NESCO LEAK

[SQ4MN]

Friday I rode the BH to BIG BEAR lake in southern Calif. A distance of only about 500 miles round trip. The traffic normally travels between 80 and 90 mph on that freeway as the first hundred miles is just across a desert. The BH is perfect on trips like that so I was cruising around 85 or 90 most of the way. After my bike had been parked for a few hours I noticed some oil on the ground under the swingarm on the side the bike leans to when on the stand. Normally there is no oil leaks at all from that bike so I knew something was up. After inspecting it closer the leak was found. It was coming out of the neutral switch wires that exit the rear of the trans through a right angle brass hose fitting. Another MICKEY MOUSE design or afterthought on the amazing NESCO. I had filled that hose fitting that the wires exit the transmission from several years ago with silicon in an attempt to stop the same leak. It's worked for about 5 years but finally the oil and heat took its toll on the old silicon and the high speed cruising just finished it off. Part of the reason it leaked I believe was my fault (FIRST TIME EVER) since I had put on a more restrictive breather at the last oil change. It was a bronze pointed plug that was like an aquarium stone that lets air out as bubbles in a fish tank. It seemd to get clogged with oil and was way more restrictive than when it was new. In any case I cleaned up the mickey mouse brass hose fitting and filled it with some high tech silicon rubber again, then changed the breather back to a 3/8 hose that goes up to a loop and then exits under the bike, no bronze thing a mabob any more. Of course I had to deal with making sure the oil level was correct which means trying to see thru the opaque plastic tube they call a sight glass and getting the level between the two lines. Some say the level should be while the bike runs in gear, some say while its running in neutral, some say with it off, there are many different opinions of exactly where the level should be. I use the one my friend Tommy Chadwell told me to use. I just took the bike out for a 100 mph run to Boulder City to see if I could make it leak. It seemed to work as there isn't any more leak. I hope to get another 4 or 5 years out of it before it has to be done again. Does anybody know if the later NESCO transmissions changed the design where the wires leave the transmission case or is it still the same as my 2003. All in all its still a great bike even with something to bitch about once in a while.

[petitemoose]

I think you for the post! Mine has been puddling after longer rides for the past three months and have not been able to chase it out. I now know where to look. Rock On

[SQ4MN]

Thats a common leak on these things. When you do fix it make sure your breather is as unrestrictive as possible or the trans will also use the wire opening as a breather.

[SRF]

Later transmission do not have that elbow anymore, the bikes with gear indicators have a new design connector.

Shane

[petitemoose]

Well, that wasn't it. Oil everywhere all over the case except around that fitting. I had the original Stone vent still in place so I removed it and installed a remote crank case vent filter I had sitting on the shelf. The filter housing is located up by the Distributor and is connected via 3/8 Hose.
I remember Paul telling me to make that swap very soon after I got the scoot but it never made a mess until recently. The tranny was rebuilt with the 2012 upgrades right before I took delivery so maybe that had something to do with it not making a mess for a while. We will see as I used two cans of brake cleaner to get it all oil free and clean once again. If it returns, I will continue searching.

While I had the cover off, I went ahead and swapped out the fuse panel with the Blue Seas 5029 I received yesterday.Couple hours later and I was done with the factory wiring. Tomorrow I will clean up the mess from all the aftermarket stuff that was done and mess with the HID Projector Fog Lights I got. Can't have too much light IMO.

Not intending to thread jack ... Glad you got your leak found and fixed!

[V-MAN]

Dave -

My Boss was a 2003 also and I had same issue with mine. I basicly did exactly what you have done, I used brake cleaner to clean the hole up real good and then filled the hole with a good RTV. It stayed sealed for a long time and think I only resealed it one other time??? I also pulled the vent plub on top of trans on right side and replaced with a barbed brass fitting. From the barb I ran a 3/8 rubber fuel line up along the frame to under the tank where I attached the end to a K&N Crankcase vent like this



I never cleaned that filter ever ... I guess because it was running up any oil that may have been expelled from trans drained via gravity back into transsmission when shut down. That's my theory anyway ...


Don

[V-MAN]

While I had the cover off, I went ahead and swapped out the fuse panel with the Blue Seas 5029 I received yesterday.Couple hours later and I was done with the factory wiring. Tomorrow I will clean up the mess from all the aftermarket stuff that was done and mess with the HID Projector Fog Lights I got. Can't have too much light IMO.

Not intending to thread jack ... Glad you got your leak found and fixed!

I bought my BH new from a dealer that is no longer a BH dealer ... he never should have been.

My wiring was a total mess from the start, I've seen other bikes that look the same, some worse. Most of the bikes where the wiring is neatly and correctly run was either done by the owner after purchase or a dealer that spends the time before delivery to "redo" the wiring right. I rewired my entire bike while swapping fuse panels and cleaning the rats nest up. I used all weather pack fittings on my bike ... after I finished I never had an electrical issue. The weather packs also made pulling the bike apart for whatever reason was much simpler too. It's one of those things that doesn't cost alot of money but takes time to do everything right but worth it in the end.

[Ric]

The pic below is a shot of the Sintered brass breather fitting that came with the stock 2006 transmission on the upper side of the transmission behind the right side cover NOTE: the 3/8" hose behind my fingers… which now leads behind the framework from a hose barbed fitting to now under the gas tank to a similar style breather fitting as Don mentioned. That sintered fitting always left the top of the tranny and that clear plasting level gauge that Dave mentioned filthy dirty.




The next pic is a view of the type of filter that will make it's way under the gas tank, but although it looks like it's going on the right side of the distributor…. it best fit on the left side…. We have a little less room around the distributor under the Big Block's under the tank. It's pretty cramped under there.

[Swiss V8]

The pic below is a shot of the Sintered brass breather fitting that came with the stock 2006 transmission on the upper side of the transmission behind the right side cover NOTE: the 3/8" hose behind my fingers… which now leads behind the framework from a hose barbed fitting to now under the gas tank to a similar style breather fitting as Don mentioned. That sintered fitting always left the top of the tranny and that clear plasting level gauge that Dave mentioned filthy dirty.

The next pic is a view of the type of filter that will make it's way under the gas tank, but although it looks like it's going on the right side of the distributor…. it best fit on the left side…. We have a little less room around the distributor under the Big Block's under the tank. It's pretty cramped under there.

I have about the same installation on the SB and the BB.
I only use a closed diesel filter instead of the open K&N Filter shown by Don.
No oily tranny or tire anymore!

[SQ4MN]

That sintered brass fitting is what I had also. It seems we all did the same fix which is sanitary and what the factory should have done. It seems all the older bikes had the rats nest wiring, I think the newer ones are more sanitary. One thing about doing the little upgrades on any bike is you become familiar with it and the improvements make it seem like so much of a better bike. You actually become kind of proud of it and feel like without your magic touch it wasn't much good. I learned a lot when I first came around on the other board about problems and fixes. Most all the bikes were older bikes and had plenty of problems. I wasn't very happy with all the factory flaws that in reality were not that hard to fix. Most upgrades can be done in your own garage and afterwords you end up with a pretty nice bike. I think the newer ones are lots better but thats only because I don't here anybody complaining like in the old days. Back then it seems like someones transmission was breaking every few weeks. Fuel pumps mounted on a hot bell housing caused vapor locking and failures. There was a guy named Carburator Mike that rebuilt and modified the carbs bikes and everybody I knew swore they had a new bike when he got done, he's still around but now a days everyting is fuel injected. I can't count the number of fuse block upgrades there were. There were plenty of posts about routing fuel ines so that the tank could be raised. Even the side panel attachments failed all the time and then Barry sold some special bolts he had machined to go into the frame which cured the problem. The transmissions had no temp gauge and they ran to hot. There were fixes and ways to use the existing water temp gauge to read both water and trans temps. There were extra tanks and special coolers made and sold to get the trans temps down. These were all subjects that came up in depth on the other board constantly that helped us owners upgrade our bikes and make them more fun and reliable. I wasn't very impressed with the factory as all those things could and should have been solved before the bikes left the factory with parts or design changes. I don't know about the new ones but Gila has one and loves it and Sonny has one and loves it, you don't hear of so many problems today. I still love mine and swear by it as a reliable cross country cruiser. My Chopper is my hot rod and show bike.

[Ric]

I can be ranked among the 'Can't leave well enough alone' crowd. What leads me to many of the modifications most do on here is the high miles I put on the bike. The times I had to trailer it home because I didn't have the tools to fix it up on the side of the road. So, I've modified and changed many things to improve operation, and ease of maintenance. I want to be able to fix in a day, what before would migrate into a weeks worth of work.

I have NO complaints about Boss Hoss, nor the factory. Any quirks or foibles I had to address made me savvy enough to initiate repairs on my own. I am now in the process of rewiring the last of the rat's nests… and numbering wires with special heat shrink tubing where I can print wire numbers/info right on the heat shrink. Less goofing around when I search out electrical demons. I'm switching to the Blue Sea system others have. (Not fussy about the lack of water-tite cover though). I'm also making, fabbing, changing, and creating useless parts for my bike for visual effect now. It's all good. And I'll keep this very Boss Hoss until they throw dirt on my grave.

[hogv8]

Just an idea , on my blue seas fuse box cover I cut pieces of foam rubber and fit the foam into all the crevices in the back of the cover . It doesn't make it water proof but it works excellent at keeping dust and the like out of the fuse's and wire connection area .

[SQ4MN]

"I have NO complaints about Boss Hoss, nor the factory. Any quirks or foibles I had to address made me savvy enough to initiate repairs on my own."

Rick, its a damn shame everyone doesn't have your attitude. If they did you could sell them a heating and air conditioning system for at least twice what its worth and it could just work most of the time or maybe some of the time and when it did it could put out heat pretty good unless you really turned it up to max and then it would be a crapshoot if it worked much longer after that. Its belts and pulleys could make lots of noise but the owner could get on the roof and put soap on them and maybe fix it for awhile. It could short out and when the owner looked in the unit he would be amazed at the amount and nest of wires he would find and when he finally traced it to a fuse box that was such a piece of shit all the fuses were shook loose by its cheap design. He goes to order parts for the transmission that makes everything spin but finds some parts are not available to owners and can only be fixed by shipping the unit to an authorized dealer. When he gets the bill he finds that his neighbors whole unit didn't cost as much as the part that makes his unit spin. He still loves you though and even buys a shirt with RICKS HEATING/AC on it and while he was at you SOLD him some sort of straps to keep the unit from raising up to far as the springs the unit is mounted on don't really work very well. Your customer's starting to become a pretty good mechanic on heating and airconditioning but he realizes that this thing may require a lot more attention than he first thought when he purchased it. He even keeps a bunch of tools and certain spare parts on the roof so that he might not have to get up and down so many times but he's never sure if he has the needed parts and tools on the roof or not. He never complains to you and he even brags about his heating and ac unit to others when they're at his house and its nice and warm. Yea its to bad everybody doesn't have your attitude, well maybe I'm wrong there are plenty of people with it. Since you being the owner of the company realize that now many of your customers are becoming "savvy enough to initiate repairs on their own" you are considering selling some sort of RICKS HEATING/AC certificate/diploma that will let others benefit from their HANDS ON experience. There becomes a whole forum about RICKS HEATING/AC where its considered almost a sin if somebody says they're not as hot or not as cold as any other brand. Nobody complains to you about anything and if they complain on the forum they're some sort of whiner and misfit and have to join another forum where the truth can be told and everybody accepts each others opinions even if it differs from theres. In the end everyone finally gets all the little flaws worked out of RICKS HEATING/AC and the units work as well or better than when you made them. They all stay warm or cool after that and live happily ever after. RICKS HEATING/AC sells its units all over the world and RICK kind of retires and lets someone else run things, the new guys never heard of any problems, I asked him.

[Carl La Fong]

On the back of the T shirt it says,
"THIS IS THE FIRST TIME THAT IT HAS HAPPENED!!"
and, if you complain, people, who have no dog in the fight, come out of their hidey holes and call you a bully or tell the world that you don't like anything that wasn't your idea or demand that you be banned to the deepest reaches of the netherworld for all eternity.
But, seriously, I like that sort of compliant attitude, as well.
Can I borrow a few grand until I get my settlement? Also, my wife has been a bit peckish lately, so could I take yours out for a few drinks and............well, you know?!??!
Boom Chicka Wah Wah
OK, it's time for my meds

[Ric]

You made my day Dave!

I'm having T-shirts made up tomorrow. Indeed, I've actually had customers who've tried to fix their own A/C's, and report balefully to me that they 'Let the air out, somehow'. And to add to the analogy… I DID go onto one particular roof top unit that had two brand new refrigeration compressors on the roof … upon asking the customer about them - he reports that he bought spares for those rare times we have any sort of hot spell in Canada… he didn't want to be left waiting for a company like mine to order one. Pretty intuitive, I'd say… Hahahaha…… errr, wait….. Ummm… I pack spare parts when riding my bike… so I guess I can strike that fellow of my 'moron list'. LOL

An interesting part about owning said Boss Hoss with no complaints to Factory is… as mentioned, I DID get pretty good at chasing down electrical demons, and frustrated over parts that either should have had a field adjustability, or a way to drain the system, etc. Being a somewhat hamfisted tech guy, I do enjoy the 'tinkering' and inventing on these V8 bikes. I'm pretty lucky, however, because there are now only three dealers in this entire country, and one of them is only a six hour drive from me. Parts ordered, show up at a decent timeframe. And the day I call Barry for stuff, it's on the bus to me that day, for next day pick up. No worries there.

On a different note, I'm guessing that forums like this may have some influence on changes that BH Factory incorporates into their newer machines. Many of the guys 'n gals that have stared at a factory foible scratching their heads may too have wondered… "What the heck were they thinking? How do I even get AT the worn out widget!?" Again, the varying and intuitive ideas of some of the techies on here made the transition fairly painless.

One other idea you also sparked Dave is… I too should start up a website for DIY homeowners to fix their own A/C's … for an 'Online Assistance' fee of course.

[SQ4MN]

Rick, I knew you would read my post eventually and get a laugh. It was all in fun, but I am still amazed at how none of us complain (including me) to the factory. I bitch and moan on here but even if someone agrees, which is seldom other than LaFong, nobody complains to or badmouths the factory. Like you I enjoy tinkering with the BH even if I bitch. Its something I miss on the Chopper. Maybe I should take that back, I did design the luggage rack and made a little exhaust pipe guard for it. I did bitch to Stan but he said he never heard of that being a problem before, If you do make a shirt send me one and I'll wear it proudly.