Hi everybody I'm a new Harley owner and have a oil leak at the primary cover. This is on a 2000 FLHTC. It looked like it was leaking around the drain plug area. So I changed the gasket and used teflon tape on the plug. No good. It doesn't leak while sitting only after a ride. Wipe off the oil and it stays dry. Seems to me it's leaking somewhere else and just flows toward the plug when on the kick stand. Any ideas??

 

Might have to put it on a lift to see the source. Could be leaking from the tranny. If yer willing to try a little experiment, it might be easier to pinpoint. Drain the primary and refill it with ATF. The different color will make it easier to spot. The ATF won't hurt anything; I usually run it in my primary.

 

May be the inner primary seal behind the clutch. A couple of fellow riders have had this happen recently.

 

My vote is also for a leaking inner primary seal. Leaks from this seal are all too common.
Unfortunately, the seal is cheap, but getting it re & re'd is not.

 

Had a leak lkke that as well....turned out to be the derby cover wasn't seating well. The cover had somehow gotten slightly warped.

 

Something you can do by tracing the leak back, is by using tissue/toilet paper in suspected areas untill you find the source.

Good luck.

 

Sounds like you need a new motorcycle. Bring it to me, and I'll trade you for a vstar 650 with a couple hundred from you for boot, of course.

Normally how I find leaks, is to first clean the area up using degreaser, carb cleaner etc. Then I blow baby powder around the suspected area. Crank her up and check it out, or let it sit in this case. Good luck.

 

Good suggestions from every one

 

tranny seal for sure ....very common among softails....seal cheap labour at harley dealer about 2 and 1/2 hrs......I hope this helps. my brand new fat boy leaked from there. It was fixed right away no problems since and the only problem I have had with the bike.

 

Underdog, a bunch of different places you could be leaking from. In the inner primary there is 5 bolts that can allow leakage. The gasket could be gone between the inner and outer primary, you could have a leak between the lower end and the inner primary, you could have bad threads on the discharge bolt, or the gaskets could be gone on the clutch inspection cover or the chain inspection cover.

If it's bad, pull it all apart, reseal every bolt with RTV black with silicone, new gaskets and O rings. If it's only cosmetic, wipe it with a rag every couple of days and ride on.