Green seepage at back wheel

Hey guys

I've got an 82 XJ650J. I've been riding it in summer heat and in winter cold until last night when I stopped for fuel and saw a green liquid seeping out of the left side of the back wheel. It's fairly viscous and I'm guessing it's a lubricant for the drive shaft but I don't know for sure.

Any one have an idea what it might be and why it suddenly decided to move from inside a nice warm bike to outside in the cold?

 

Was it out of the wheel or the final drive??

If it's coming from the final drive it's time to replace the oil in in. If its green I'd change it, run the bike a bit, then change it again. A $10 container of gear oil is enough to do that like five times.

If it's coming from the tire itself, someone might have used some fix a flat in it, and that's another can of worms...

 

How cold? 90w gear oil is pretty thick in the cold, the seal is probably not sealing as well, and maybe the vent is plugged, however that usually isnt a problem unless it is very hot.

There is a seal and couple O rings in there that are probably pretty hardened.


Dave

 

It got down to about 20 degrees last night as I was riding. It sat in the cold for the afternoon, drove about 15 minutes, sat for 90 minutes and that's when I noticed the liquid. Didn't have a chance to check it yet today.

 

There drive shaft doesn't get an oil bath. Odds are good that what you are seeing is gear oil from the final drive. Marine grade gear lubes are often tinted blue and it wouldn't surprise me if premium brands were also tinted.

You're going to need to inspect the final drive to see where it's leaking from.

 

don't worry a shot of Penicillin will fix that right up

 

Are you sure that isn't Penicillin leaking out?

 

O-rings can and do shrink when temps get cold, and then will leak (it should be okay again when things warm up though).

Space shuttles can blow up when it gets too cold due to leaky o-rings.......

 

That part of the shuttle, must have gotten made on a Monday or Friday...

 

When the Late-Season Chill cools the Hypoid in the Final Drive the Gear Oil doesn't flow as easily as it does during warmer months.

The Gear Oil "Slings" to the top of the Drive.
Once enough of it congregates below the Vent; the continued accumulation of Cool Gear Oil causes some to be forced-out the Vent and drip down to the Wheel and Tire.

 

About that...

ANY ONE of at least a dozen of the regulars on this site could have looked at the design and told NASA it would not work reliably. But WE'RE not "rocket scientists." So they didn't ask.

Stupidest design I've seen in a while, second only to the 650 Maxim's "pivoting" brake caliper with the wedgie pads.

 

About that.....My great uncle worked on the Apollo program safety-wiring and inspecting the first-stage engines of the Saturn V, and got to be good friends with a man who ended up being very high up in the maintenance department for the shuttle's main engines.

(I realize that you can't check on that, so be skeptical if you wish. He was speaking to the 15 year-old grand nephew of a friend, and not in any official capacity, so mentioning his name isn't something I'm comfortable with.)

That man was on vacation, and visiting my Uncle Bill the same week the Challenger ended it's last mission prematurely. I was fortunate enough to be able to speak with him later that day, and the first thing he said was "That wasn't caused by my engines. There's no way they can do that." His suspicion at the time was that something in one of the boosters failed. He wouldn't say what could have failed, or why he thought that, other to explain that when something goes wrong with the main engines they just go quiet and stop burning. That told me NASA knew about the problem and didn't fix it.

 

BigFitz wrote:
Stupidest design I've seen in a while, second only to the 650 Maxim's "pivoting" brake caliper with the wedgie pads.[/quote]

Don't mean to jack thread but I'm curious, please explain. Annnd...why did they do this on the 650's only? Experiment with possible new design maybe?

Gary

 

Bad design aggravated by cold temps make shuttle engines go "boom":

http://www.mahal.org/articles/space/199 ... ent/page/1

and

http://challenger-o-ring.com/

 

I think Gary was referring to the 650 Maxim's brake, not the space shuttle.

Why? Looks. It was supposed to be a "cleaner" looking mount than the traditional pair of "ears" and bolts. At least that's what Yamaha claimed back in the day, as reported by a couple of the cycle magazines. They may have even touted it in one of the sales brochures, IIRC.