Oil leak?

[2wheelover51]

Well I went out for a run on the Shadow this morning. On the way back a dear old lady pulled straight out in front of me from a side road, and I had to brake so hard I felt the rear lock up. when I pulled alongside and pointed to my eyes then to her, she gave me a lovely big smile, she obviously thought I was just being friendly..
When I got home I noticed oil had come out of the Shadows drive shaft breather and there was some on the rear tyre. I checked the level and about 40 or 50 cc's came out of the level plug, so not really overfilled. I went out again on it and no further leaks so it must have been caused by the hard braking.

[Ralph]

Depending on how much oil it holds it could be quit a bit over full percentage wise,
though I would keep a close eye on it.

[2wheelover51]

Thanks Ralph. Yes you're quite right it's only 150ccs, so it was a bit overfull. I'm just surprised it happened though as I've had other shaft drive bikes and never had this happen. Mind you I have filled those myself, whereas the Shadow is still relatively new to me.

[Ralph]

Can the breather be easily removed?
if so have a look it may have a ball valve
and it could be stuck open.

[2wheelover51]

No there's no ball valve, just a chrome-plated domed cover on top of the tube.

[kayz1]

***just a chrome-plated domed cover on top of the tube****

Yes but very often there will be a ball in it, sat in a small counter sink/depression, to keep the crud out.
Any rise in internal pressure will lift the small ball to release it, ball drops back into counter sink..
Just a thought, if the tube can be pulled/screwed out may be worth doing and a qwik clean.
Lyn.

[2wheelover51]

Ah, that makes sense. So further exploration is needed. The Haynes manual shows nothing about the casing or breather, only the internal gears, and on the exploded diagram I saw on a dealers site (I can't remember which now) it showed the domed breather caps for sale, but gave no further details. Does anyone know, does the dome thing just pull off?

[2wheelover51]

Well I pulled the cover off with a pair of mole grips and there's no ball inside, it's just an empty cap with a tube part.
If there's a ball it must be in the cast-in casing tube, but it didn't look like there was. There was some dirt in the cap, and what looked like a small spiders web!
It's just strange that it managed to leak so much oil out. I'll have to keep an eye on it.