Bad Fork Seals or Bad Bushings?

[Jono]

So the guy I bought my SV650 from said he replaced the fork seals before I bought it because they were both leaking. And I believe that he was telling the truth because all the other fluids (-coolant) on the bike were changed/new when I bought it. But I noticed the day I bought it both forks slowly weeped out oil. After any ride there was always a bit of oil around the dust seal on both the forks. I always just wiped it up so that it wouldn't collect then spill over onto the brakes. And this oil was also very clean which also makes me believe he was telling the truth.

Then my SV went down with transmission issues so this issue was the least of my worries, but now that the bike is up and running I need to get to the bottom of this.

So I looked under the dust seal thinking that I would see a pool of fork oil under these seals. But there wasn't any. I then looked at the parts graphic and started to think the bushings(10)&(5) might have worn out causing the fork seals to have a poor seal when being compressed. This would make sense, assuming the guy I bought it from really did change the fork seals but not the bushings. And so you know, the bike has almost 27K miles so the forks have some mileage on them.

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I believe it might be the bushings because there are streak marks on the lower portion of the inner tube which might be caused from worn out bushings?




What do y'all think? I've never dealt with leaky forks before on any of my bikes. I've seen blown forks on a friends dual sport but with that, there was oil everywhere. Mine is a slowwww leak.

[Ghostt]

The bushings are for the fork tubes to ride on, have nothing to do with sealing.

Okay let's eliminate some of the variables,

What kind of shape are the tubes in, nice and smooth, no scratches, nicks, etc.... Dust or dirt visible on the tops of the seals? It only takes a small nick or dirt to cause a leak.

Type of fork oil used, weight, conventional? Synthetic? Etc....

You can try a cleaning the seals with a handy little tool called "SEAL MATE"

http://sealmate.net/seal_mate_instructions.html

this method has worked for a lot people.

Link to original page on YouTube.

Worse case scenario, your replacing the seals.

[Jono]

Originally Posted by Ghostt

The bushings are for the fork tubes to ride on, have nothing to do with sealing.

That's not what I've read and seen elsewhere. When there is play in there it can allow oil to weep out.

Link to original page on YouTube.

Okay let's eliminate some of the variables,

What kind of shape are the tubes in, nice and smooth, no scratches, nicks, etc.... Dust or dirt visible on the tops of the seals? It only takes a small nick or dirt to cause a leak.

Type of fork oil used, weight, conventional? Synthetic? Etc....

Tubes appear to be in good shape above the seals. No nicks or scratches from what I can see. A little bit of grim because of the oil that collects but they aren't covered in dirt or dust.

No idea what oil was used. The guy I bought it from couldn't even remember the brand fork seals he used.

You can try a cleaning the seals with a handy little tool called "SEAL MATE"

http://sealmate.net/seal_mate_instructions.html

this method has worked for a lot people.


Worse case scenario, your replacing the seals.

I just ordered the Seal Mate. I'll report back with the results when it arrives. It's worth trying for $8.


If it doesn't work, I'll be ordering bushings and fork seals. It's the only way to guarantee I get it done right the first time and it's only like $20 ish more dollars.

[EsrTek]

Just do the Bushings.. seals are probably fine.

[MrAtom]

I cut a sealmate shape out of a milk jug and used it and it worked great, just saying.

[Jono]

Originally Posted by MrAtom

I cut a sealmate shape out of a milk jug and used it and it worked great, just saying.

Too late, already ordered one. Haha. I was trying to think of objects I could use instead but didn't think of a milk jug. I'm kinda surprised that isn't too thick.