• Welcome, Guest! We hope you enjoy the excellent technical knowledge, event information and discussions that the BMW MOA forum provides. Some forum content will be hidden from you if you remain logged out. If you want to view all content, please click the 'Log in' button above and enter your BMW MOA username and password.

    If you are not an MOA member, why not take the time to join the club, so you can enjoy posting on the forum, the BMW Owners News magazine, and all of the discounts and benefits the BMW MOA offers?

water in gear oil!

ba-heed

New member
Hello to all , I had a nasty moment when checking oil levels today .
When I removed the gear-oil filler a white cream came pouring out , way over level and emulsified ,
must be water I guess , what else would turn it creamy white?
but how has water got in there?
I have drained the box and flushed it a couple of times with engine oil now it is re-filled with good gear oil.
So what was that all about ? any ideas? could it froth like that and go creamy maybe? If it had the wrong oil in there?
much obliged to any helpful hints that will get me to the answer, Steve Heed
1980 R100RT 85K miles
 
In my case, it was the speedometer cable grommet. It was allowing water to run down the cable and into the transmission. I replaced the grommet and put some silicone between the cable and grommet.
 
Get a new rubber boot for the cable if it's cracking or won't stay in place. With the new one installed, or if the current rubber boot is in good shape, slide the boot up the cable an inch or two from the transmission. Squirt a small glob of black silicone up inside the boot, enough to fill, and work it around so it fills the airspace. Slide the boot back down and make sure the bottom lip pops into place. Snug a zip tie around the small end of the boot, to help it stay put on the cable, and then clean up the excess silicone that has oozed out. You won't have any more trouble with water infiltrating at this joint.
 
Depending on how long the water was in there you might have ruined the bearings. I had the same problem and flushed it like you did. Not too long after I could hear a rumbling sound from the transmission as I rotated the rear wheel. I took it to my dealer in Germany and they said it was a bearing failure and needed rebuilding. The bike had about 40k at that time. I hope you have better luck. I saved one bearing as a reminder Look at the erosion in the inner race:
 
Back
Top