Tooled around on my 1998 Electra Glide today to get it warmed up and stretch its legs a bit, and I noticed after riding an oil leak that appeared to be coming from the primary gasket at first, which really peaved me off since I just changed it last week to try and address this same leak...but upon further inspection I found this vent hose that appears to be for the transmission (behind the primary) spitting oil down the back of the primary and running along the bottom of it, and the path of oil from here was clearly the leak this whole time.

Now that I know what it is, I checked the service manual and maybe I missed it, but there was no mention of this hose. I'm going to guess it's an overflow?? I have a picture of me holding it below (pic taken from transmission diptstick side of bike). Wondering what could be causing it to spit oil? I'm quite ertain that the transmission wasnt overfilled when I changed the oil. Any other issues or causes for this? If it was one drop it wouldn't bug me much, but after parking it drops quite a few drops of oil, and I only rode for maybe 30 mins. The hose runs up, then curves and points down tot he ground behind back of the primary.

 

It's a vent for transmission and primary. How did you check transmission dip stick? What did you level primary fluid too?

 

Yep that's the vent tube for your transmission.
Looks like an upside down J.
If you put more than 26oz into your transmission then you over filled it.

 

Transmission level I checked upright as per service manual. Primary fluid is exactly one bottle of Harley Formula +

I will have to check tomorrow on the bottle to see how much I filled it with.

 

Do the check again. Bike upright off stand unless stick says different. Then stick screwed out with it resting on top . Primary is bike level thru derby cover with fluid only up to the outer ring on clutch spring ring. (or amount if drained)

Could be a seal has gone bad in engine dumping engine oil in primary, then it can get pushed into transmission to over fill it.. Have seen first time people get the drain plugs confused on bottom and either overfill or actually leave transmission dry when they did not realize they drained it.

I would think the transmission would need to be too full for it to come out of that vent. A leak can get blown all over the place. Best probably to get it cleaned up. Check all levels, and short drives till you spot leak. On a 98, over the years, enough mist could have got in that hose, ran down and made a few drips. If it had been really coming from the hose, believe some would have blown back up outside of it.

 

In addition to the suggestions by Texas and Rip, pull the hose off and make sure there is nothing blocking it.

 

Will check again today. I definitely didnt get the fluids mixed up when filling, a lot more came from the engine then the transmission when draining them lol

Primary was level with clutch spring upon filling, transmission could swear I followed spec, but I might have overfilled.

What really worries me is the possible deal gone bad. I have built engines for drag cars before, but the diagnosing of where it could be an issue (if it is) has me a little worried. Hoping it's just overfill and it stops this soon

 

If it was blocked though how would anything make it's way out of the hose?

 

If the hose is blocked or maybe a better word restricted it would build up pressure in there. Then when enough pressure has built up it pukes.

WP

 

Usually it doesn't take all the 26 oz. I use less and I put in to where it goes on the dipstick that's it