Diff leak

dino2013

New Member
Joined
Mar 30, 2021
Messages
8
Location
N. Cal
New to me 2013 with 16.5K. I picked up the bike last weekend and have been riding everyday. The PO rode it 1500 miles in the 2 years he owned it, so it sat quite a bit. Complete fluids change slated for this weekend then I noticed the tell tale splatter on the swing arm and inner fender and got down to have a closer look. Drip off the bottom of the diff and a little on the wheel. How hard is it to fix this? (prior GS owner........thought I had left this crap behind me).

Thanks in advance, Dino
 

~TABASCO~

RIDE ON ADV is what I do !
Founding Member
2011 Site Supporter
2012 Site Supporter
2013 Site Supporter
2014 Site Supporter
Vendor
Joined
Apr 4, 2011
Messages
7,327
Location
TEXAS
New to me 2013 with 16.5K. I picked up the bike last weekend and have been riding everyday. The PO rode it 1500 miles in the 2 years he owned it, so it sat quite a bit. Complete fluids change slated for this weekend then I noticed the tell tale splatter on the swing arm and inner fender and got down to have a closer look. Drip off the bottom of the diff and a little on the wheel. How hard is it to fix this? (prior GS owner........thought I had left this crap behind me).

Thanks in advance, Dino

Its easy.. The seal is available and the "how-to" is on You-Tube ! Ive changed a hand full... There is no rhyme or reason to the ones that start leaking... Miles / year bikes are all over the board...
 

EricV

Riding, farkling, riding...
2011 Site Supporter
2012 Site Supporter
2013 Site Supporter
2014 Site Supporter
Joined
May 22, 2011
Messages
8,227
Location
Tupelo, MS
Welcome to the forum. Please take a minute to add your location to your profile, it gives context to your posts and helps others better answer any questions.

Not knowing where you are in the world means we don't know if your temps got warm recently. It's quite common for the grease on the driven gear to melt in hot weather and fling a little,. When this happens it is not a seal failure, just some mess from grease fling. There have been some seal failures, but not at your low mileage unless it got damaged during a wheel change somehow. When was your last tire change and who did it? If it was recent and someone greased the gear on the wheel or diff, it may be as simple as this.

The other commonly seen issue is the weep hole at the bottom of the swing arm tube just forward of the diff flange. Grease from the U-Joint runs back there and drips out, then makes a minor mess. It usually goes away quickly.

Regardless, even if the seal is bad, it's not the same symptomatic failure as the BMW final drives where the bearings are puking and causing the seal to fail too. It's just a random seal failure on the Super Ten. (I've had a couple of BMWs in the garage over the years. Pull the wheel and take a look.
 

Checkswrecks

Ungenear to broked stuff
Staff member
Global Moderator
2011 Site Supporter
Joined
Mar 7, 2011
Messages
11,489
Location
Damascus, MD
Welcome to the group and please do introduce yourself as others mentioned.

Beyond both have gears and seals this is NOT like a GS rear end. We've had people not bother replacing seals for long periods of time and the rear end will just keep on going. The mess made is a lot worse looking than the little bit of fluid getting out of the pumpkin as well.

For a start, you don't mention if this is the forward seal where the shaft comes in, or the axle seal. As Tabasco mentioned, the parts are cheap and the "how to" is on YT. Since the bike has been in production since 2010, there are also numerous "How to" threads here on the forum. For this and most other technical things about the bike the search box is your friend.

As a moderator, thanks for starting this thread in the right sub-forum!
 

dino2013

New Member
Joined
Mar 30, 2021
Messages
8
Location
N. Cal
OK, well it looks like i screwed this up on a few fronts.

My name is Dino, I live in Sacramento California. I have been riding since I was 4.....I think that's 46 years. I have always owned BMWs and still own the '89 R100GS I bought in '90. I have been riding/wrenching what are now known as "adventure" bikes since I got my license, with the occasional street bike thrown in. I have raced in Baja a couple times and ride down there often. I commute everyday on a bike, unless its raining when its time to leave. I ride 25-30k miles a year.

I bought the S10 because I wanted something different and because I have owned/maintained every GS from '89R100 to '09GSA and a few of the other ADV bikes, KTM, Aprilla, Ducati, BMW etc. Turns out after having it for less than a week and a couple of mods, I love this bike. Looking forward to many miles together.

To the leak: before I panic-posted about the leak, I had already wiped it all up, so no picture of that. There wasn't a lot of fluid but it certainly was gear oil. It is NOT coming from the weep hole, so I'll assume I'm in the bonus. I hopped on it and rode it 20 miles (its about 80 degrees here today) and when I parked it, no fluid at all. No recent tire change, although one is pending so let me know what to look for there. After having rebuilt more than my fair share of final drives, to say I was alarmed is an understatement. Thanks in advance for the guidance.

I clipped and painted the muffler guard (seemed a shame to hide that pipe).

 

dino2013

New Member
Joined
Mar 30, 2021
Messages
8
Location
N. Cal
Welcome to the group and please do introduce yourself as others mentioned.

Beyond both have gears and seals this is NOT like a GS rear end. We've had people not bother replacing seals for long periods of time and the rear end will just keep on going. The mess made is a lot worse looking than the little bit of fluid getting out of the pumpkin as well.

For a start, you don't mention if this is the forward seal where the shaft comes in, or the axle seal. As Tabasco mentioned, the parts are cheap and the "how to" is on YT. Since the bike has been in production since 2010, there are also numerous "How to" threads here on the forum. For this and most other technical things about the bike the search box is your friend.

As a moderator, thanks for starting this thread in the right sub-forum!
Total guess on the sub-forum.......
 

dino2013

New Member
Joined
Mar 30, 2021
Messages
8
Location
N. Cal
Thanks again for the advice. I watched a couple videos and looks like a fairly simple fix. After riding home from work yesterday and back in today, no leak! I called all three Yamaha dealers in my area and not one had the part. Ridiculous. Ordered 2 online, seems like a good one to have in the parts bin.
 

EricV

Riding, farkling, riding...
2011 Site Supporter
2012 Site Supporter
2013 Site Supporter
2014 Site Supporter
Joined
May 22, 2011
Messages
8,227
Location
Tupelo, MS
If it's not leaking, leave it alone, imho. BTW, the Yamaha Diff is not like the BMW ones, on Yamaha you fill with oil until it comes out the fill hole, not a measured amount. 75W90 Valvoline Synpower is a good choice and runs cooler than the non synthetic Yamalube products.
Synpower.png
 

10éréRider

Active Member
Joined
Jan 31, 2014
Messages
161
Location
Cambridge, Ontario Canada
I had the seal leak a couple of years ago and just cleaned the seal using a fine feeler gauge. Easy access with the rear wheel removed. This cleaning lasted another year before it started leaking again. Someone suggested using an old film negative that you get when you used to get pictures developed. I decided to replace the seal at this point and it wasn't that big of a job. I watched a video on youtube so now I'm an expert at it! lol

10éréRider

Clean Seal.jpg
 

Heresjeff

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 13, 2017
Messages
220
Location
Springfield, GA
I had the seal leak a couple of years ago and just cleaned the seal using a fine feeler gauge. Easy access with the rear wheel removed. This cleaning lasted another year before it started leaking again. Someone suggested using an old film negative that you get when you used to get pictures developed. I decided to replace the seal at this point and it wasn't that big of a job. I watched a video on youtube so now I'm an expert at it! lol

10éréRider

View attachment 78776
I used a piece of a Dixie cup


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 

Don in Lodi

Well-Known Member
Founding Member
2012 Site Supporter
2013 Site Supporter
2014 Site Supporter
Joined
Feb 1, 2011
Messages
5,780
Location
Lodi Kalifornia
Welcome to the Forum from just a few miles south.
 
Top