| Author | Message | ||
     S2forever |
Right-side fork started leaking this weekend after 6850 miles. I believe it shouldn't bleed at such a low mileage. I did clean up the seal from under as suggested on the forum, but it still leaks. Could it be due to age? Ah, she was born 94 (I forgot the month as indicated on frame), she is 18 years old already... I am going to ride it this season without fixing it because the leak does not look very serious and I was going to replace fork oil this winter when the odometer would hit ~ 10,000. Could it be a problem? I mean, could it suddenly start bleeding as water tap in the middle of nowhere? | ||
| Ratbuell |
It could. Chances are it's leaking because the seal dried out. It *might* get better as it gets lubed from use...it might not. You know it's there. Buy a set of seals, keep them on the shelf, and keep an eye on the leak. If you do have a "catastrophic" failure, it won't strand you. Your bike will handle like crap, but you'll be able to get it home to your new seals. | ||
| Buellistic |
Try some DOT-3 BRAKE FLUID on it to see if it will swell up and seal, otherwise it is new seal time ... | ||
| S2forever |
I rode it last year ~ 4000 miles and ~ 200 miles this year until suddenly it started leaking this weekend. I have a bunch of seals piled up on my self already, foreseeing parts would dry up sometime soon (actually it is almost impossible to get Buell part in Korea). Buellistic, what do you mean "it will swell up and seal"? (my poor English can not pick up "swell up") Apply DOT-3 fluid to the seal from under? | ||
| Ratbuell |
"Swell up" is "expand". If the seal dried out, putting fluid on it from below can let it soak some up and get bigger, and seal better. Like a sponge. | ||
| Bigslug |
Try wiping the seals with a Q-tip dipped in in DOT 3 fluid. I tried it once and it did not work for me, but I know others have had good luck. It certainly is worth a try. Mike | ||
| S2forever |
Buellistic, Ratbuell and Mike, I have bottles of brake fluid for my car laying around (not sure if they are type 3 or 4). Will DOT-4 also work? I will try this weekend. Weekdays I am away for work, weekend I will be back to my home where my bike waits for me. (Message edited by S2Forever on May 30, 2012) | ||
| Gowindward |
I came across this the other day. Looks like a good tool to have in the box. http://sealmate.net/instructions.html | ||
| Buellistic |
"Sorry", as "i" had not read the directions !!! NOTE: Always read the directions before you start typing !!! (Message edited by buellistic on May 30, 2012) | ||
| S2forever |
Gowindward, Is sealmate a special tool with chemicals or something? Or is it simply a thin plastic with a hook that helps debris out? The tool is not available in Korea  . Instead I tried a piece of camera film without removing dust cover. No luck, it was not strong enough to slip in through the gap. | ||
| Gowindward |
It is the plastic tool with the hook for cleaning the seal out. | ||
| Ustorque |
I believe a few have made their own using plastic from a gallon milk jug cut to the shape of the "sealmate" product. | ||
| Mcelhaney14 |
I also heard of using 35mm camera film. Get the square holes for the winding gears on the seal surface and rotate it out. You should remove the dust seal to get to the actual fork seal before inserting the film. | ||
| 99cyclone |
I have used thin plastic to clean the seal lips on a couple bikes in the past. Same idea as the sealmate tool. Worked great on my 96 S1, no leaking after a couple years and a couple thousand miles. Inverted forks get a lot of road grime thrown up onto the tubes and squeegeed off by the seal. Over time, little bits of grit get trapped and provide leak paths. Lots of seals get replaced when a cleaning will greatly extend their life. | ||
| S2forever |
I will try again camera film or some plastic with dust seal removed(or whatever blocking access to oil seal). Thanks all for useful tips! | ||
| S2forever |
I tried camera film again and it worked! I took out one of new oil seals from my parts box to have a look and get an idea. I never thought the seal is so soft rubber-like material. Then it came clear to me holding up the film firmly against lower fork tube would make it through between fork tube and the oil seal. And it did. As the forks do not have a separate dust seal. nothing needed to be removed. The oil seal has 2 rings of ridge with space between them. It looks like the outer ring (lower ring when installed) is a sorta integrated dust seal and inner ring (upper ring when installed) is oil seal (I am no expert). I slided the film in at seal contact area about half an inch so that both rings cleaned up at the same time, when quite amount of oil flowed out as I slided it around fork tube full 360 degree. Repeated 2~3 times. Then pushed down and pumped the forks a few times. It still leaked, so I thought it did not fix the problem. Anyway I decided to judge by making an actual ride after a few hours hoping disturbed seal would settle down. While I was cleaning up, the fork lube ran over front brake rotor, so I cleaned it up with tissue very carefully. At the first squeeze, the brake was very slippery, so I repeatedly used the front fork on purpose until breaking power came up again. Then I did ~ 20 miles ride, and checked the fork. It leaked again. Anyway I cleaned it up again and returned home. Then another check, surprisingly the leak stopped (almost)! The day after, I took another ~ 50 miles ride and leak is gone! So what I guess happened is the oil trapped in the space between oil seal ring and dust seal ring was forced out as I rode it. Lesson learned: Try camera film if your fork seal is thought prematurely leaking. It's worth a try. Caution: Try to keep fork oil clear of front brake rotor. If brake rotor is contaminated with fork oil (even if contaminated area is very small), thoroughly clean it up, and drive carefully until you are certain brake power is back to normal. Thanks all of you for valuable information! (Message edited by S2Forever on June 04, 2012) | ||
| Mcelhaney14 |
Awesome! Glad you got it sorted out. I remember when I used the seal mate on my forks, I had to cycles them at least 50 times before the leak stopped. | ||
| Brother_in_buells |
You could clean the brake pads and disk with some brake cleaner.(for better braking) http://auto.howstuffworks.com/auto-parts/brakes/br ake-tests/brake-cleaner.htm | ||
| Buellistic |
Least we not forget that after you clean the rotors you take #80 grit sand paper and make swirl patterns on them ... Scuff up your brake pads("i" use the driveway concrete) ... Take NAPA(CRC) Disc Brake Quiet PN 091444 and put on the caliper pistons/pad which will pull the pads away from the rotors when you release the brake by way of the caliper pistons ... This takes away the pad/rotor drag for longer lasting pads/rotor giving you more rolling Horse Power and better gas mileage ... | ||
| Fahren |
So, now are you going to go ahead and change the fork oil at 6800 +/- miles, rather than just "topping it off" to replace what leaked? | ||
| S2forever |
Summer = riding season. Winter = maintenance season. What am I going to do now? I do not think a few cc's of oil is critical (maybe it is, but it is not at least for me). I won't bother with changing or adding oil for now, riding season is not long... BTW, I noticed the other side fork developing leak as well, so I did the same trick (I haven't check it yet). Leaking forks prematurely about the same time can't be a coincidence. Here is my theory: I have to drive 2~3 miles on the road with intermittent tracks of dirts from/to home, that is because these days are farming season for "rice" (rice plant lives in water). Work tractors, when they are done, get back onto the road from water and leave trails of dirts on the roads. They are washed away naturally as it rains but this year it did not rain for more than a month (drought). That may have something to do with leaks on both forks. | ||
| 1313 |
Just make sure the leak is not bad enough that it's going to reduce the effectiveness of the front brake. DAMHIK, 1313 | ||
| S2forever |
1313, Sure I will on every stop. It is one of lessons learned. Thanks. Safe ride. |
