I bought a 2011 and it seems to be leaking a dark gray film on the rear wheel. The bike has1500  miles on it. Any ideas thanks

Yup....I have a few ideas.

Please enlighten me. Thanks

My top guess would be differential (drive shaft) oil/lube.  Did you have it changed at the service interval?  Did they overfill it?

http://www.zggtr.org/index.php?topic=2881.0

Yeah, that looks like the blown inner seal problem. We've seen this before on C-14's. It is a warranty fix at your local dealer- it takes about 4 hours to R&R the seal. That usually cures it but once or twice dealers have been unable to arrest the leaking and ended up replacing the final drive, again under warranty.

Brian

I bought a 2011 and it seems to be leaking a dark gray film on the rear wheel. The bike has1500  miles on it. Any ideas thanks

Thanks guys for the help.

After they fix it, be sure to give it a good test ride to see if it's fixed. There is more than one seal back there, they usually won't replace all of them at first, Mama Kawa is tight about giving the dealers warranty parts.

Thanks we will see how it goes today.

Hi Guys/Gals, I'm new to this forum. I bought a 2011 C14 last August 2011. I've had tons of bikes and this one is by far my fav. I live up in Alberta, Canada. I usually will put 20,000 kms or 12,500 miles on my bike annually. Last yaer I was only able to put 6000 kms as I got the bike late in the season and the snow comes quick up here. This year I rode down to Oregon and hit some nice roads. Upon my return to Calgary I noticed the rear hub leaking diff oil badly. The dealer said it was under warrentee and it was the seals. After waiting almost 2 weeks they installed the seals but damaged the bearings. The wait for new bearings was going to take us into late September so they has a 2011 used C15 and decided to use the parts from that bike to get me on the road. The used bike had 6000 miles on it. Rode the bike home last night and after 20 miles distance, I checked the hub and it was warm to the touch.

My question is, should the hub (Pumpkin) be warm? I think not. Now if it were really hot to touch I would think the bearings are done, I do hear clicking when I spin the wheel backwards, but have read this seems to be normal. If warm is the norm then OK but I will be testing it this Saturday to see how hot the hub gets. Just to be clear, the wheel hub was cold, but the diff part was warm, not hot. 20 miles at 65 mile/hour.

Let me know what you think. I'll follow up after Saturday to see if it get really hot in such case will be riding right back to the dealer...
Dave

Hi Guys/Gals, I'm new to this forum. I bought a 2011 C14 last August 2011. I've had tons of bikes and this one is by far my fav. I live up in Alberta, Canada. I usually will put 20,000 kms or 12,500 miles on my bike annually. Last yaer I was only able to put 6000 kms as I got the bike late in the season and the snow comes quick up here. This year I rode down to Oregon and hit some nice roads. Upon my return to Calgary I noticed the rear hub leaking diff oil badly. The dealer said it was under warrentee and it was the seals. After waiting almost 2 weeks they installed the seals but damaged the bearings. The wait for new bearings was going to take us into late September so they has a 2011 used C15 and decided to use the parts from that bike to get me on the road. The used bike had 6000 miles on it. Rode the bike home last night and after 20 miles distance, I checked the hub and it was warm to the touch.

My question is, should the hub (Pumpkin) be warm? I think not. Now if it were really hot to touch I would think the bearings are done, I do hear clicking when I spin the wheel backwards, but have read this seems to be normal. If warm is the norm then OK but I will be testing it this Saturday to see how hot the hub gets. Just to be clear, the wheel hub was cold, but the diff part was warm, not hot. 20 miles at 65 mile/hour.

Let me know what you think. I'll follow up after Saturday to see if it get really hot in such case will be riding right back to the dealer...
Dave

It sounds normal. Mine gets warm as well. Not hot, I can hold my hand on it even after a long ride in the heat.

Thanks Conrad. Paranoid I guess. The dealer also told me that when they were working on the leak, they checked my rear brake. Saw a posting about this. Anyway my buddies were saying on our last trip that my brake light was staying on, and I noticed it was only after I used the rear break (Rarely). Anyway they found it jammed with road debris. They never mentioned a recall, I haven't seen mine yet but I guess it will come. I picked up all the crud on the Road to The Sun in Glacier National Park in Montana. I don't shy away from gravel roads so this might be an issue until I get the recall notice!!!

C15 eh?  So you are running with a used rear drive?  I wonder if the bike goes faster with that drive installed?  You Canadians are lucky.  We don't have any C15s down here. 

The dealer is going to get a new one to you at some point, correct?  I'm sure it does get a bit warm, but I would make sure that there is fluid in it.  If it's within a quarter inch of the filler neck it should be ok.

Yes, warm is perfectly normal and even hot is acceptable (a little too warm to hold your hand on the housing is OK). All heavily loaded power trains with gears do this, beveled gears more so than straight cut gears.

For whatever it is worth: shaft drive bikes do not deliver as much of the engine's power to the rear wheel as a chain drive bike does. The difference is consumed in the two sets of gears used in a shaft drive bike- the first set of bevel gears where the drive shaft is connected, and the second set in the final drive. The power loss is given off in the form of heat which is why both of those housings get warm. Chain drive is dirty, noisy, does not last very long and requires a lot of maintenance along the way but it is extremely efficient and does not produce any of the shaft jacking associated with shaft drive bikes (although the C-14 has cured that with that clever linkage arrangement).

By the way, it sounds like you have a great dealer- happy to hear those stories once in a while.

Brian

<snip>

My question is, should the hub (Pumpkin) be warm? I think not. Now if it were really hot to touch I would think the bearings are done, I do hear clicking when I spin the wheel backwards, but have read this seems to be normal. If warm is the norm then OK but I will be testing it this Saturday to see how hot the hub gets. Just to be clear, the wheel hub was cold, but the diff part was warm, not hot. 20 miles at 65 mile/hour.

Let me know what you think. I'll follow up after Saturday to see if it get really hot in such case will be riding right back to the dealer...
Dave

Down Jim, DOWN! 



Brian

C15 eh?  So you are running with a used rear drive?  I wonder if the bike goes faster with that drive installed?  You Canadians are lucky.  We don't have any C15s down here. 

<snip>

Down Jim, DOWN! 



Brian

You know, they stop that after you neuter them.

Yes, Checked it last night and it has new diff oil and is full. No leaks yet. C15, ahhh yeah sorry bout that. It's the new prototype Connie....Oh btw the used bike was a US model so it actually does go faster!! . Love the bike, much better than my old ST1300.  I have the Murphy Kits risers (Ok I'm old and my back needs as much help as possible) and a Cee Baileys Ultra tour windshield. That's it. The bike has everything else and more as is.

I am going to take it out for a long ride this Saturday and will pull over every so often to check the heat at the pumpkin. If it gets really hot to the touch I will be going striaght to the dealer. My buddy rides a R1200RT and will be following me and i'll compare his heat output to the connie. Not sure it's a fair comparo, sure wish I knew someone else up here who rode a connie.

Thank for your comments as it really is good to get great feed back, thanks again!!

You know, they stop that after you neuter them.

The man is wearing a suit of armor, welding a sword, and has chainmail boxers on. Who's gonna neuter whom?   

Thaks Brian, GOOD to know. I do have a 2009 Suz Bandit in the garage that I have used these last few years until I got the Connie. I know what you mean about chain vs. shaft. Yes the Dealer is tops. They are a very large outfit "Blackfoot Motorsports" Excellent sales and excellent service. I have been with them for 14 years and have bought a ton of bikes off them.

Anyway, back to the thread, thanks Brian I'll keep your comments in mind when I do the test. It's just you never really think to touch the rear hub when all is new and good with the bike so I have no idea how hot it actually got?? ha ha.

Yep, it really is a nice bike. I have had mine just over 5 years and I like it more than I did the first day I had it.

As far as the bike having everything and more, hang around here for a bit and you might find an accessory or two that might interest you.... We don't feel we've done out job until you start into the third $1,000 in farkles. 

Just a friendly thought but I would not worry too much about the final drive. Really, they all get warm, it is perfectly normal and with the single exception of BMW's recent problems, they are just not a problem on modern bikes. The C-14 does have a bit of a problem in that they occasionally leak but as you found out, a dealer will fix them under warranty and so it is nothing to be concerned about. Save up your worry for important things like bubonic plague and swarms of killer ants and just enjoy the bike. 

Brian

Yes, Checked it last night and it has new diff oil and is full. No leaks yet. C15, ahhh yeah sorry bout that. It's the new prototype Connie....Oh btw the used bike was a US model so it actually does go faster!! . Love the bike, much better than my old ST1300.  I have the Murphy Kits risers (Ok I'm old and my back needs as much help as possible) and a Cee Baileys Ultra tour windshield. That's it. The bike has everything else and more as is.

I am going to take it out for a long ride this Saturday and will pull over every so often to check the heat at the pumpkin. If it gets really hot to the touch I will be going striaght to the dealer. My buddy rides a R1200RT and will be following me and i'll compare his heat output to the connie. Not sure it's a fair comparo, sure wish I knew someone else up here who rode a connie.

Thank for your comments as it really is good to get great feed back, thanks again!!