Rear shock remote resevoir leak - help!

[Ginjaian]

I've got an Elka rear shock on my 99 curvy, with a remote resevoir attached by a 14" long (roughly) braided steel hose, with banjo bolts each end where it connects to the shock body and the resevoir respectively. The remote resevoir has been jubilee-clipped on the right hand side luggage bungee hook (below the pillion seat), but I've always thought it looked a bit 'aftermarket' like that. So I took it into my head to move it under the seat this evening, out of the way of road dirt. However, on moving it, the angle of hose wasn't helping me get it in the right place, so I slackened off the banjo bolts just enough to change the angle of the banjos. In doing so, there was a leak (mainly from the resevoir/hose end, but a little from the shock/hose end) of about a half a thimble of oil, before I was able to do the banjo bolts back up.

My worry is, is this enough to effect the damping? The resevoir has a Schraeder valve on the end of it, but I assume this is for gassing up the resevoir. It could be that I just need to take it to someone who can top up the gas if the pressure has dropped, as I assume that over time they expect these things to lose a little air and oil anyway. There's no obvious place to top up the damper with oil. Has this just cost me a rebuild?!

[Sid Squid]

Hmmmm...

I can definitely say; it depends. If it really was a tiny bit of oil then it'll probably be OK, (if not recommended obviously!). However as the reservoir has a floating piston in it that separates the oil and the pressurising gas, and the volumes concerned are small so any loss of fluid or gas can make a sizeable change in the pressure.
When riding does the suspension appear affected? If no then I'd say you'd got away with it.

A note of caution: Shocks such as yours are pressurised with an inert gas at, typically, several hundred PSI. If it isn't right then don't be tempted to mess about with yourself.

[Ginjaian]

Thanks Sid, that's pretty much what I thought. I had a quick ride this morning (in the rain :() taking it up for it's MOT, and it felt much as it did for the 250 miles I rode in glorious sunshine at the weekend. However, I wasn't really pushing it, so it's hard to tell if it was much different. I have no intention of messing around with it any more, I realised is was under high pressure. I wish I hadn't bothered moving it now! Though it does look neater with it tucked away - that's my OCD taking control again. I think once the bike has passed the MOT I'll take it over to JHS (he sold me the shock last Autumn) and get his opinion.

[yorkie_chris]

Nah it's f##ked. I'll give you a tenner for it.

[Ginjaian]

Nah it's f##ked. I'll give you a tenner for it.
Ha ha, it's poke the newbie time. Fortunately, I've been reading this forum far longer than I've been posting, so your cheeky northern sense of humour is wasted on me. However, I have a cheque here for £10,000 pounds from the Bank of Nigeria, if you could put it in your bank and send me £5000, you can keep the other £5000 and I'll send you the shock. PM me your full name, address, bank account details, date of birth and mother's maiden name, and I'll send it straight to you.

[to self]
Damn, I've written this in far too good English, he's bound to smell a rat :mrgreen:

I managed to ride home without falling off, and the MOT tester didn't notice any problem, so like Sid said, I think I've got away with it, but I'll get it checked over when I get the chance.