Front brake fluid leak?

[zi3jermyn]

First I want to thank all the members here for all the helpful info and how-to's that I have found on this site. I maintain that this is the best community of any forum that I have found.

But now I am asking for a little advice. I went out for a ride today and noticed that there was some fluid on the right side of my front tire and wheel. The color and consistency was that of the brake fluid. I checked the brake fluid levels and all was good. Wiped everything off and took slowly up and down the street doing some stress tests on the front brake. The brakes felt fine and the front fork travel was normal and felt fine as well, but when I stopped there was more fluid spatter on the wheel. I took off both the front calipers and could not find any signs of leakage. I also bled the front brakes, but still found some minor leakage after a few hard front brakes at slow speeds, nothing comes out after front braking when the bike is stationary.

I'm thinking its time for new caliper seals on the front end, might even do ss lines while I am at it. Any thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks and sorry for the wall of text.

 

[motojoe122]

Double check around all the seals, etc.
When I changed my front brake pads, the caliper bleed screws leaked due to dirt in the threads. I flushed the brakes again and cleared it out, also, it may have been residual oil left over after removing the tubing from the bleed screw. One other thing to check, if you tighten the screws for the master cylinder too tight it will warp the lid and allow oil to seep out.

 

[zi3jermyn]

Thanks, I'll check it out. I did notice some small bubbling around the threads of the bleed screw when I put the dust cover back on so I was thinking that may be the culprit too, but I did not see any signs of leakage anywhere around it.

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

If you give the bike a quick wash to the forks and good dry, then go for a ride. Hopefully it is indeed, just the bleeder screw.

Sprinkle some baby powder in the area, it should stick to any area that's wet with any fluids.

Also, check around the fork seals, make sure you don't have anything running down the fork leg. A hard stop, (if the fork seal is bad or have crap in it), will allow fork oil to pass the seal and run down the fork...

Good luck and please post what you find..

 

[fb40dash5]

I'm betting you're seeing fork oil, not brake fluid. If brake fluid were leaking, it should be readily apparent everywhere but at the pistons (since you can't easily see them all mounted up) and if it were the pistons, you'd have wet pads and really crappy braking. Likewise, the reservoir is pretty small, to the point even a small leak that's enough to see would make it low.

If you've got enough fluid to get a finger wet, wipe some up and onto a cheap piece of plastic something. DOT4 is horribly corrosive to paint and plastic.

 

[Nelly]

Definitely worth checking fork seals, I had a very similar leak from my left fork.

Neil:thumbup:

 

[zi3jermyn]

So I washed the bike today from top to bottom and dried the front end. Took her out for a little spin with a few hard stops and worked the forks a little and did not see any fluid anywhere. Maybe it was some dirt in the bleeder screws or around the fork seals that needed to be worked out. Took a longer ride (~2 hrs) and still nothing, so it looks like everything is good.

Thanks guys.

 

[motojoe122]

Glad it worked for you and thanks for posting your results:thumbup: