Modern Vespa

betty has developed a worrying symptom - a small amount of oil is leaking from underneath the transmission cover, around one of the bolts. i'm guessing this isn't engine oil, it is thicker and darker ... what is it? transmission oil?

i just noticed it this morning, after getting to work. the scoot had been sitting for about an hour when i went back out to get something out of the topcase. not much oil, but it's definitely leaking.

can i ride her home or will i have to leave her at work?

its probably an oil seal for your gear oil thats gone.

i rode my old 50 about for ages with it leaking gear oil out the back. i just topped it up and cleaned it until i could afford to get it fixed.

Stupid tip, but check your oil filter to make sure it's not rattling off.

nope, it's not ... it was the first thing i checked. cheers anyway.

I would believe it is hub oil.

Darker, because it collects dust from the air.

I had this problem on my GTS after about 10K miles. It was fixed (the seal was replaced), and the repair cost would have been under $50, if it hadn't been under warranty.

In my case it was the seal of the driven pulley axle, between the wet hub and the dry tranny side. I was told that Piaggio recommends to keep the hub oil level at min (and check more often), to reduce the oil "pressure" on the seal (actually, gravity would be the only pressure-creating force there).

those seals are so fragile its unbelievable.

the seal could have deteriorated after 9 years.

cheers suit scoot and moped. indeed the oil is very dark, almost black, definitely not engine oil. we're going to be checking over the transmission next week when she goes in for her MOT and new shock, so we'll sort this out at the same time. some of her five previous owners haven't been very careful (if the state of the body panels is any indication) so a deteriorated oil seal wouldn't surprise me at all.

Genie.. maybe something's in the air as my GTS started doing the same thing yesterday!

The leak is coming from around one of the bolts in the sump so it's engine oil and the paper sump gasket has gone.

It's in for a warranty job on Monday!

it was a full moon on wednesday. i blame everything wierd on that, including the misbehaviour of dogs

Genie, by any chance have you fueled up lately? Possibly the evap hose. The ET4 is very touchy about spillover into the evap line and into the air filter.

It could cause rough idling or trouble starting but if it is only a small amount of fuel into the air filter you can get run off without a noticeable drop in performance.