so at 3 years old and about 8000 miles the RH fork seal has given up (just one of a very long list of issues over the 3 years !). Bought new seals and stripped RH leg at the weekend. Oil was dark grey in colour, no visible damage/wear to seal. Quite a bit of 'gunk' in oil, but no metallic debris. Just dropped oil from LH fork tonight and it is almost clean. To the best of my knowledge the RH seal has not been leaking that long, I first noticed it a few weeks ago due to a large puddle of oil in front rim (egg cup full) after the bike had sat unused for a few weeks. What is likely to have caused the discolouration in the RH fork oil? Is it muck from outside the fork or debris from inside? What should a 'good' bushing feel like? The lower bush in the RH leg seems to have an almost textured feel to its surface. It appears dark brown/grey in colour, as oppsed to copper/metal, but I'm worried the discoloured oil might be from wear in the bushing?
I caught mine with a seal mate but am now paranoid about how much fork oil I may have lost. It was weeping for a couple of days whilst I awaited delivery of my seal mate. Is it a forks off job to top it up? I don't think it lost a lot and I think I'm imagining symptoms of not enough oil (still handles the corners fine).
I was also paranoid about having lost oil, I'd never changed fork oil myself so had no idea how much was in there. All I can say is don't worry. There's about a pint in each leg ! You could top it up easily with the fork still in the yoke, but as you have no idea how much to put in I don't think I'd bother. All I'd say is that I'm glad the seal doctor didn't fix mine as the difference in the colour of the oil between RH and LH leg was night and day and I'd have not known. I forgot to add, there is a £5 Laser pin spanner from machine mart that works a treat for removing the top cap (4mm pins)! I bought that after buying the £55 Facom one that didn't fit (too much bulk around the pins, but a nice bit of kit)!
I think I've lost around 50ml. A drop in the ocean then... I was clearly imagining things then but it still dives way too much to ride properly hard and slam on the front brakes. I'm glad I have one of those rare multi's with a full on working rear brake. I only use that now, far more than I ever did on any previous bike. Ohlins mechatronic SCU is desperately needed.
