To ride or not to ride (with fork oil leak)?

[metallicat]

I have mentioned is before, and done some research but I'd love to open up to the whole gang...

One of my forks has been leaking and partshark has been taking its sweet time shipping the new hardware. I'd love to join this weekends ride but it would be about 300 or more miles. It's not gushing but very clearly leaking but not getting into the brakes. Oh, and sealmate showed there was no debris or anything...

Thoughts?

 

[Nelly]

I have mentioned is before, and done some research but I'd love to open up to the whole gang...

One of my forks has been leaking and partshark has been taking its sweet time shipping the new hardware. I'd love to join this weekends ride but it would be about 300 or more miles. It's not gushing but very clearly leaking but not getting into the brakes. Oh, and sealmate showed there was no debris or anything...

Thoughts?

How many times did you bounce the forks after using the sealmate? You need to do it 3 or 4 times and really bounce it off the stops.

Nelly

 

[FinalImpact]

Use your best judgment on this. Not that the Fiz offers such great damping that instant loss of damping in one fork would cause a crash but should one tube be rendered "ineffective" and the other faced to do the brunt of the work, you could find the ride quality and braking stability compromised substantially.

If its gushing at a high rate I'd park it. If it puddles only after setting I might roll the dice and ride.
At a minimum, fill it above full by a few mm compared to the NOT leaking fork and go (caps come off easy, oil is cheap). You could ziptie an absorbent cloth to the fork tube to reduce mess.

Be safe!

 

[Erci]

My biggest concern would be oil dripping onto brake pads. When you say "very clearly leaking", do you mean you see a ring of oil on the stanchion or do you mean you can see it running all the way down the fork leg?

 

[outasight20]

I rode for months with a slow fork oil leak and never had an issue. When I finally changed the seals and oil I was surprised at just how little oil I had lost.

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

I have mentioned is before, and done some research but I'd love to open up to the whole gang...

One of my forks has been leaking and partshark has been taking its sweet time shipping the new hardware. I'd love to join this weekends ride but it would be about 300 or more miles. It's not gushing but very clearly leaking but not getting into the brakes. Oh, and sealmate showed there was no debris or anything...

Thoughts?

You could always zip tie a nice, absorbent hand towel just below the fork leg seal to catch any oil that may come out. It should hold quite a bit of fork oil before becoming saturated...

BTW, you did pull the dust seal up(and out of the way) and used the "Sealmate" on the actual oil seal?

 

[metallicat]

How many times did you bounce the forks after using the sealmate? You need to do it 3 or 4 times and really bounce it off the stops.

Nelly

Oh yeah more like 30

 

[metallicat]

Use your best judgment on this. Not that the Fiz offers such great damping that instant loss of damping in one fork would cause a crash but should one tube be rendered "ineffective" and the other faced to do the brunt of the work, you could find the ride quality and braking stability compromised substantially.

If its gushing at a high rate I'd park it. If it puddles only after setting I might roll the dice and ride.
At a minimum, fill it above full by a few mm compared to the NOT leaking fork and go (caps come off easy, oil is cheap). You could ziptie an absorbent cloth to the fork tube to reduce mess.

Be safe!

You hit the nail on the head. I see the fork wet during riding and only when parked for a while does it seem to pool a bit. I was thinking of topping it off and ragging it too :Flash:. I would assume mixing oils would not be a big deal.

 

[metallicat]

My biggest concern would be oil dripping onto brake pads. When you say "very clearly leaking", do you mean you see a ring of oil on the stanchion or do you mean you can see it running all the way down the fork leg?

Down the leg but because of the geometry of the fz I don't think it can get onto the pads unless it would be really gushing.

 

[metallicat]

You could always zip tie a nice, absorbent hand towel just below the fork leg seal to catch any oil that may come out. It should hold quite a bit of fork oil before becoming saturated...

BTW, you did pull the dust seal up(and out of the way) and used the "Sealmate" on the actual oil seal?

Yep, and it was super clean. I was really hoping it would be some dirt, but nope.

I hope when I remove the forks I don't see something bent. I hit a nasty pothole a month back.

 

[Erci]

Here's what I know about suspension oil (this mostly comes from DH mountain biking, where forks are easily as sophisticated as street motorcycle ones.. if not more so).

Mixing oil brands is totally fine. Mixing oil weights is debatable. Some say it's not a good idea as the oil will never stay mixed. Others say it's totally fine to cut 10wt and 5wt to make 7.5wt :don'tknow:

Personally, I'd stick with same weight.

Whatever kind you go with, get the stuff without seal swellers. While seal sweller formula might help with the leak, in some cases it may make the leak worse. It may also make the fork feel sticky (though this is something one would probably not notice on a street bike.. very noticeable on mountain bike).

 

[dxh24]

Replace em, if it means you miss a ride so be it. One thing I've learned about fork seal leaks, when they go, they go fast. Starts as a slow leak then BAM your bottoming our just braking, and potentially doing more expensive damage to your forks. Remember forks w no oil = horrible, unpredictable handling, putting yourself at risk. If it were 10 miles id say you'll be fine but 300 miles on leaking seals, That could get sketchy

 

[XTremo]

Never take risks.....no matter how minimal they may be!

Get them replaced then you can ride without any doubt in your mind.

 

[Nelly]

I have mentioned is before, and done some research but I'd love to open up to the whole gang...

One of my forks has been leaking and partshark has been taking its sweet time shipping the new hardware. I'd love to join this weekends ride but it would be about 300 or more miles. It's not gushing but very clearly leaking but not getting into the brakes. Oh, and sealmate showed there was no debris or anything...

Thoughts?

I just realised I didn't answer the question. I noticed my leak and oil had smudged fairly well up and down the fork leg. I rode it around normally until the sealmate arrived from the states about 10 days.

Nelly