Gear oil - What do you think?

michelle_7728 · Post by **michelle_7728** » Fri Aug 17, 2012 5:18 am

I bought my black 2009 Buddy new early this year.

I took it in to get serviced a couple of months back (I can't remember the exact mileage, but I believe it was about when I should have taken it in for it's first service).

Anyhow, it has had an intermittent leak on the garage floor...nothing much, just a couple of drips every couple of weeks.

I took it back to the dealer and they verified that nothing was low and couldn't determine where the leak was coming from.

The bike had not leaked for the past week or so, so I took it on a long ride early today, up a mountain and back down.

Part of the way back down we stopped to eat our sandwiches and my husband said, "How long has your tire looked like that?"

I looked and there was oil all over both sides of the rear tire. Unfortunately, I did not take a picture (a "DOH!" moment, I guess), but instead, after looking at it and not being sure how fresh it was, I took a paper towel, dipped it in the gas tank and then very carefully wiped the oil off the tire and wheel on both sides. The thought process was I could look at it when we got to where we were staying and see if there was fresh oil leaking....also, I didn't want to take a chance on the oil getting any further down on the tire and causing me to have an accident on the way out of there, as the drips had run down near the "nice lean angle" part of the tire.

Let me also say that prior to wiping it off I checked the oil, and even looked at the brake fluid indicator (I know, I know, it shouldn't matter for the back, but I was checking everything).

Anyhow, when we got back to where we were staying, no new oil had appeared on the wheel or tire, except for one drip on the garage floor.

Soooo, thinking the gear oil must be low, I drained it out, to see just how low it was.

Doing on-line calculators, it said that 90 cc (the amount of gear oil that should be in there) = 3.04326204 US fluid ounces. So...3 ounces. What drained out was just shy of 5 ounces.

I looked at the oil and it looked fine, so I put all but just shy of 2 ounces back in, made sure everything was tight, then we went on our second excursion of the day (about 60 miles round trip). We stopped several times during the ride, and I checked on the tire each time. No more oil leak.

Is it possible, that since it had too much oil in there that the oil was being forced out when the scooter was in an incline (going up the mountain)? And if so, what are the repercussions, if any, of this? The scooter has about 1,100 miles on it now. Should I be worried about leaking seals, etc, down the road?

I don't want to get into dealer bashing, as I really like everyone at my dealer, think anyone can make a mistake, and the scooter is under warranty still for another year or so. I just want to know whether anyone has experienced anything similar to this, and what (if anything) I should expect long term results of this to be. I'm assuming all this due to too much oil. Thoughts?

The first picture shows what was drained out. The second picture is an example of what the oil looked like (of course it wasn't yellow). There were "sunrays" (for lack of a better word) of it all around the rear tire (yes, they were that numerous), on both sides of the tire, and the rear wheel was coated with it evenly on both sides as well as oil being flung up onto the rear fender and inside of the mudflap.

Skootz Kabootz · Post by **Skootz Kabootz** » Fri Aug 17, 2012 6:16 am

Nearly 2x overfilled? Sounds to me like someone forgot to drain the old gear oil before adding the new gear oil. Now that you have the correct amount of oil in there, if it is no longer leaking you may be OK. Good for you for checking it and draining it ASAP! Prolonged use when overfilled will damage seals. I'd say if things are now behaving normally, then just carry on. After giving yourself a pat on the back of course...

michelle_7728 · Post by **michelle_7728** » Fri Aug 17, 2012 6:27 am

I'll bet that's what happened. Darn I almost put new stuff in there but did not...went ahead and reused part of what was already in there. I'd better do that when I get home. I think our riding is over for the next day or so anyhow.

CROSSBOLT · Post by **CROSSBOLT** » Fri Aug 17, 2012 7:57 pm

You have already zeroed in on the problem. I am here to tell ya I did the same thing on gear oil on the Buddy 150 and the Kymco Yager 200i in that I thought the correct amount of oil in the gear boxes was defined by the fill hole and IT IS NOT!! Both spewed oil out the breathers and weep holes until I drained and refilled with the correct amounts of oil. It took a LONG TIME to stop weeping and act normal.

Also make sure on the Buddy at least to be very precise on how much oil you put in the engine as it will do the same thing very quickly.

Great pictures, by the way!

Karl

michelle_7728 · Post by **michelle_7728** » Fri Aug 17, 2012 10:34 pm

Thanks for posting, Crossbolt. I was hoping someone would post that had gone through the same thing.

So there should be no lasting issues (other than clean up)?

If that's the case, what a relief!

rfman81 · Post by **rfman81** » Tue Aug 21, 2012 1:37 am

This has happened to me. Scooter tech said he liked the gear oil extra, got all over my tire and wheel. Possibly contributed to my wreck.

Don't overfill is what I learned.

michelle_7728 · Post by **michelle_7728** » Tue Aug 21, 2012 1:52 am

I can believe that (that it may have contributed to your wreck). It was down the tire quite a bit when we saw it. Thank God I cleaned it off right then with gas, or it might have continued to be driven down my tire by the wind and centrifical force. It wouldn't have taken but a couple more inches before it could have done that to me.

double-o-soul · Post by **double-o-soul** » Tue Aug 21, 2012 3:09 am

forgive me if I'm incorrect about your bikes, but I'm a 2 stroke stella rider. I tend to overfill a bit and let it drip out over the next few days. the oil expands and become more viscous as the engine warms, its the reason why you don't fill it to the brim.
imo better to overfill than underfill.

is this just for my kind of bike?

agrogod · Post by **agrogod** » Tue Aug 21, 2012 8:52 am

double-o-soul wrote:forgive me if I'm incorrect about your bikes, but I'm a 2 stroke stella rider. I tend to overfill a bit and let it drip out over the next few days. the oil expands and become more viscous as the engine warms, its the reason why you don't fill it to the brim.
imo better to overfill than underfill.

is this just for my kind of bike?

You do realize its gear oil and not engine oil that's being discussed.

Robbie · Post by **Robbie** » Tue Aug 21, 2012 11:35 am

The two stroke Stella has a separate gearbox, same as the buddy.

So, the response does apply to this thread and, if you inadvertently overfill the Stella gearbox it'll heave gear oil all over the tire as well.

The four stroke Stella's lubricate their gears with the crankcase oil......I can see where this will cause confusion.

Rob

BuddyRaton · Post by **BuddyRaton** » Tue Aug 21, 2012 11:51 am

double-o-soul wrote:forgive me if I'm incorrect about your bikes, but I'm a 2 stroke stella rider. I tend to overfill a bit and let it drip out over the next few days. the oil expands and become more viscous as the engine warms, its the reason why you don't fill it to the brim.
imo better to overfill than underfill.

is this just for my kind of bike?

Pretty much. A Stella and Buddy tranny are completely different.

If you overfill a Stella the worst that is going to happen is that it will blow out of the clutch vent. On my kitted street bike I over fill...but I have also removed the vent and attached a tube to direct blow out away from the tire and hub

Syd · Post by **Syd** » Tue Aug 21, 2012 4:34 pm

But in the old days anyway, a little less is much better than a little more, at least in terms of lubricating oil.

jd · Post by jd » Wed Aug 22, 2012 1:16 am

On many bikes, you top off the gear or tranny oil by adding until it trickles out, and then you stop. I've had bikes like this. I think a lot of bike mechanics get it in their heads that that's how you do it no matter what.

The Buddy seems to be a bit of an oddball in that respect. You need to put in the 90cc (actually closer to 80cc because you can't get all the old stuff out) and no more. Otherwise it expels through the weep hole and makes a mess. I know because I've done it, too.

No harm done. Just clean the tire carefully.

jd