[copperstatetour]

And the idiot of the year award goes to ... the previous owner of my 2000 K1200LT.

I have not really ridden my LT much since buying it because I have been chasing the devil through my brake system , anyway, now that it seems that battle is behind me I figured I could really start to enjoy this thing, so decided to change all the fluids so everything would be fresh.

You can imagine my surprise (and irritation) when I drained the FD and transmission only to find ATF in there :kaboom:

I refilled them with the proper lubricant as specified in the manual, but there were a few shavings on the drain plug in the transmission about 1cm in length. The FD had nothing that I would be overly concerned about (yet) based on reading many a FD failure thread.

My question is this: Do I have a FD rebuild and Transmission replacement in my future? And also what steps should I take to remedy this? Right now I put in the new fluid, and plan to run it a week or so and then drain and replace with new fluid to try and flush out any remaining ATF.

 

[CharlieVT]

You can imagine my surprise (and irritation) when I drained the FD and transmission only to find ATF in there.

It may not have been ATF. There are several brands of synthetic gear lube that are reddish in color and could easily be mistaken for ATF.

Even if it was ATF, which it probably was not, it really wouldn't hurt things.

I wouldn't worry about your tranny and FD at all. Just fill with gear lube that meets your owner's manual specifications and ride on.

 

[gary45]

in automatic car trannys there are metal gears and the final drive all running in ATF so should not be a problem and as said in above post there are red manual transmission lubricants - hard to believe someone could mistakenly put ATF in

 

[Cochinosucio]

Redline oil..... Heavy Shockproof looks like aerated ATF..

 

[Scouter-50]

And the idiot of the year award goes to ... the previous owner of my 2000 K1200LT.

I have not really ridden my LT much since buying it because I have been chasing the devil through my brake system , anyway, now that it seems that battle is behind me I figured I could really start to enjoy this thing, so decided to change all the fluids so everything would be fresh.

You can imagine my surprise (and irritation) when I drained the FD and transmission only to find ATF in there :kaboom:

I refilled them with the proper lubricant as specified in the manual, but there were a few shavings on the drain plug in the transmission about 1cm in length. The FD had nothing that I would be overly concerned about (yet) based on reading many a FD failure thread.

My question is this: Do I have a FD rebuild and Transmission replacement in my future? And also what steps should I take to remedy this? Right now I put in the new fluid, and plan to run it a week or so and then drain and replace with new fluid to try and flush out any remaining ATF.

Smell the old oil, Hypoid oil has a distinct smell. ATF smells sweet.
Robert

 

[rowie]

Smell the old oil, Hypoid oil has a distinct smell. ATF smells sweet.
Robert

+1 on this - big difference in smell. Hypoid oil has a bit of a nasty smell, ATF has a smooth sweet smell. Don't drink either though......!!

 

[copperstatetour]

The smell and viscosity is what gave it away as clearly being ATF. The good news is that it looked as though it was fairly new because it was still clear with no signs of burning that old ATF gets. With this clown that had the bike before me I have come to expect almost any type of half-arse fix on this thing - the good news is that I am finally to the point where I think I have caught all of the ones that matter, the only things left now are cosmetic ghetto fixes.

Thanks for putting my mind at ease guys, now to go out and take a ride in this lovely 104 degree heat

 

[jzeiler]

You really should not have an issue as I have seen several autos that have ATF specified for their standard transmissions. I really don't think the gears are any different.

 

[Lee510]

...now to go out and take a ride in this lovely 104 degree heat

Yeah, but it's a DRY heat! :histerica

I can't comment on the use of ATF in the tranny and FD. I have to defer to the more learned posters above. :bowdown:

 

[Reid]

Redline oil..... Heavy Shockproof looks like aerated ATF..

I always used Redline Shockproof...it's definitely red. Not to worry, I'm sure you're fine.

 

[deanwoolsey]

Not unusual to see a couple of metal threads on the transmission plug. One sloppy shift and you're there. Consider your options. 1: Drain, fill, and ride on. 2: Have the dealer "check it out". They would likely drain, fill, and test ride it. Who knows, if you had any gunk on the gears or bearings it may have actually cleaned it up. One more vote for ride it and don't worry about it. Unless you were really hitting it hard, the ATF was likely not any problem.