Fork seal leak

[scdmarx]

While I had the Interstate down I put new front fork tube seals in, because of minor leakage evident around that area. The oil that came out was dark, stinky and nasty look'n. I put it back together with new seals and atf. Now, after about a month of rideing, a little rideing at first, and a lot over the past week or more, the left side is leaking like crazy. It leaves little 3-4 inch drippy puddles when parked, and it's blowing back and mess'n up all my "shiney". :rant: Not to mention the burned oil smell from the exhaust. I read the sticky about installing the seal backwards, but if that were the case, why would it take a month to start leaking? I'm gonna have to deal with this again, but before I do I thought I would check here first to see if anybody else has been there with this problem. Because I usually end up wishing I would have came here first when it seemed so simple in the begining. :head bang: I do remeber looking for scatches and scapes on the tubes. I did notice some "dull" wear marks, as expected, around the seal area, which would seem logical to me. I don't know just when I'll be taking it apart again. I may just hold off till the rainy season. But when I do, I'd sure like to know what I'm looking for. Any thoughts?

 

[AApple]

I can't say about fork seals, but I do know that installing any "lip" type seal like these backwards would leak pretty quick, especially with any kind of added pressure, such as the air in the forks.
If your's took that long to start leaking, and now they're leaking really bad, I'd have to guess the fork tube is rough enough to wear the seal, and start a place for a leak. :head bang:
When I did my rear shocks, there were some pretty rough areas of the damper, where something had gotten between it and the guide...lots of scratches up/down on the shock. I worried about that wearing the new seals, but didn't take the time to try to sand/buff the scratches at the time. So far, so good, on mine, but I know it's gonna come back and bite me on the buttocks eventually... oh2:

 

[joedrum]

maybe the bushing need to be replaced too ....there might be to much play for the seal to last

 

[mcgovern61]

Look at your fork tubes for any sign of pitting. The smallest pit will tear up these seals. Any chance you got the seals from Sabercycle?

 

[scdmarx]

Look at your fork tubes for any sign of pitting. The smallest pit will tear up these seals. Any chance you got the seals from Sabercycle?

I bought the seals at a local shop where I've been getting my tires. Don't recall the brand, but I don't remember it being in a Honda package.

 

[RBG]

Bushings or rough tubes are the usual suspects and if you didn't put new bushings in they'd get my vote



(duplicate post deleted)AApple

 

[skiri251]

Could be just a bad/old fork seal?

I bought cheapo no-name set on eBay. The box looked really old (from the 80's?). It leaked like you described. I thought I installed it backwards (but that was not the case).

I sweared to buy genuine honda next time but ended up with All Balls triple lip fork seals (ad said they last longer than stock).

I also cleaned up pitted area with sandpaper this time (they are still not perfectly smooth) but after a month and a few hundred miles, the new seals are still holding up.

 

[scdmarx]

This is an update on my leaking "new" fork seal issue.
I finally got a 'round-to-it this weekend. I found the problem, and was quite shocked I missed it the first go 'round. Appearently somebody had stuck this tube in a vise, or maybe tried to hold it with a pipe wrench or something. It was chingered up pretty bad. I should be ashamed for not catching this last time. I do remember looking, but who knows, maybe I looked at the other tube twice? Sorry, I didn't think of taking pictures untill after I had started dealing with it. I took it apart at the shop where I work, thinking it would be easier and faster. So the only camera I had was my phone. I'm not one of those "all in one" cell phone junkies. I should have brought one of my kids with me. Then we could have took the pictures and text this whole message all in one motion.

In this first photo you can see in the background where I left finger smudges on the radiator grill. These parts are chrome under all the fork oil gunk. Quite a mess to clean up.
I used 320 grit emery to smooth down the ridges, then filled the gouges with JB Quick Weld.

I was able to find 2 rolls of emery. My choice was 80 grit or 320 grit. So I went with the finer of the 2.

Sorry the part I wanted to show turned out blurry. I don't know where the focal point is on my phone, but it must not be in the midddle.
I can still feel something there when I rub my finger over it, but just barely. Definately alot better than it was.

I sure hope this works because I don't have another one. I'll be back in a month or so to follow up.

 

[dan filipi]

If you held the emery cloth on both ends like a shoe polisher holds his cloth and "polished" the tube that way I'm surprised you can feel the patch at all.
For what the job takes to do I'd have another go at it. Maybe take it down to almost flush then use finer paper?

 

[RBG]

If you can feel it will tear up the seals..you might try some JB weld and then buff it down to smooth again..

 

[scdmarx]

If you can feel it will tear up the seals..you might try some JB weld and then buff it down to smooth again..

That's what I'm afraid of.
I'm not sure what I was feeling. It wasn't sharp edges, but I don't know if I took too much JB Weld off or not enough. Maybe what I needed was finer paper. I could hold a piece of thread by the ends and drag it over the repair without snagging on it. If it don't work then it'll have to wait till next time because I had to hurry up and get it out of the shop. Had I known I was gonna run into all this I would've done it at home where I could take all the time I needed. I just thought changing the seal at work would be much more convenient with a level cement floor, jacks, all my variety of tools within reach, cleaners, the whole shop environment, etc.
It's all back together now so, time will tell.

 

[carl62cycles]

If you can feel it will tear up the seals..you might try some JB weld and then buff it down to smooth again..

That's what I'm afraid of.
I'm not sure what I was feeling. It wasn't sharp edges, but I don't know if I took too much JB Weld off or not enough. Maybe what I needed was finer paper. I could hold a piece of thread by the ends and drag it over the repair without snagging on it. If it don't work then it'll have to wait till next time because I had to hurry up and get it out of the shop. Had I known I was gonna run into all this I would've done it at home where I could take all the time I needed. I just thought changing the seal at work would be much more convenient with a level cement floor, jacks, all my variety of tools within reach, cleaners, the whole shop environment, etc.
It's all back together now so, time will tell.

HI,How Are those forks tubes holding Marx? k:

 

[scdmarx]

So far, so good.