| Author | Message | ||
     Kowpow225 |
A couple of days ago, I was changing out the primary oil on my 9 and noticed that while it was draining, it was a greyish color! Hmmm. I haven't missed any service intervals and I'm actually a thousand miles early on this one, my 5000mi. service. Is the grey color caused by spent clutch material, or metal grindings inside the tranny? Man if I'd have known, I would have changed it a lot sooner. Oh yeah, It had Harleys full synthetic in it. When refilling, it was fun devising a funnel system to get the oil through that itty bitty opening. | ||
| Rigga  |
its water getting into the primary case,and emulsifying the oil slightly..........was like that on mine when i changed it........can get in via the cluch cable and im not sure but other places too.......jet washing the bike is not too helpfull either for this.....keep changing it earlier than reccomended.....also keep an eye on the primary chain as if it gets too loose it can start cutting into the case and add lots of little metalic bits to the oil | ||
| Johnnylunchbox |
I can't speak for Buells but when I changed the rear gearcase (shaft drive) oil on my Concours it was grey almost to the point of being pearlescent (sp?) from the fine metal particles from break-in. If it looks like the froth at the top of your cappucino, then it is definitely water in there.. | ||
| Fbolt  |
Welcome to the club... This has been a problem of mine since I got it. I originally thought it was due to a poor seal on the derby cover, but have since switched to the new style and I continue to have the same issues. I have drained, sprayed the new stuff in and let it drain, and filled (done this numerous times) well before the recommended time frame and still it's contaminated with water. What to do... | ||
| Steveford  |
If you're taking short trips, that's the problem. Try to ride at least 15 miles each time you get on the bike. The oil and cases need to get hot enough to keep the condensation from turning into a layer of grey mung. | ||
| Fullpower  |
yah: like the man said. Ride more, and continue to change the primary lubricant at least every 4 or 5 thousand miles. now that Harley has admitted that 20w-50 synthetic motor oil is usable in the transmission, it no longer is necessary to use any fancy single source proprietary (sport-trans) mystery fluid from the dealership. so far both my sportster, and XB are happy with AMsoil 75w90, and valvoline synthetic 20w-50. the motor oil is cheaper. | ||
| Blake  |
I like the gear lubes as they contain the extreme pressure (EP) additives that you will never find in engine oil as they are terribly incompatible with the environment in the combustion chamber. | ||
| Dcmortalcoil |
Full power, I wouldn't use Amsoil 75W90 because it contains friction modifiers to make it slippery. Mobile 75W90 does not contain such modifiers. I got these information directly from Amsoil and Mobile tech guys. | ||
| Fullpower |
ok, wont use amsoil any more. 20w-50 is cheaper. in regard to motor oil in a manual transmission, i have been using 5w-30 synthetic motor oil in a dodge diesel pickup (5speed getrag) for 240,000 miles. this is very obviously not a buell transmission, but it sort of calls into question the supposed utility of EP modifiers in a gearbox application. again, i reference harley davidsons newest claim that a 20w-50 synthetic MOTOR oil can be recommended for the Buell/Sportster transmission. | ||
| Fullpower |
ahhh, nothing like a good "OIL post" to get everyone on the same page. | ||
| Blake |
I don't follow your point re the EP additives in purpose built synthetic tranny lube. You ran synthetic engine oil in your engine and...?  If you ran it in the transfer case or tranny with no ill effects for 240K miles, then I'd be impressed.  Synthetic base AND EP additives are the best of both worlds for my tranny. | ||
| Hkwan |
FWIW, I changed the tranny oil with Mobil 1 red cap, 15-50 and ran that for about 5.5 miles on a XB motor with 3700 miles. The shifting was VERY tough. I had to put about 50% more force/effort into shifting comparing to the HD tranny oil. I switched back over to Mobil 1 syn gear oil, 75w-90. Boy, it shifts like a dream (in the Buell world). Now the shifting is almost as easy as my F4i's. About 30% easier than the HD oil. (Message edited by hkwan on December 07, 2004) | ||
| Klink |
new buell owner; can anyone recomend a good steering dampner for a xb12r firebolt. thanks}} | ||
| Dcmortalcoil |
I'm using Woodcraft with Hyperpro damper available from racingmotorcycles.com. A minor grinding of the frame is necessary, however. | ||
| Fullpower |
blake: yes i am still running 5w-30 synthetic (chevron brand, cause it was cheap) in the transmission of the dodge diesel. again i acknowledge that is not a buell, but my point here is only that so called EP additives while absolutely essential in an hypoid differential application, are not normally required in either the sportster/buell transmission, nor in many automotive manual transmissions. | ||
| Barkandbite  |
Klink: My new Showa Gold from Trojan is on its way. When it is arrived and installed, I will let you know how it turns out. No grinding necessary. Chris | ||
| Static |
Ooh! Ooh! my turn! "EP" additives are necessary in a hypoid application because of the nature of the contact between components. ( 90 degree change in the direction of force applied, and contact patch moving from the toe to the heel of the ring gear teeth ) Any straight cut or helical cut gear has a constant contact patch that exerts an equal amount of force across the gear teeth. So because the stress applied to a standard gearset does not produce the same heat (from friction) as a hypoid type, EP additives are not necessary. Which is why many manufacturers have used anything from Automatic trans fluid to conventional\synthetic motor oils to 75- 120w gears oils in manual transmissions and transfercases. Keep in mind that the vast majority of manual transmissions in use in automotive applications Use synchronizer type engagement. The transmissions in our bikes are dog box type engagement which usually produce even less friction/heat than the typical synchro type. So after all that... EP additives are not really necessary in a Buell's transmission. ( Nor would they hurt it either) | ||
| Wyckedflesh  |
Just as an aside, "grey" or gunmetal colored transfluid is from the clutch "dust" and metal slivers/shavings/bits. Milky grey to whiteish is from water. | ||
| Fbolt |
This whole topic is a grey area to me...  | ||
| Kaese  |
FYI: Not to begin the oil preferences threads again, but I converted over to synthetic on a 10K bike with a full race kit on a S2. That engine began leaking out of every gasket on that bike. Purchased an XB after that fiasco and will not make the change to synthetic. Others swear by synthetic, but do it early in engine life, is my opinion. Only my 2 cents. | ||
| Hkwan |
Kaese, I guess depends on how bad the gasket was on the S2. You could be correct that we should switch to Synthetic as early as possible. I've seen it in person - switched over to synthetic on a very old Ford (200K miles) and it started leaking. Switched back to dino oil, all good again. The synthetic is relatively more slippery than traditional oil and if you have old gasket, you might see leaks. | ||
| Richieg150  |
My Cyclone's primary oil was grey a couple of times when I changed it also.I took a small ziptie and put it around the top of the rubber on the rubber boot that goes around the clutch cable adjustment.So far,no grey primary oil,when changed! |
