Why would my used 2016 with only 7k miles Final Gear Oil be black?
Thanks for any insights.
I guess the bigger question is, was the lube changed prior to you doing it this time?
If not, or it is a mystery, than what you are seeing as we mostly all did on the first, and even second change....
from the factory, at assembly, I believe they coat the ring and pinion with Moly Paste, ( it IS Black, and has a silvery sheen to it) as an inspection means (they used to use a white lead paint/paste in ancient times, automitively), to see the contact pattern of the mating teeth, for correctly shimming the clearances.
It also adds an extremely good 'break in protection" to those fresh gears for the first 600 miles... Mine was quite black, sort of, and slightly 'metallic', but correct (that Moly creates that appearance when mixed with gear lube) when changed at 600 miles, and also quite dark at 2k miles, but after a few changes its "lube colored" and normal grayish (never had any high metal chip worries) like it should be.. I bought my bike new, with zero miles, and did my own maintenance.
don't sweat it, change it, and do it again in 2k more...
and DON'T turn the rear wheel when filling it...