Overfilling the rear drive will cause added internal pressure. I've never filled mine to the point where it's come out of the filler hole and I've never had an issue with seals.
Clean it all off and check the rear drive oil level. Hopefully the previous owner did not over tighten the filler plug. I would start there.
Rear drive oil has it's own special smell. Spline grease usually doesn't smell like rear drive oil. Someone could have got very ambitious with greasing the rear spline and the grease got thrown out. When I've greased mine up (every tire change) I've only used the Molybdenum grease (Honda ) and sparingly at that. We've seen issues with seals as well. Overfilling the rear drive will cause added internal pressure. I've never filled mine to the point where it's come out of the filler hole and I've never had an issue with seals. Clean it all off and check the rear drive oil level. Hopefully the previous owner did not over tighten the filler plug. I would start there.
Thank you all for your responses! I really appreciate it. I'm inclined to think that this is probably spline grease, as the rear tire was just put when I purchased the bike, and when I get a bunch of the stuff on my finger it doesn't really have a smell at all (or it's so subtle that I can't notice it). I'll see if I can get the drain plug open today and give it a look.
Thanks again!
Yep, gear oil has a VERY distinctive smell to it and it's impossible not to notice.
Don't remove the rear drive drain plug! You want to open the filler plug to check the level. Place the bike on the center stand and open the filler plug. The oil level should be just touching the bottom threads for the filler plug. Don't rotate the tire while you're checking! The gears will pick up the oil and you won't get an accurate reading.
Yeah, it is a pretty gross smell. I can't quite describe it, but nothing smells quite like it.
+1 Perfect info. Easy to do/check.
My guess is someone overfilled the differential because they didn't follow the manual. But could be a leaky seal. Just check your level and if OK, I would clean off the wheel and give it time to see if it gets better.
The C14 does not have a "differential", it has a rear drive housing. The only need for a differential is if it has two rear drive wheels.