Fork tubes - overfilled or bad seals?

[Gio]

When replacing the oil in the forks, I did not remove the cartridges - just suspended the whole units over the drain pan overnight and pumped up and down a few times in an attempt to remove all the old oil (I measured ~380ml from one and ~350 + some spillage from the other). So I figured I had removed most of the specified volume (400ml).

 

When pouring in the new oil (400ml per leg) I got quite close (within a cm or so from memory) to the top of the legs but managed to re-assemble without incident.

 

I now have a slight weep from both legs - not on to the slider (as I would expect from a worn or damaged seal) but from the rear of the "dust cover" as it joins the fork leg. Just a trace from each leg - not even enough to form a drip. Seals are original with just over 31,000 km.

 

I'm speculating that I may not have removed all the old oil (~20ml remaining) and have thus overfilled with 400 + 20 = 420ml...?

 

Any thoughts?

 

Gio

[Baldini]

Gio,

 

Which forks? On Scura Ohlins there's an air gap. Manual gives it at 85mm. With tops off & springs out I measured 140mm from fork tops to oil level. I got about 410ml oil out both legs. Regular Guzzi forks may be different but it sounds to me like you overfilled them...

 

KB, Wales.

[RacerX]

Gio, sounds like you did not purge the air from the newly filled fork tubes, and they may be slightly overfilled. This whole process is detailed on GuzziTech.com under the Maintenance section - '2.18.02 by Steven Iveson - WP Inverted Fork Oil Change' - GuzziTech.com

[Gio]

Thanks for the replies.

 

I have a V11S with standard forks and was following the procedure described by Iveson on GuzziTech but decided to skip the removal of the cartridge as there was mention of high torque on the allen bolt and I was only changing the oil and figured most of it was out already...perhaps not.

 

Gio