I use castrol 20W50 in the motor and HD primary/Tranny.
When my 1998 is on the jiffy stand, after a couple of days there will be maybe 2 or 3 small drops of oil on the ground. This only started a couple of months ago. I have noticed that the less lean on the bike, the lesser the drops., so I prop it up a little now. I suspect a shifter seal or something between the inner primary case and the tranny as it appears to be coming down the back of the inner primary.
I have checked the fluids and they appear fine, I change them every 3k miles so they are all in excellent condition, but this fluid is dark.
I cant determine which fluid it is....so finally here is my question. Can you recomend a transmission fluid that has a color like red? I am figuring if I put UV dye in the primary, red tranny and regular engine oil I should be able to have a better idea which fluid it is. I have a feeling I am going to be pulling off the primary in the next few months and replacing all the seals, but I still hate not knowing what the fluid is.

Thanks Guys.

 

BTT for the weekend crew....

 

Dark color is most likely engine oil. Catch a drop in a cup if you can smell and taste can help you figure it out

 

clean everything under there with brake cleaner and a rag....the cleaner the better...then put baby powder or talc powder on a clean rag...plenty of it...puff it around where you think the leak is coming from...this will help you pin point the source....

 

Someone told me about the talc and I thought he was yanking my chain..will give it a try.

Whats getting me is the fluid looks like it is old, like oil that is way past its prime. Level in my oil tank is fine and it is much cleaner and more viscous.

should engine oil taste different to tranny fluid, what should it taste like :-)

 

Redline shockproof best tranny oil

 

Find the source....have you done anything different lately...used a different cleaner, or cleaning procedure... maybe it was spilled on the top somewhere???

 

it concerns me that it only happens when the bike is leaning on the jiffy. if i put a piece of wood under the jiffy, decreasing the lean i dont see any drops. The only thing different is that I dont use stock HD 20W50 any more, since I was out of work, the last 2 oil changes i used Castrol 20W50 from Walmart. Primary and tranny are from HD dealer, bought a few a whiel ago. Bike is behaving fine and when I check the fluids I cannot detect any loss.....

 

thats why I was thinking get a red tranny fluid and I dont know.. maybe UV dye in the primary. then I can distinguish each of them.

does that make sense?

 

I wouldn't put castrol in my hd

Amsoil oil study II

If u don't wanna read the entire study, look at the last comparison chart on pg 24.
Amsoil is pricey, so I run Mobil 1 syn.