• Welcome to the BMW R18 Forums. Member registration disables ads and allows you to post and share. Register Here.

Steering head leaking grease

  • <i class="fa--xf fal fa-check "><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" role="img" aria-hidden="true" ><use href="/data/local/icons/light.svg?v=1789222567#check"></use></svg></i> Discussion starter Discussion starter Bwana
  • Start date Start date
Bwana

Bwana

Active member
Joined
Jun 16, 2022
Messages
186
Location
Space Coast, FL.
Visit site
Bike
R18 FE (Factory Roland Sands Edition), 2017 Indian Scout Icon Edition
So I came home from a 45 minute ride and parked the bike in the garage and went in to change and grab a drink. 20 minutes later I head back out to the garage and see a large yellow glob on the right side of the oil cooler shroud. I look up and there is a thin line of grease and large glob of grease on the pivot line of the steering head. Now to be honest I saw a thin line around the head before but never paid it any mind. So a quick call to the dealer to discuss and they said bring her in just to be safe. A call to roadside (and an 1.5 hour wait) and in she goes. The dealer took everything apart and didn't find any issues. So they cleaned out all the grease, put in the recommended amount of new grease and torqued to factory spec. The only thing they can think of is the factory put in too much grease! So far so good.

As an aside I asked for the latest firmware to be installed. It took over 14 hours! :oops: Bummer BMW won't tell the techs what was updated.
 
A case of another BMW NASA secret…Bummer BMW won't tell the techs what was updated Lol. Not in the same vain though reminds me of the prior throttle sticking issues with Toyotas. Not at all related other then both involed tech.

Gald they got the grease issue squared away.
 
Check older threads before starting a new one. The answer for this issue is already in this forum, somewhere
 
Is it very hot where you live? .. 'round here it's @ 100º for the past 2 months and mine has not leaked out much .. there is a little seep coming from the lower bearing and I can see the grease like in the picture above, but it never oozed out ... very odd. I agree with your theory that they may have over-packed it at the factory.
I think will keep an eye on mine.
... oh and as for the 'software update' I thought mine took long (@4 hours) ... but reading how long yours took ... I guess mine was a 'quick' one :)
 
Ulrich said:
Is it very hot where you live? .. 'round here it's @ 100º for the past 2 months and mine has not leaked out much .. there is a little seep coming from the lower bearing and I can see the grease like in the picture above, but it never oozed out ... very odd. I agree with your theory that they may have over-packed it at the factory.
I think will keep an eye on mine.
... oh and as for the 'software update' I thought mine took long (@4 hours) ... but reading how long yours took ... I guess mine was a 'quick' one :)
Click to expand...
Ambient is about 92F. So in the garage it is certainly higher.

Yea, the time for the firmware updates is mind boggling.
 
Bwana said:
Ambient is about 92F. So in the garage it is certainly higher.
Click to expand...
So .. on average a little lower then around here .. well poo there goes that theory ... leaves me to believe that it may have been over-packed initially ... well it is messy .. but at least not harmful.
 
I am a little surprised there's not a seal of some sort for the lower head bearings.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top