gearbox input shaft seal

EZ-RIDER · 07-30-2002, 08:29 AM

Hello Gang;

Had the input shaft seal on the gearbox replaced at 13,000 miles for leaking on the right side of the Engine

Put a 1,000
miles on bike since it was fixed, now it is leaking again

Anybody else have had the same problem? And what do you all
think I should do about it

They want to replace the seal again

EZ-RIDER

CarlosT · 07-30-2002, 10:06 AM

I've been having tranny fluid ooze out of the Paralever differential boot (the rear boot closest to the wheel) when I go on an extended romp. I checked both the tranny and rear dif levels and neither is overfilled. What's going on here? Does the driveshaft housing somehow pressurize when running hard?

flynbmw · 07-30-2002, 10:11 AM

Did the mechanics check the shaft for any "rough spots" that might be tearing up the seal? Or is it the rear main seal on the engine? My rear main was leaking and the oil would seep out on the right side of the motor, on the seam where the engine and clutch housing bolted together (behind the throttle body). Fixed rear main and no more seepage. Good luck.

Harold

roger albert · 07-30-2002, 11:40 AM

Hi,

In addition to looking for a seal damaged by poor installation or a rough input shaft, you have to look at input shaft bearing runout. These things have no auto-like pilot bearing to aid in minimizing runout, so any extra play in the input bearing will quickly wallow out the input shaft seal. In either Fly's or my guesses, a leaky seal is just the symptom. There's still a root cause that has to be addressed.

Good luck
roger

MarkC · 07-30-2002, 12:12 PM

Discussing transmissions, according to BMWRA (in their report about the new R1200CL)

Quote from: http://www.bmwra.org/otlintel.htm

Quote:

...but for now we urge you to focus on the subtle but important fact that this bike will feature a wholly re-designed ZF Getrag transmission that will make its way through the whole Boxer line in coming months.

MarkC

tominator · 07-30-2002, 02:36 PM

Depending on the experience of the technician working on your ride. Close attention must be paid to ensuring the new seal is pressed into the exact same position.

Germans raceway designs typically do not install predefined "Stops" for the seal to be pressed into like their Japanese counterparts. Allowing the technician to install the seal into an alternative position. In the event excessive wear is found on the shaft. Increasing the longevity of the shaft components.

I know of two S riders that had the same problem after the seal was replaced. And in both instances the seal was driven in too deeply. Hope this is the case.....

Hope this helps!

Tomas

jgrm1 · 07-30-2002, 06:23 PM

Make it three. I am experiencing the exact same scenario as EZ-Rider.

-Jeff

tvrla · 07-31-2002, 08:12 AM

Me too. My tranny seal was replaced 4K ago at 8,000 mi and I've started having some clutch slip again when passing. Perhaps it's the input bearing, or, a poor design? This seems to be a fairly common problem. Hope this isn't something I'm just going to have to deal with for the life of the bike. That's a funky thought.

jgrm1 · 07-31-2002, 08:14 AM

I've never experienced clutch slip. I just see weeping between the engine and tranny cases on the right side of the bike.

-Jeff

tvrla · 07-31-2002, 08:30 AM

Mine's got that too, and, normally it doesn't slip. It's only when I get on it passing on the back roads. I commute 52 miles to work, 49 of it on the freeway. A good part of that is at 80 mph and there isn't any indication during my commute that anything's wrong. When the seal was replaced last time the mechanic said there was just a slight seep from the trans input seal, but it was enough to be a real problem passing. A little tiny bit of oil getting past a seal doesn't bother me - but why does it have to migrate right to the clutch? There should be some sort of shield to deflect it down to a drain hole. Doesn't make sense.

Beemuur · 07-31-2002, 09:22 AM

My symptoms are the same as jgrm1; weepage from the right side, but no clutch slippage.

Bike has 39K miles. This started at 21K when I had the input shaft replaced.

plongo · 07-31-2002, 10:04 AM

I had exactly the same problem. Got my new S in June 2000. Only three months and 2,700 miles later, I noticed oil seeping from the right-side mating surfaces between the engine and transmission. Turned out to be the transmission input shaft seal. The bike was off the road during two weeks of absolutely gorgeous riding weather. The entire back half of the bike to be removed--right up to the engine--and replaced. After the repair, I found a bolt missing from the air intake adapter. Great--so much for my "new" $16,000 bike....

In May 2001, at less than 6,000 miles, the same leak reappeared. This time, I took the bike to a different dealer. Missed another week of gorgeous riding while the seal was replaced again.

In June 2001, I wrote a five-page letter to BMW NA's Director of Fixed Operations about the leaking seals, as well as their "comfort bar" recall (remind me to tell you about that one), and also a rear shock that bit the dust twice. I weigh about 160 lbs. and don't carry passengers, so, no, I don't know why two shocks went bad. I am still waiting to hear from BMW NA. (Hey, it's only been a year or so....)

hjr1100s · 07-31-2002, 10:38 AM

Just learn to live with it. Had mine replaced one time under warranty, but wasn't willing to cough up the money myself when it started leaking again. So I just leave it as it is and it didn't give me any problems the last 15.000 km's.

HJ

Beemuur · 08-01-2002, 10:37 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by hjr1100s
Just learn to live with it.
HJ

I guess that's what I am doing.

When I first noticed it, after the input shaft was replaced, I took it back to the dealer that did the work and complained. They assured me that it was spline grease, but I should monitor it. I have done that for 18K miles now and still don't know for sure what it is. It is not getting any worse and there is no clutch slippage. I just wipe it off every couple hundred miles or so and keep on riding.

EZ-RIDER · 08-01-2002, 02:13 PM

Hey Gang;

They at Ride West Bmw want me to bring the bike back in. I asked if they are going to replace the transmission? They said not for a imput shaft seal

And I asked what are you going to do if you change the seal again and it still leaks, They had no answer for that

I will keep you all posted!!!

EZ-RIDER

geastburn · 08-02-2002, 01:27 PM

I have had the rear input shaft seal replaced twice in 26,000 miles. The last was after completing a 3,000 mile trip a month ago. The worst part of the last episode was the slipping clutch that occured sporadically beginning midway through the trip. The dealer, once again, stepped up and did the right thing, but my warranty clock is ticking and I wonder if this is going to be an ongoing problem. It is a major teardown to complete the work, and I am not an experienced mechanic. To be honest, I am wondering if there is a FJR 1300 in my future. Some of the durability issues since my purchase have caused me to question the vaunted BMW "run forever" reputation. The bike does so many things well, but I wonder what kind of trouble I would be experiencing with a rice burner with similar mileage.
Geoff

CarlosT · 08-02-2002, 05:01 PM

Here's what my rear dif boot started to do during my WV trip back in April

CarlosT · 08-02-2002, 05:03 PM

Geez! Sorry about the image size...I guess you get the picture

So what could be leaking?

Chris Eastburn · 08-04-2002, 04:32 PM

EZ, I had similar oil leak. Seems there is a problem with the S in this area. The dealer replace the trans OUPUT shaft seal on my S, within a few thousand miles it started leaking again. The second time around the dealer replaced the shaft bearing and seal. They said bearing was toasted. So you may (as Rog A mentioned) want to have them inspect the bearings. BTW the input shaft seal has also been replaced once, and hasn't leaked since...

What is the deal with all these damn oil leaks on the S? Not the Matag of motorcycles, not even close. So much for the stone reliablity! My next bike will be a FJR 1300, I'm tired of this crap. You spend 14k for what you understood to be a bulletproof ride only to have it in the shop twice a year for oil leaks or failures. I shouldn't even have got started on this topic, venting. Too say I'm a little disappointed is a understatement. I guess the extra 3k you spend on the BMW is for the warranty.

I've got a ZX9R with 15k on it and outside of typical maintenance items it hasn't had one failure or oil leak, and it doesn't use oil. Besides that it was 5 grand less.

EAST

MarkC · 08-05-2002, 02:24 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Chris Eastburn
......I've got a ZX9R with 15k on it and outside of typical maintenance items it hasn't had one failure or oil leak, and it doesn't use oil. Besides that it was 5 grand less.
EAST

Relatively speaking, you got the ZX9R at a steal Chris. The ZX-9R cost 500Euro MORE than the R1100S does, here in Germany.

Hopefully for furture BMW buyers, news of the redesigned transmision for next years models are true.

MarkC