senseamidmadness
Neglected Bike Adopter
Hey again, mechanical minds of the MOA. I am happy to report that my sad Oilhead (1997 R850R built in August of 1996) has been running perfectly for a couple months now and I haven't had a single issue. This is me wanting to know about possible problems in the future.
When I first got the bike, it had 34,500ish miles, and because I knew it had been sitting for years I changed all the fluids out. I looked carefully at the magnetic drain plugs for both the final drive and transmission when I did that.
The final drive plug had a decent amount of very dark sludge on it, kind of like a ferrofluid. It was more than enough to cover the magnet entirely.
The transmission drain plug had a lot of that same dark sludge, but also what looked like extremely fine metal glitter, kind of like nickel anti-seize. There were no pieces larger than...maybe the width of a human hair? Teeny flakes, but very shiny. The transmission drain plug magnet was also not visible due to the amount of magnetic material it caught. There was quite a lot.
I should also mention the transmission fluid, whatever the previous owner put in, came out dark and very opaque and smelling somewhat burnt.
At the time I put Mobil 1 synthetic 75w-90 gear oil into both the final drive and the transmission. I didn't think ahead and bought only 1 quart, so I captured maybe 300ml of the previous transmission oil and reused it mixed with the new stuff while the final drive got all new oil. I knew at the time that it would only be in there for 1500 miles so I figured it wouldn't blow up.
I was right, it didn't blow up, but for the record I'm not ever doing that again unless it's an emergency. I should've just bought two quarts of conventional gear oil. Lesson learned, etc.
Fast forward to now, at 36,080 miles, and I have changed the three main fluids again. The magnetic drain plugs for both the final drive and the transmission came out with pretty much the exact same materials on them, but probably less than half as much volume of it as before. Dark magnetic sludge on both, and very fine shiny flakes on the transmission drain. Again, the transmission fluid came out smelling burnt, but this time it was less dark and had some parts that looked much lighter, like parts of the oil were separating.
I put Red Line 80W synthetic transmission oil (with "shockproof) into the transmission this time, and put conventional Maxima 80w-90 gear oil into the final drive. I noticed an immediate difference in shifting performance. Both up and downshifts are noticeably smoother and the gearbox is quieter all the time. The shift clunks no longer sound like an angry gremlin with a hammer is trying to escape my transmission.
That Red Line stuff looks weird. I guess the additive package makes the oil look totally opaque when it comes out of the bottle, which isn't like any other gear oil I've ever seen. It looks like some kind of crimson latte.
I've perused Anton Largiader's info on M97 transmissions but can't really find anything definitive. His reference to the input shaft wear issue matches what I've seen and smelled in my oil but he doesn't mention fine metal flakes in that article.
What I want to know is: are my burnt-smelling transmission oil and fine metal flakes on the drain plug at both changes 1500 miles apart a sign of future transmission woes? Can I delay or avoid future transmission problems by continuing to use this Red Line synthetic oil?
When I first got the bike, it had 34,500ish miles, and because I knew it had been sitting for years I changed all the fluids out. I looked carefully at the magnetic drain plugs for both the final drive and transmission when I did that.
The final drive plug had a decent amount of very dark sludge on it, kind of like a ferrofluid. It was more than enough to cover the magnet entirely.
The transmission drain plug had a lot of that same dark sludge, but also what looked like extremely fine metal glitter, kind of like nickel anti-seize. There were no pieces larger than...maybe the width of a human hair? Teeny flakes, but very shiny. The transmission drain plug magnet was also not visible due to the amount of magnetic material it caught. There was quite a lot.
I should also mention the transmission fluid, whatever the previous owner put in, came out dark and very opaque and smelling somewhat burnt.
At the time I put Mobil 1 synthetic 75w-90 gear oil into both the final drive and the transmission. I didn't think ahead and bought only 1 quart, so I captured maybe 300ml of the previous transmission oil and reused it mixed with the new stuff while the final drive got all new oil. I knew at the time that it would only be in there for 1500 miles so I figured it wouldn't blow up.
I was right, it didn't blow up, but for the record I'm not ever doing that again unless it's an emergency. I should've just bought two quarts of conventional gear oil. Lesson learned, etc.
Fast forward to now, at 36,080 miles, and I have changed the three main fluids again. The magnetic drain plugs for both the final drive and the transmission came out with pretty much the exact same materials on them, but probably less than half as much volume of it as before. Dark magnetic sludge on both, and very fine shiny flakes on the transmission drain. Again, the transmission fluid came out smelling burnt, but this time it was less dark and had some parts that looked much lighter, like parts of the oil were separating.
I put Red Line 80W synthetic transmission oil (with "shockproof) into the transmission this time, and put conventional Maxima 80w-90 gear oil into the final drive. I noticed an immediate difference in shifting performance. Both up and downshifts are noticeably smoother and the gearbox is quieter all the time. The shift clunks no longer sound like an angry gremlin with a hammer is trying to escape my transmission.
That Red Line stuff looks weird. I guess the additive package makes the oil look totally opaque when it comes out of the bottle, which isn't like any other gear oil I've ever seen. It looks like some kind of crimson latte.
I've perused Anton Largiader's info on M97 transmissions but can't really find anything definitive. His reference to the input shaft wear issue matches what I've seen and smelled in my oil but he doesn't mention fine metal flakes in that article.
What I want to know is: are my burnt-smelling transmission oil and fine metal flakes on the drain plug at both changes 1500 miles apart a sign of future transmission woes? Can I delay or avoid future transmission problems by continuing to use this Red Line synthetic oil?