I have a 05 XL1200C, 21664 miles. I myself have only put 5000 or so miles on this bike. Have had it for about 4 months and loved every mile. I decided to take her on a short hope of 280 miles one way to my cabin in New Castel VA. So on Fri 31st I departed the flat land and headed for the hills. My first stop was after 80 miles on said trip. Put gas in the bike, had a smoke and called the wife to report things are good. Went to start the bike and the starter made a very faint click sound. Put the bike in 2nd gear and moved the engine a little and tried the starter again. This time with some hesitation it started and away I went. Stopped twice more and the same thing was happening. Got to my cabin, and the bike sat there until I left to return home Sun Sept 2nd. The return trip was uneventful, but I did take note that the clutch slipped on me twice. Each time I was hammering on the throttle getting back on the highway. Got home and put the bike in the garage right away. Went in said hello to the wife and took a long awaited shower. After about two hours I returned to the garage only to see a 2x2in puddle of oil under the bike. Upon further investigation, I could see there was oil under the starter. I used some brake cleaner and cleaned the area very well. Started the bike and let it sit for 5 min. no oil leak was detected. Took the bike out for a 9 mile ride and when I got home I could oil seeping from the engine where the two halves meet in the trans area. So to make a long story short. What is this going to take to fix?

 

What kind of oil, primary or engine? There is a transmission breather hose back there that might be burping out some oil. Seems a bit unlikely that the case mating surfaces are leaking, but I guess it's possible.

John

 

Sound like the inner primary seal, often associated with the 2 piece inner primary bearing, that can be updated to a single bearing. Instead of a solid bearing the bearings race is on the transmission input / output shaft and the actual bearing is seated in the inner primary.

Or it may be the seal between the input and output transmission shaft. Either way it's a PITA to get to. The outer primary cover is removed, all the guts inside are disassembled (compensator / clutch assembly / primary chain) and then the inner primary is removed. It takes special tools for the bearing parts to be removed and reseated. Also the compensator and clutch hub are a PITA to break loose the main nut / bolt holding them in place.

If your lucky it's an afternoon at the repair shop and a load of bucks.

If you try to fix it yourself get the service manual, buy a gasket / seal kit with everything in it but the bearing. If it's just the seal then consider that the bearing (2 piece) crap a lot and take out the seal.

You definitely need a impact driver and proper torque wrenches to go with the manual. A machine shop can address the bearing race but it's on the tranny shaft so the whole bike needs to be there for them to remove and reset that race.

Hope that helps?

 

WOW! I guess my good deal on the bike was short lived......LMAO

 

Please ignore this guys post, he either doesn't know the difference between a Big Twin and a Sportster, or he's lost. He's referring to a common Big Twin problem which is not a known Sporty issue.

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I wonder if I could get away with putting a nice strong bead of sealant over the area where it is seeping from. Or is this a stupid fix to a real problem!

 

Oil has a nasty habit of not only running, but blowing to locations on the bike/motor other that the real source of the leak when ridden.

I'd start first by doing a real good job of cleaning the underside of the motor and bike frame. Find a good size (box) fan and set it up so it's blowing across the motor for cooling, then crank the bike and let it run for 15-20 minutes, then reinspect for the leak sounce.

As said above, you may just have a breather puking oil.

As for the clutch slipping, how long has it been (in miles) since the primary/tranny oil was changed and the FULL clutch adjustment done?

Also, where does the HOT oil level measure on the dipstick? Does the bike have an oil breather bypass hose kit installed that dumps the bypass blow-by below the motor/frame?

 

Sorry John, I haven't forgotten about you! Primary oil is what is leaking. As for the transmission breather hose, it is bone dry. I too thought that was the culprit.

 

OK, then that's not a big deal to fix. Make sure first that it's not the primary drain plug that's leaking. If not, replacing the primary cover gasket is not difficult, but you will need the Service Manual.

 

I changed all the fluids when I got the bike. I also changed the starter. My initial reaction to the oil leak was the starter. But after I cleaned the area really good with brake cleaner running the bike for 5 min and then a short ride. You can clearly see the oil seeping from the engine half’s in the trans area. The deal ship wants to take a look at it today. I already know they want over a thousand dollars to do something. I just don’t have that kind of money right now.