would certainly try to follow the flow of oil before pulling the engine and transmission. It's possible that the whole mess is due to a cracked breather hose.

[JRD]

Leaks?  Those arent leaks.  Obviously you have never owned a British bike.....or Harley!!!!!    

[Lucky Phil]

I agree, look at the breather hose first, that oily mess on top of the gearbox is a bit of a giveaway. If its leaking then fix that and then cleanup the rest and re-appraise. A little bit of oil leaking from the engine commonly creates a somewhat dirty mess further aft. My recent r/h rocker cover leak was leaving oil on my boot and r/h footpeg and the side of the porkchop plate.

I was distracted by the fact that the rear gearbox seal was also leaking and put it down to that and didnt clock the rocker cover leak until the test ride..doh.

A few small drops of oil turned into mist from from airflow from the engine leak can create an oily film on things further back that traps dirt and makes you think that component is leaking.

Just a thought if you cant definitly confirm the rear bevel is leaking. 

 

Ciao 

[Chuck]

Leaks?  Those arent leaks.  Obviously you have never owned a British bike.....or Harley!!!!!    

Or an antique airplane.  A little oil is like a little blood. Looks like crap, but isn't much of a *problem.* I think you got a little carried away before really troubleshooting where it is coming from. You mentioned the baby powder (or spray athlete's foot powder trick. Seriously.. you should have done that before getting this far. It will be harder to find out where it is coming from, now. At least do the sniff test so we know whether it is engine or transmission oil.

Report back.

[Midle Age Warrior]

I found this

 

[Midle Age Warrior]

I found this, but the tubes were the hose is attached and the area around are dry like a bone

 

[Midle Age Warrior]

The previous owner put some love designing the breather hose

 

[Midle Age Warrior]

Do you guys think the breather hose new design and crack could be the cause of the oil in the bell housing?, by the way the breather caps are working flowless

I must confess my pleasure in taking things apart but I could not see the leak with all those plastic, cables and hoses around.

I will take advantage to do some deep maintenance to throttle bodies clean up everything I can, tiding up some wiring among other tasks in the process.

I also found that as i read in other thread I have an over filled gearbox the glass sight is full that maybe explain the leaks but can not be sure.

Please let me know what do you think 

[Scud]

It's hard to say for sure from pictures, but you certainly should replace the hose. The hose can be dry on the outside and still cause a problem inside the bell-housing, here's how. Any oil that get between the metal pipe and the rubber hose will go into the bell housing. So if the hose clamp is loose, or there are small internal cracks in the hose, oil can flow outside the tube instead of inside it. When it goes inside (like it's supposed to) it is returned to the sump. When it goes outside the tube (but inside the hose), it will go into the bell housing.

 

If you have not yet cleaned the engine, you could run a cotton swab between the metal tube and the case - go all around the outside of the tube inside the case. If it comes back oily, you know the hose was problem. If it comes back dry - that might be inconclusive if it's been sitting for a while.