Partial oil film on rear tire, shaft side [new C50]

L

livingthelife

New member
I discovered an (irregular shape) oil film on the shaft side of the rear tire, that seems to be coming from the rim. I checked the shaft and its connection to the gear housing, oil drain plug and oil fill cap. All appear to be fine.

I was riding the bike on a fairly hot day (25+ Celsius). I'm thinking that the gear oil gets so hot and the oil vapour penetrates through the seal and sprays on the tire.

After I parked the bike I cleaned the wheel rim and will check for oil leakage in couple hours.

Does anyone have any idea as to why this happens.

Thanks in advance
 
that's just my way of smiting all you "shaft drive is clean and maintenance-free and SO much better than a belt" people. muahahaha!!!








it's unlikely that the gear oil vapour is making a bee-line for your rim. that's some fairly stretched science, i think. did you happen to notice the pattern or shape of the oil markings? too bad you wiped them off, cuz maybe their shape or texture would have hinted as to where they came from.

you could probably fab up a small plastic shield near / around the seals and see if the inside of that gets sprayed with grease, then see what type of crud it is. take better evidence next time, and maybe a pic or two as well.
 
I have the same issue...curious to know what it is. I was planning on taking it in to have it looked at. I have a new C50 as well only 320 miles on it.
 
One way to find out, open her up and C if it's low.


You could be picking up grime from the street. The smell and texture of the final drive is very distinctive.
 
Lately it has not been uncommon for new C50s to leak drive shaft oil from the seal between the final drive and the splines that fit into the wheel hub. A little oil leaks out and slings around to cover the left side of the wheel.
Have the dealer check it- they will pull hte rear wheel and check for a leak. If the seal is leaking they may replace the seal, but usually it is less labor for them to just give you a new drive unit gratis.
I don't know why this problem has suddenly popped up, as the C50/ Volusia has been in production for many years, but for some reason I have run into 5 or 6 brand new C50s with leaking seals in the last 4 months when I maybe saw one a year previously. They may have gotten a bad batch of seals, or maybe they were damaged when they were installed.
 
I had this happen when the shop changed the gear oil, they slightly overfilled it and some leaked all over the wheel. Shouldn't be anything to worry about but since it's new I'd have the dealer check it anyway.
 
I am going to call the dealer tommorow and see what they say. It has been raining the last few days here as well. So I am hoping for a clear day tommorow.
 
I just got off the phone with the dealer and he says the partial oil stain on the tire is possibly due to grease used on the packing during assembly (I think he refers to the seal in the final drive housing). He says weeping of oil here and there is normal during the break-in of a new bike.

Because I did not detect an actual leakage (I mean an oil dripping) and the oil stain is not all around the tire but on less than 1/4 of the tire wall, I buy what he says.

I'll keep an eye on this and take pictures next time.

I have a road test scheduled for June 7 and I'd like to practice whenever possible. Weather forecasts show chances of rain for all week. Darn....
 
actually i found a similar stain on my wheels. I wiped it off and it never came back. My gear oil level was normal so no worries here.
glad they were able to explain it to you.
 
I had this same prob with my brand new S83. I had to bring it back 3 times till they tore it aprt and found the problem. The seal ws bad. Replaced it and all is fine now.
Jim
 
The dealer that I bought mine from said the same exact thing.Mine only has 108 miles on it right now....but I'm gonna keep an eye out on it.
 
The problem went away. I passed the 400 km [250 miles] mark this pm and inspected the rear tire and found no oil film. I also checked the oil level in the final drive and the level was good.

I should think, the dealer must've observed this before.
 
Has been a beautiful day. Short trip to Downtown Vancouver, banking and stuff then met up with my friend at Starbucks, Robson & Thurlow, didn't see any other bikes. (btw, there was a very nice M109R on the weekend). We rode to Deep Cove via Lions Gate. Then we headed to [SIZE=-1]Whytecliff Park, West Van. and back to North Van. I am at 500 km now

Reading [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]David Hough's book is helping alot. [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]I feel more confident now.

I thought the first service was at 600 miles or 1000 km, is it not?
[/SIZE]
 
600 miles or 1,000 km's is right.

:ooops:

Seat time is what you need.
I rode from Newton through Langley, Fort Langley, along by the River, over to #11, through Mission, up to Agassiz, over to Chilliwack, passing through Rosedale, Popkum , then through Yarrow, back to Abbotsford, along 0 Ave., then up through South Surrey.
If you stay off #1, use backroads where possible it is good for 200-250 kms.
Even more if you stay north of the Fraser until you hit Hope, but then you do about 36 kms on #1 until you cut over to Popkum Road.
That was Monday, I managed about 150 kms to-day.

Just take it easy, build up those muscles so longer rides are not so tiring.
Slow into the turns, power out.

Enjoy.
 
Hi everyone,this is my first post to any kind of forum,ever,so I may be a little sloooow at how this works,so here goes,I have a 2007 C50,purchased 6-9-07, with less than 200 miles on it, I noticed some oil type fluid on the left side rear tire.There was a small drip just below the drain plug, so I snugged it up & cleaned the tire, seemed ok for a few days,but it came back. After reading on this site that other people were having the same problem,I called the dealer.I took it in yesterday,informed the service manager that I was aware of other bikes around the country with the same symptom.He called today and informed me that indeed suzuki was aware of a problem with this model,& that they wanted the entire Diff. for defect analysis.They have to order a new unit for my bike,so I will be out of the saddle for about a week,bummer,but at least they are standing behind their product,so far.
 
I tell you, hearing these little things combined with the little things that I have found on my own, it really hurts my confidence after investing $7K on this bike and not choosing the extended waranty.

I know they are a lot of hard core lover of the C50 here and I don't want to offend anyone but I think Suzuki drop the ball with the C50.

Coming from a brand new SV650, it seems as if they C50 are built in a completely different factory. The C50 crafmantship and built quality is far from the superior well built SV. All the engine wird sound, the noisy fuel injectors, piston clatter and other wird overall noises do not inspire any good opinions about this bike, other than it rides good even with all the worries...

The bike rides good and overall is a lot of bang for the buck, but I must admit that I just pray everyday that this bike won't break down on me anytime soon. It is very sad that I have to keep that in the back of my mind with an engine with only 800mi, it kind of takes away from the enjoyment and the confidence and security of going on long trips...

Talking about long trips, I did a 200mi trip this Saturday, going from Gainesville, to the Ocala National Forest, up to Interlachen, then up to High Springs, Alachua and then back to Gainesville. Aside from all the noises, I must say this bike is a trooper, all that I could ever want to explore my sorrounding areas, except for one little thing.... The seat killed me, I am still hurting...

Confort was the reason I let go of my beloved SV650 and everything that I liked about that bike. I went with the C50 looking for long trips confort and I have not find it still... Now I am debating to modify the current seat by adding a Gell pad or just buy the OEM Gell seat for $200. But this seat issue has to be fix soon so that I can continue to enjoy this toy...

In conclusion, I think the C50 is a very good package but it leaves a lot to be desire in craftmanship and overal quality and finish quality, details... I guess you get what you paid for... The Spirit 750 still has chain and carburator, all for the same price as the C50, but overall quality might be the difference.
 
Back
Top