Water in Gear Case

fiddlersgreen

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Viper xtx le
I Have had this problem with my 08 MTX since I got it.
I brought it to the dealer the first time and they said it was a freak thing and changed the gear case oil and said they couldn't find a problem.
Next time I brought it in for the same problem and they said the drive shaft seal had a tear and replaced it. It was good for the end of the season last year.
I checked it a couple days ago....oil is like chocolate milk.
Is this a common problem???
Now I have a 12 day trip planned in a couple days and the dealer is too busy to take my sled in for a look. :o|
I thing I am going to use the sled on the trip like it is but will change the oil a couple times during.
Any thoughts or advice???
 
Hey fiddler

I have never had an issue with water in the gear case and i to have an 08 MTX. The only way for water to get in is through the seals from the tunnel side of the chain case and a small o-ring in the chain case itself. From the sounds of it it doenst sound like a condensation issue becauae i dont think that would produce enough water to turn the oil milky. I could be wrong. Its been know to happen from time to time

There is a rubber bearing seal as well as an o-ring that is part of the lower axle assembly. the bearing seal is on the tunnel side and the o-ring is on the chain side. If the lower bearing was bad and letting in melting snow you would think that the Dealer would have caught that as well when they put in the new seal.

I have read in this forum in some cases that the bearings go bad as well. I just swapped out my track and everything looked like it should in the chain case. It sounds like you have a problem with the lower bearing seal or o-ring or maybe even the lower axle bearing to me.

if i had a trip planned i would just buy some extra chain case oil and chainge it once or twice on the trip to see if there is a problem and then deal with it when you get back.

Good luck and let us know if you discovery what the problem is. I am sure there are a few owners of 08 mtx's that would be interested in finding out the cause. :Rockon:
 
Thanks for the info. I think that's what I'll doo... Change the oil on the trip.
I will update this after the trip.
I'll keep my fingers crossed!!!
 
You will be good to go, if you change the oil before you go on the trip I think it will be good enough.
The oil does lubricate even if it is white from moisture.

For comparisment I rode about 190kilometer without chaincase oil in my brand new MTX, hit a rock and didnt think there was any damage, but the rock made a crack in my chaincase cover so all the oil leaked out, this happened on my first trip.

I changed the bearings in the cover but still run all the other bearings. However I am getting metal particles in the oil so if my package form Rich shows up tomorrow I am tearing it apart and replacing every single bearing included the needle bearings inside the sprockets. Also going to change the reverse sprocket that follows the chain all the time and the upper sprocket.


My sled now has 450km on the clocks, wonder how the oil looks!!
 
It's tough to keep out moisture. There's a rubber cap just next to the adjuster bolt that is the vent for the chaincase. It's vented just like a differential for expansion and contraction of all the metal pieces. If you ride in powder quite a bit or just short little trips you never get it hot enough to disipate the moisture. I'd run a semi or full synthetic, they don't foam as bad and don't seem to get as milky as quickly.
 
I use a 75w90 valvoline durablend and another guy I know uses shaffers semi synthetic motor oil in a 15w40. I prefer the durablend myself, just past history.
 
fiddlersgreen said:
I checked it a couple days ago....oil is like chocolate milk.
According to my experience, the chaincase oil gets quite a lot more "milky" if you are doing a lot of powder riding compared to doing only trails riding, for instance. This happens even though all of the shaft seals are new and in perfect condition. I assume that moisture finds it's way into the chaincase through the above mentioned rubber plug. After all, this rubber plug is vented (to avoid chaincase pressure build-up) and during serious powder riding, this area is usually full of snow - sometimes under quite some pressure.
The fact that the oil gets "milky" does not necessarily mean that it is no longer good. It just shows that it does at least part of it's job - to absorb moisture and other shite that enters the chaincase. If you are worried about this, my best advice would be to change the chaincase oil on a more frequent basis. And use a quality, fully synthetic motor oil. I have used motor oil for years without noticing any more wear than sleds using "proper" chaincase oil. The only thing you will notice is the massive friction reduction on a cold morning start-up...
 
fiddlersgreen said:
Should I use the 75w yamaha oil or will any weight oil do?

I use the CT synthetic 75/90 gear lube. Gold/tan bottle with black printing.
 


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