frogeye

I have two or three year old alivio 3x9 bar shifters which are exuding grease. They have actually worked very well, but the grease seems to be a bad omen. Does the grease indicate an impending blowup and is there any real way to relube it?
dan

fietsbob

clean off the over greasing and add just a little, back ..

Im working blind so that is all I can offer short of physically inspecting them in person.

Andrew R Stewart 

Have the shifters ever been serviced? Lube added? It should not be hard to remove the shifter's covers and then inspect the internals. If they look dry of lube and the ratchet sounds are real metallic (no lube softening the ratchet's engagement) then adding lube is a good idea. Heavy oil or thin light grease. If the internals look well lubed then replace the covers and be happy that only the extra lube was being pushed out of the insides.

If in doubt take the bike to a service oriented shop and ask their assessment. The most common issue with indexed shifters is that the lube gets dried out over time and the remaining "lube" becomes gummy/sticky. Then the small ratchet pawls don't freely pivot and engage the ratchet wheel. The shifter won't stay where you've moved it to or won't release. We don't see many shifters that "blow up". Rarely we see ones who's central pivot shaft's lock nuts have loosened up. Andy.

lopek77

Wow...that is the first time I hear about maintenance of shifters other than taking it apart to replace cable. I'm riding year long from 14F to 100F and I never greased them. I'm "flooding" my bike when I wash it, water drips from every crank and cranny, including shifters. The original grease holds perfectly and I never ever thought about greasing that part.
To the OP, just wipe whatever is leaking out and keep riding! lol