Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Gear oil leak.

I discovered while looking for a short for my light bar what appeared to be a gear oil leak. Thick unlike engine oil. It is located on the right side of the bike between the transmisson and engine. It is making a trail just behind the engine oil sight glass. The bike was purchased April 2008 so it is a warranty issue. Have any riders out there experienced this problem before? 2008 America.

Could it be throw-off from the chain?
That's where it would show up.
There is no gear oil. The engine, clutch, and tranny all
share the same oil.

is it coming from the drain tube on the bottom ?

08... pretty new...if you havent ridden it much it could be left over cosmoline (the stuff they coat the bike with for trasnportation). If I remeber that stuff was thick and sticky. If it was oil it would be more slick and thin.

So which is it...thick and sticky or slick and thin? (I cant beleive I just asked that ).

Well it appears that it is chain throw-off. It is pretty gritty and I do live in dusty conditions. Pretty dry here. I also lubed my chain very recently and there is dust and dirt accumulated on it. I guess I may have jumped the gun. Good job guys. As I stated before (fuse topic) this is the only place to go for advice on my baby.

Clean your chain and use chain wax. It doesn't attract dirt and doesn't sling off.

20,000 miles on my chain, no oil or dirt on it. Gonna change my chain in another 5,000 miles or so weather it needs it or not.

stock chain and sprockets, the lube is mostly to lube the chain on the sprockets since the chain is sealed. Those seals that keep the dirt out also keeps the lube out and the factory lube in. It has been said that lubing the chain helps keep those seals from drying out but if I am getting 20,000 + miles out of chain and sprockets I say let em dry! Also my sprockets are not showing any wear that can be seen with the eye. I think that lube may actually help the sprockets wear since it picks up abrasive materials, I have no proof of this but it seems that way to me since I am getting the same mileage without lube as others are who do so every few hundred miles. I would never tell anyone not lube their chain just relay my thoughts and experience so far.I have lubed my chain about 4 times since I bought the bike in 05 and 2 of those were the first summer and not at all last year.

Believe me Bill it wasn't really on purpose when I started not lubing my chain. The old Triumphs I had shot breather oil on it so it never needed to be lubed. So when I got this bike I just never really thought about it and lubed it a couple times. I really don't think it's worth it to lube it but I only have had this one stock chain and sprockets so I have no idea if anyone else would get the same results under different riding conditions. I rarely ride in bad weather and park my bike for the winter for the most part, It doesn't get as hot or cold here as other parts of the country, it isn't sandy here and so on. I can think of tons of variables that may play into the results. Could be I just got a really good set from the factory, who knows? Could be they tell you to lube the chain for liability reasons. I know with a std chain you should lube them since there is no seal to keep the dirt out or lube in. I was going to replace my chain and sprockets with a std. DID 530 and Honda sprockets but I think I may buy another OEM set from Triumph since these have worn so well.

Yeah, you've mentioned how this came about before.
As an experiment, accidental though it may be, the results are quite interesting.

Regularly cleaning and lubeing your chain may help to stave off boredom. But really doesn't do much else. Modern chains seem to last twenty some thousand miles lubed or not.

A lot depends on the conditions you ride in. I ride my bike to work every day I can. Even on a good day, the bike is covered with dust at the end of my shift. They like to tar and chip a lot of the roads around here. That crap gets everywhere on the bike...

So clean and lube as you see fit. Cleaning may prolong chain life more than lubing if conditions require it.

Maybe lubing is more important on long trips. Prevents friction heat and cooking the O-rings. My first one was junk at about 18,500. Never went more than 1000 or 1500 between lubes. I examined the chain when I replaced it, missing quite a few O-rings.