Greetings,

A very strange thing happened today that I'm going to put down as a glitch in the Matrix, disturbance in the force etc etc.

I pulled the cover off the bike to find gear oil had leaked from the breather outlet on the top of the final drive.

It had dripped down the final drive over the speed sensor and onto the tyre and rim.

I did some research and found many others that experienced a similar issue but in most cases, no plausible explanation.

Most say it happened once after many years of riding and then never again.

In my case;

The bike has NOT been on the road for 12 months
FD has the correct amount of gear oil (as per manual)
Rear wheel has only been rotated by hand (rarely) 
It is undercover on centre stand
Outside temp has not been above 17C/62F for weeks

Weird.....

Anyone else heard or experience this?

Regards,

Geoff

Are you sure it isn't leaking from the shock?

100 % sure it's not the shock.
I found a number of posts from owners with the same story.

Haven't had the problem, haven't looked.

Have you had a sticky beak?

Like spose it's got a valve closed by a spring, and the spring is crappy, or something like that.

It's time to set up the night vision game cameras in the garage.

What is the correct amount of oil? Did it leak from the top of the vent's capped sleeve or from the o-ring around the base of the sleeve?

I hadn't heard about it but now I've read about it in several posts.  Your research seems to indicate it happens then never happens again so the thrill is over for you. I'm still in the queue though.

Haha, yeah I have a security cam out there.
I went through the footage expecting to see a possum with it's mouth over the breather....

It was a nice distraction from my on going starting issues.

GeoffP63 wrote:I went through the footage expecting to see a possum with it's mouth over the breather....

At least it wasn't a neighbor.

Pulled the cap off today. No valve on mine, just a plastic cap. Should pull straight off, and snap back on with a click sound. Maybe clean it if dirty. It might be worn out and loose. It might be the wrong oil type, some oils foam for example.

One day some years ago I walked into the garage to discover a clean dribble of gear oil down the final drive, onto the rim, tyre and floor. I'd refilled the oil a year earlier, always measuring out the required amount in a verified beaker, and done at least 5 or 6,000 kms in that time. For safety's sake I checked the level and found it down, but only a smidge. So I left it as it was - just below the base of threads of the filler plug and cleaned up the mess, checking the cap by removing and cleaning it off as well. It never burped out any oil again. It's the only time on any of my K's that this had happened. I reckon it was just reminding me that it was there, like some vaporous ghost in the machine.

I hate you lot. Mine did it about three days ago - just enough to discolour the dirt on the drive box. It's catching, I tell you, catching. Some damn side-effect of KPox.

Dai wrote:I hate you lot. Mine did it about three days ago - just enough to discolour the dirt on the drive box. It's catching, I tell you, catching. Some damn side-effect of KPox.

I'm sorry a brought it up Dai....

That is so weird.

My 1984 K100 RT had leaked......from the gear box into the drive shaft and the rear splines...and leaked at the final drive. Splines and universal joint perfect as a result. Clutch and rear main seal replaced and did all the other seals at the same time.

10k miles later leaks again at the final drive seal so it got a bearing at the same time.