Damaged fork oil seals, checking cause.

just out of curiosity why whipe the wd40 off? its not going to do any harm, is it?

Originally Posted by AndyBrad

just out of curiosity why whipe the wd40 off? its not going to do any harm, is it?

Might look like an oil leak (and worry you unduly)?
Might be something for grit/carp to stick to and then rub against dust seals?

I'm guessing, mind.

Originally Posted by AndyBrad

just out of curiosity why whipe the wd40 off? its not going to do any harm, is it?

I can help dirt stick to the stantion but main reason is that you dont want WD40 going anywhere near your calipers and pads, so at the small risk of it running onto them id remove it prior to riding and apply it by putting a rag around the top of the stantion lower to trap any drips!

Originally Posted by SV650Racer

Lighter oil wont leak out any easier than 20w will. Thats an internet falacy.

More than likely as the bike has been stood the seals have torn when you moved the bike. Did you oil the seals prior to installing them?. It happens a fair bit to any used stock we have that has sat around in the showroom.

Well, I'm just speaking from my limited experience which is nothing compared to you SV650Racer so I'll bow down to your advice. I have had forks leaking from replacing with thinner oil which weren't leaking previously and at two instances I replaced with seals from aftermarket parts sold on ebay which kept on leaking. Both cases I afterwards replaced with OEM and then sealed ok. I'm just saying the facts. However I find your explanation of stood rubber having a shelf life quite credible.

Just want to confirm (want to do it 100% right this time, then not touch the forks for a couple of years! ) that the way the oil seals should go round is with the side where the circular springs are visible down, facing the oil?

Also, any tips for how best to seat the dust seals as this was the trickiest part of doing the forks for me. Thanks for all your help folks.

Bump, with regard to:
"Just want to confirm (want to do it 100% right this time, then not touch the forks for a couple of years! ) that the way the oil seals should go round is with the side where the circular springs are visible down, facing the oil?"

Any ideas?

Bloody things, they're leaking again. They were fine for about 2000-3000 miles, but are now suddenly leaking. Bike hasn't been stood unused for more than 4 days at a stretch, during this time. They were fitted with OE suzuki seals, red rubber grease on the top and a little bit of fork oil on the bottom/middle.

One of the forks has some very slight pitting, but would only cross the seal when forks are really far through their travel. Also doesn't explain why the other one is leaking.

I'm considering living with it as it is till my MOT in August and if it gets picked up then, getting the garage to fix it. My only concern is that the garage will fix it at the time and then after a few thousand miles it'll go again.

Any way that the Matris internals could be contributing to this? Zunkus, are yours okay?

[dizzyblonde]

#disclaimer I'm not advising you to do this#

Years ago I got leaky fork seals on my 125, it had not long since passed its MOT. I had been told it had been stood for a couple of years.
Bought new fork seals, friends came to fix em.....and they pulled out cotton wool. Which had been stuffed down the top to stop excess oil leaking for the MOT. I couldn't believe it.
Apparently its a rather dodgy temp fix...it worked for a while in the bike concerned!

I really can't understand why your bike is going through fork seals so quickly, I've never heard of them going so quickly after a change, just had a look at the original post, i can see its an oldish thread.

[yorkie_chris]

Yes the cotton wool/kitchen towel trick works OK to get a bike through an MOT. It doesn't work per se it just covers the problem up for a while.

The pitting could obviously be ripping the seals but I can't see how the new internals would contribute with them giving their resistance internally...

what do the seals look like? pitting can cause a seal to fail easily. Is it running through the seal under max travel? or at all? alternativly it could be being damaged on assembly. other thourghts are that the sanctions are bent pulling the seal out of round over a period of time. Lastly are they getting contaminated? whats the dust seal like? and are you packing 2 much grease around them on assembly preventing the seal from energising properly?