Hi! New member here! I've been enjoying my new-to-me Buddy Italia for about a month now. Just cleaned it up for the first time and noticed oil all over the rear tire. Figured it's gear oil so now I'm trying to figure out what to fix.
Im pretty handy, as I work on my car myself, and I have a bunch of tools, so this shouldn't be a problem for me to tackle (hopefully).
I've read the post about the rear seal: could this be it? Or perhaps just the gasket? I think I will replace both ( as well as an oil change, air filter change, and, of course, gear oil change).
I've taken a picture of where the oil is dropping from. Anyone else have this problem? Am I correct in my assumption?
This may not necessarily be a failed gasket or seal. I believe that there's a weep hole in the gear case, the purpose of which is to prevent overfills of the gear oil from creating too much pressure and blowing a seal out. It's basically a safety valve. So, it's possible that a previous owner or servicing dealer overdid it with the gear oil. This happened to me with the Blur I had about 10 years ago. A lot of dealers/service places use the old Vespa method of filling the gear case until it comes out of the fill hole. This is wrong for Buddies - you need to put in only the amount specified in the manual.
To verify that this is the problem, clean everything up (especially the tire as gear oil on a tire is a recipe for disaster), drain the gearbox and then put in the specified amount of fresh lube. Then ride it for a while and see if the condition reoccurs.
Oh wow, ok. I can do that. I guess I was assuming that it was a leak because every car I've owned, if showing a leak, meant there was a leak.
I'd rather not spend the money if I do t have to, so I will change the gear oil first, refilling it the specified amount, and see what happens
I haven't driven it since I found the leak, so no worries. But thanks for the heads up!
I don't have any service history on it, but it just turned 4,000 miles, so lots of life left (hopefully!). I will change the heat oul, engine oil, spark plug and air filter and hopefully that will be that!
Minor piggyback on this thread. @Charile and babblefish - Any reason not to use a standard 90-140 synthetic gear lube? My manual suggests 140 wt and leaves it at that. '09 Buddy 150 here and still learning about this machine.
EricV wrote: Minor piggyback on this thread. @Charile and babblefish - Any reason not to use a standard 90-140 synthetic gear lube? My manual suggests 140 wt and leaves it at that. '09 Buddy 150 here and still learning about this machine.
Thanks!
As you can tell from my sig, I have a Honda Helix so I can't comment on the Buddy's tolerance for out-of-spec lubes. What I can say is that my manual recommends straight SAE 90, but I use Lucas non-synthetic 80w90. Since the cold/hot weight difference is only 10, I'm quite comfortable with that, and have had no problems. Personally, and this is only a matter of preference, I would try to stick as close as possible to the manufacturer's recommendations. But the Buddy owners here can give you the benefit of their experience which is more model-relevant than mine.
BTW, I would make sure that the gear oil is designated as "hypoid". It has something to do with its ability to provide maximum lubrication for drive train gearing.
Minor piggyback on this thread. @Charile and babblefish - Any reason not to use a standard 90-140 synthetic gear lube? My manual suggests 140 wt and leaves it at that. '09 Buddy 150 here and still learning about this machine.